We recently connected with Jenny Maggio and have shared our conversation below.

Jenny, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

Going from idea to execution comes up a lot in my position at Dillard’s. Not only do you have the day to day practice of this with shipments and determining how a floor is set up, but you also have floor moves that happen seasonally based on new brands that come in.

When setting up a floor with a new shipment I always want the new arrival group to be set up either along the main isle or against a back wall if applicable. From there I always envision what the customer is going to gravitate towards; what color or pattern is trending right now? what has been a best seller in the past? These are important questions to answer when setting up the floor for success. After you answer those questions and set up your main focus area you then ned to re-merchandise the older groups to be balanced on the floor. You always want you themes to flow effortlessly, so you have casual to cozy into your suiting pieces followed by social occasion pieces.

Floor moves are similar because when determining where a brand is going to sit on the floor you need to think about who is shopping this brand. The brands that are in the same vicinity need to have a similar customer for easy shopping. Once that is determined you figure out if a brand needs to be bumped from its current house on the floor. If so I then determine where it could fit elsewhere on the floor. There are different areas of categorization for the brands; active, contemporary, bridge, dresses, ladies.; so it is vital that a brand stays within its category space for optimal shopping.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I currently work at Dillard’s Citadel Mall as the Ladies Selling Business Manager. My role entails managing the operations of my team upstairs in the ladies department and ensuring all of our clients needs are met. I got into the retail industry first in high school working my first retail job at Old Navy. I then went to college at The Fashion Institute of Technology and got my bachelors degree in Fashion Merchandising Management. After working and living in New York City for a few years after school, I moved to Charleston, SC. I am most proud of the high achieving and loyal team I have helped to maintain and grow. They are all exceptional sales professionals that give our customers top of the line service and styling advice.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When COVID-19 happened and the store had to close that was a major moment to figure out how to still connect with our customers and service them. As a salaried manager, I was there continuing to work in the store processing orders from online as well as trucks that were still coming in. During this time I focused on social media as a way to show customers what we were still receiving. Selling off of instagram was new for me at the time but it was a great tool to give that extra layer of customer service. At the time we had a lot of old GWP and cosmetics had old bags used for their gifts. I would put together customer purchases using these as a special thank you, while utilizing stuff that was already in the store.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my audience on social media by firstly getting the word out there on my personal account so anyone interested in my content could follow along. I then followed a bunch of local Charleston bloggers for inso and followed their followers that may be interested in what I had to offer. Tagging the mall and brands in my posts for more exposure has helped the most to continue reaching a new audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dillards.com
• Instagram: @jennystylediary
• Linkedin: Jennifer Maggio