Research Paper on 1M Canadians in Sales: Clothing Industry Booms with Personal Selling

Introduction

In Canada today, statistics show that over one million individuals are actively involved in sales jobs, accounting for 11% of the entire workforce. The clothing industry is one of the fast-growing companies globally, with most of the companies hiring professional clothiers as well as salespeople to offer consumers the required wardrobe collection advice. Personal selling is when the company, through its representatives, have direct interaction with its customers. This direct interaction might be through trade shows either privately organized by individual companies or government-sponsored shows (Manning, Ahearne, Reece, and Mackenzie, 2015). An outside salesperson, who works outside the location of the office premises, helps the consumers through providing consultative information and direct two-way communication with the customers. For this assignment, I visited the Toronto vintage Trade Show for purposes of observation, and this essay contains a report of my finding.

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Women Dresses Booth

Inside the booth, one can notice clear and bold letters that say 'CHIQUE' hanging. The booth is well spaced, with the ladies vintage clothing, which is mostly dresses hanging on stands that are along the walls of the booth. The positioning of these dresses and the spacious nature of this stand is in such a way that someone can easily spot and access any type of clothing available for exhibition. There are several tall mirrors places on one side of the booth for the customers to have a view of themselves as they try on the clothing. At the Centre of the cubicle is a less-bright woolen mat on the floor that decorates the floor.

Moreover, the lighting in the stand is sufficient for people to locate their type of clothing. The fact that the booth is enclosed using some fabric makes it able to lock out the noise and activities from outside from distracting the events going on in the booth. It is advantageous in the sense that it allows the salesperson to have the full attention of the customers who walk in the booth. On the display section, the clothing is of various colors to catch the attention of the onlookers. Lastly, the choice of wall colors is a simple black and white, making it less competitive to the colors of the exhibitions. Basing on the type of display in the booth, which is majorly ladies' clothing, the target market is middle-aged women. The design of displaying the items on stands along the walls of the booth resonates with the agenda of the trade show, which is to market products in the most appealing way to the customers. Ladies traditionally happen to be choosy individuals who value quality; thus, the presence of the mirror is an excellent idea to help in promoting the products to these target customers.

Vintage Furniture and Lamp Shades Booth

In this stand, the main items under the display are vintage furniture - mostly fabric sofas- and vintage lamp shades. The booth is well-lit courtesy of the light from the lampshades on display, as well as the ceiling light and bright wall hangings. Some of the items under the display are made of glassware, thus making them delicate. Moreover, due to the many display items, the booth is very spacious, and most items are placed at the Centre of the cubicle, with some along the walls, to ease access. The floor is a block of smooth concrete, with a bright-colored small carpet at the center. From the design of this vintage furniture, it is clear that the target consumers are the high-end buyers. The design of placing items like the center of the booth as a means of marketing is appropriate for this kind of product since they are a little big to fit on shelves as well as stands. Moreover, centering the items helps the affluent consumers to spot their preference rather than going around the place.

Middle-Aged ladies Booth "Frou Frou Vintage."

This booth is labeled Frou Frou Vintage and has displays for mostly women clothing well hanged on several parallel strands. There is a table at the center of the booth, with a dummy on it, to aid in the display of clothing. The variety of clothing colors makes the booth colorful and hence attracts the anticipating onlookers. Courtesy of the ceiling light, the cubicle is well light. Judging by the type of clothing on display, the targeted market is that of younger ladies who are in pursuit of trendy clothing. There is a seat available in the booth to allow for a customer to take a brief rest during selection. The design of arranging to clothe stands parallel to each other helps the customers, mostly young ladies, to move in between them in the shortest time possible and easily locate their choices. The use of a dummy for display helps in marketing, especially for ladies' clothing, in the sense that it serves as an actual simulation of how the item would look on an actual human being.

Antiques Booth

The booth displays antiques, mostly lampshades, candle-light stands, as well as antique furniture. Due to the limited space of the booth, some of the displays are places on higher stands for easier access. The antiques are of plain colors making them less bright. However, since it is an open booth and there is ceiling light, the cubicle is well lit. The specifically aimed market for these items appears to be culturally-rich individuals and real estate people who are after interior designing. Due to the delicate nature of the items, the preferable way of displaying them is collectively assembling them at the center of the booth to reduce the chances of damage and for easy picking and return to the display location.

Leather Bags and Boots Booth

It is the most stocked booth dealing in leather bags and boots, mostly for women? The stands are divided into many square partitions to provide maximum space for the many items on the shelves. There is a mirror for the customers to view the items as they try fitting in them. To the sides, the idea to use mesh-wire as the wall is superb in that it facilitates enough lighting coming in the booth, as well as serves as a platform for hanging more bags. From the type of items on display, mostly ladies' bags, and boots, one can conclude that the marketer targets women as their prospective customers. The design of arranging the bags and shoes on shelves in what appears to be an orderly fashion, which is ensuring maximum display of almost all the brands in the booth. Furthermore, a mirror in the booth helps sell-out the item as the customer fits in his or her preferences. Moreover, the many partitions along the shelves allow for accommodation of many prospecting customers at once in the booth.

House Decor Booth

Housing decor that includes; lampshades, lamp stands, house furniture - tables and sofa- as well as glassware makes up a bulk of the items on display in this booth. Courtesy of the lamps on display, the booth is well lit as well as more decorated. The arrangement of the booth is in such an organized manner that there is enough space to maneuver around the place freely. There is a carpet in the middle of the booth to enhance beauty. At a glance, the design in the booth is arranged in a home-like manner, hence having an attraction to any customers passing by. The target market for these products is mostly homeowners and general adults who are searching for items to give their houses a classy look. The lighting of the booth is a strategy of marketing through decoration. Also, the spacious nature of the booth helps in case a customer has tagged along with their whole family.

Art Collection Booth

It is a very congested, art-work collection booth. Most of the items on display are from wood carvings or as a result of clay-work, with wall hanging that comprises of framed paintings. There is little space in the store, with the salesperson utilizing the central part of the booth to pile the items and further use the aid of the wall to display more items. The target market for the items is mostly the art buyers and gallery stores. The design of hanging the paintings on the walls helps invisibility, where a customer can see them from a distance.

Jewelry Booth

Compared to most of the booths at the show, this is the smallest of all having jewelry items such as necklaces and rings on display. Its section is well-protected by a glass protector. The salesperson has got enough space to move around as she deals with prospective consumers. There are light bulbs attached to the glass protector to aid in the visibility of smaller items on display. The target customers are high-end ladies as well as men who value jewelry, either for decorations or as gifts. The idea of using glass for the display helps the customers to have clear and closer observation of the items.

Furthermore, the lighting in the counter section provides a clear view of the items. The presence of a salesperson to the other side of the counter helps the marketing process by directing all questions to the sales agent. Due to the delicate nature of some of the jewelry, it is prudent for the salesperson to use the glass counter as a means of protecting the items, and only remove one item at a time while in consultation with the customer.

Office Furniture Booth

Vintage office furniture is on display in this booth. It is an open space booth for easy access to anyone to come in and out as they please. There are more items on display, especially tables and chairs, to capture the consumers' attention. There is guaranteed sufficient lighting from the ceiling, as well as natural light is that the booth is open. The design of the booth is perfect for this kind of item, as it is an open booth with a large surface area, making it able to accommodate the enormous round tables as well as the many chairs. The targeted market for these items is the offices and conference managers. The design is mimicking an exact conference room or board-room setting according to how it appears.

Conclusion

In today's ever-growing market and constantly changing demand, the producers need to read the signs and trends of what the consumers value most. To do that, they need to reach out to the consumers directly and interact on one, and this is possible through open trade shows, where the companies' representatives such as salespersons reach out to the consumers at the market places. In these shows, all the consumer's questions can get answers by engaging in conversations with the salesperson. From the Toronto Clothing Trade Show, I can draw the following conclusions.

The women's dress booth has the advantage of using the spaces along the walls to display its items and thus leaving plenty of space in the central part for customers.

The vintage furniture and lampshade booth have depicted its success in terms of displaying its diverse colors fabrics making it a more attractive and bright stand.

Having a seat and a dummy for the display of its items is a success to the middle-aged ladies' dresses booth since it makes it stand out from the rest of the booths.

Despite having many items on its display section, the antique booth, in its limited space, is well organized.

The use of unique types of shelves, different from the other type of shelves used for display in the show, makes leather bags and boots booth successful.

The lighting in the house decor booth makes it appear more attractive as compared to the other booths, making it successful on its part.

Wall paintings hanging on the sides of the art collection booth makes a stand out among the rest of the booths.

Utilizing a smaller space and using special kinds of counters in displaying its items is an advantage jewelry booth has over the others.

It being an open space, making it accommodate large sizes of furniture, makes the office furniture booth a success.

From my perspective, I do believe that the Jewelry booth will be more success...