“Find a business or a brand that you’re passionate about, love what you do, be really tenacious with wanting to grow and develop and pivot where you have to!”
Over his 13-year journey with Peter Alexander, Ben has picked up a tonne of super valuable advice for aspiring retail superstars, and today he’s dishing out his insider secrets! Whether you’re an aspiring retail pro or if you want to know how to take your current role to the next level: this one’s for you.
After starting out as a Christmas casual, or Christmas Angel in Peter Alexander lingo, Ben made the most of every opportunity that came his way and now works as a senior visual merchandiser (and facilitates national training)!
Tune into our latest interview to discover
- Insider advice for those wanting to grow and progress in the retail industry
- How seemingly unrelated strengths can help you in the workplace
- Why the notion that retail is a ‘first job’ is completely untrue
- What kinds of growth opportunities retail workers can unlock
And much, much more!
Find Out More
Do you struggle to walk past Peter Alexander without being tempted by their luxurious PJs? Or perhaps you can’t stop feeling as if your closet needs more Dotti, Jay Jays or Just Jeans? If you can relate, you’re already a fan of The Just Group: the people who oversee all of these (and more) incredible brands!
As Australia’s leading Australasian fashion and apparel retailer, the Just Group is the place to go when you want to launch an incredible retail career. And the best part? They’re always on the lookout for new talent to train, uplift and empower!
Take the first step towards an incredible retail career by heading to their employer profile and start designing your dream career today!
Interview Transcript
Find a business or a brand that you’re passionate about and love what you do. Be really tenacious with wanting to grow and develop and pivot where you have to.
So my name is Ben, and I’m the senior VM for Victoria and Tasmania, and I also look after the national training of our state VMs. Peter Alexander is known as the Pyjama King here in Australia. We are part of the Just Group, so we’re one of the sister brands that fits into apparel.
We’ve collectively got Just Jeans, JJ’s, Smiggle, Portman’s, Jackie, and Peter Alexander. I started as a Christmas casual, or we call them Christmas Angels, and I was a boy. So I started in store there, went into a store management role, and then I just loved the VM in our stores.
There’s nothing quite like a Peter Alexander store. I then moved to Victoria for a state VM role and worked in that for a couple of years and then eventually moved into the senior role for VM. Being in Victoria, we have our head office based here.
So I also go into the head office to help with brief setups, collating all the product, helping set up the merchandising standards, and then collating the brief with the head office team to share with our store teams.
I think what I love the most is probably the creative expression that as AVM, it’s a key part of our role. I just love that Peter Alexander, they’re not conscripted to one style. It’s not a cookie cutter approach.
Our VMs are employed to share that expression and their creative flair and put their own signature feature on the brand. It’s amazing to walk into a store and know which team member has been there because it’s their own sense of style that fits into the brand standards and principles.
I think one of the major things for myself was embracing learning, and that comes with time as well. There are so many avenues in the retail world, and it’s not just all sales, and it’s not all VM. There’s a whole web of pathways to find and to go down.
I think also developing and exploring other skills that you might not feel are related to your role. An example for myself is I studied architectural drafting, and now when we do the new store openings and the construction drawings come across our desk, I have that already in my past, and it has somehow helped me in this role, which I didn’t think it was going to.
If this is what you want to do, then you won’t worry about that stigma because it doesn’t matter. I love what I do, and I want to keep doing it for as long as I can. Retail shouldn’t be looked at negatively, and I stand by retail.
I haven’t moved out, so 13 years. I think it goes to show if it’s your passion, it’s there. A huge portion of our business is younger teams, and we have future leader programmes, so that’s developing our part-time team members as an ASM to become the future managers.
We have our own branded training plans for assistant store managers, store managers, and teams wanting to be visual merchandisers or move into the regional manager side. We have just recently collaborated with Swinburne University and their students in the VM programme at the uni and basically have invited them into one of our flagship stores, walked them through what the VMs do day-to-day, and what our store teams do day-to-day.
Also, sharing the journey of everyone there, and happy to say one of the students is actually now one of our state VMs. Don’t be afraid to not know. Don’t be afraid to try.
One thing I would say to myself is to be open and resilient to feedback. Adapt to change and embrace that change because it comes, and change is good. Find a business or a brand that you’re passionate about and love what you do.
Be really tenacious with wanting to grow and develop and pivot where you have to.
