Peek & Cloppenburg

My internship at peek & Cloppenburg: delivering the future of fashion

Dear reader, it has been two months now that I joined Peek & Cloppenburg and my short summer internship is almost over. Finally, I would love to share the amazing insights with you:

During the first two weeks of my internship I worked in the sales department in Stuttgart. It is one of the numerous retail clothing stores, where I experienced direct contact with customers, and helped them finding well-fitting clothes. These two weeks on the sales floor were very helpful for me to understand the supply chain of one of the biggest fashion retailers in Germany. After my time as a sales representative I moved to the headquarters of P&C in Düsseldorf to join the Menswear Buying Team.

“I accompanied buyers and collection managers to meet suppliers and order products that will be in stores next season.”

How can I describe my impressions of the Buying department at Peek & Cloppenburg so far? It is super exciting! These two months were full of valuable experiences: I could not only join Peek & Cloppenburg for a recruiting event and the high-fashion fair “Premium” at the Berlin Fashion Week, I also accompanied buyers and collection managers in Düsseldorf to meet their suppliers and to order products that will be in the stores next season.

My daily tasks are: working together with designers in order to develop products for P&C, and supporting the collection manager of the brand Montego in planning, ordering and allocating the products in the different stores. The third part of my responsibility is supporting the Merchandise Controller in forecasting and planning for the current and upcoming season, which is very important as the retail business is always revenue-driven and number-oriented.

One of the reasons why I felt so comfortable here is the location: Düsseldorf is a great city for a nice German beer and a dinner after work at one of the breweries in the center, as well as for a run with colleagues at the Rhine river promenade or for fashion shopping at the “Kö” :).

I warmly recommend uploading the CV on the Blind Applying platform if you are open- minded to new cities and great adventures!

Have a nice day!
Linda

Meet Linda, the Blind Applying champion of Peek & Cloppenburg

Linda is finishing her double Bachelor’s in International Management and will be working in Buying at Peek & Cloppenburg. What stories will she be sharing through her blog?

What are you most looking forward to while working at Peek & Cloppenburg?
I am looking forward to getting an insight into how a large fashion retail company manages their supply chain, with a particular interest in how buying, in which I will be doing my internship, is contributing to the company’s success. I am also most certainly looking forward to broadening my horizons in the fashion industry, improving my skills and learning from the most knowledgeable professionals in the industry.

What's the best aspect about working in fashion?
For me personally working in fashion means working with highly creative, interesting and enthusiastic people. I believe the most interesting part is the changing consumer trends and demands that fashion brands must predict and adapt to constantly. I need a challenging environment in order to grow and develop professionally, and I believe the fashion industry can provide this for me.

About a year ago, you were doing voluntary work in Zanzibar. What did you take away from this experience?
I took away an understanding of how to work with people from a different cultural background, who had completely different perspectives, and another view on the world. In the beginning it was difficult to adapt to the circumstances and to integrate into the community, but after some time I felt at home, and found it hard to leave such a colourful island with such amazing people. 

From Selling to Buying – My adventure continues in E-Commerce at Fashion ID

After two weeks of experiencing the Selling perspective I have been part of the Buying team of P&C’s online shop Fashion ID for already four weeks. I am mainly working in the Young Fashion section, more precisely I support the team who buys items from brands such as Only, Jack&Jones, Replay, Guess or Tom Tailor. The Young Fashion team also purchases items from Review. A fashion label that belongs to the International Brands Company and is also part of the Peek & Cloppenburg Group. My other colleagues are responsible for the purchase of kid’s wear, premium clothing and shoes.

What I really like about my internship

I am not sitting at my computer all the time because there are several meetings every other week. There are for instance regular appointments with suppliers and designers.

So far I had the possibilities to take part in several big meetings where the designers present the upcoming collection to the buyers of both Fashion ID and Peek & Cloppenburg. I think it is super exciting to first of all have a look at the upcoming fashion trends and the designers’ fashion line. And the discussions about the collection itself may be intense but also very interesting.

For the girls I can already tell you that hippie and bohemian looks will be still a trend in the upcoming winter season.

The biggest challenge for me is the usage of different systems and the merchandise control system which are very complex. But I am becoming more and more familiar with it and there is always somebody in my team who can help me.

My current project concerns the analysis of Fashion ID’s return quotes. I basically have a look at the brands and actual items which are mostly sent back by our customer. The next step would be to find out the concrete reason for the returns and to decide whether to remove a certain item from the assortment.

Next week there’s going to be an internal outdoor event, a high rope course (Hochseilgarten) in Düsseldorf. I am sure that it is going to be lots of fun and I will have the chance to get to know other people from Fashion ID. I will keep you guys up to date if everybody survives this event :)

Start of my fashion adventure at Peek & Cloppenburg

I am more than happy to be the Blind Applying champion for Peek & Cloppenburg, one of Germany’s biggest fashion companies. On top of that it is located in Düsseldorf, a wonderful city in Germany being known for its fashion-oriented people and its outstanding architecture. From May to August I will be doing an internship there in Sales and Buying.

After receiving the exciting message that I would be a part of P&C, I had the possibility to choose where I want to put my focus on during the internship. I went for Buying at Fashion ID, which is P&C’s online shop. Two years ago I was already an intern in the E-Commerce sector at mytheresa.com, since then I really wanted to grow my knowledge and experiences in this field.

The start of my internship

After a friendly welcoming event, my internship started directly at the P&C store in Düsseldorf. As you can see in the photo, the building itself is outstanding due to its modern architecture. As a customer you can find a humongous selection of clothing and accessories from various brands, spread over 4 floors. In Germany, Peek & Cloppenburg has more than 60 stores and is also present in other European countries such as Austria, Poland and Czech Republic. During the first week I was working in the premium section for both men and women. Then I got the chance to have direct contact to the P&C customer and I really enjoyed helping them when they were looking for a special occasion outfit. On the other hand it was pretty tough to be literally standing the whole day, especially at the beginning. After the third day, I almost got used to it :)

The second week I was working at the cash register which did not simply mean delivering the customers their paid products in a bag. I also took care of product returns, processing complaints and finding and picking reserved clothes from a back room. This seems to be obvious activities taking place at a cash register, but you have to keep in mind that the store is super huge compared to a regular fashion store. So I was constantly very busy and was in charge of different tasks. 

I think it was a good and helpful experience for me to get an insight in the different areas of a P&C fashion store during the first two weeks. Now I have a better understanding of the P&C customer and I am more familiar with the broad range of labels which is essential for my further internship in the Buying team of Fashion ID.

Until next time,

Gianna

Meet Gianna, the Blind Applying champion of Peek & Cloppenburg

Meet Gianna, the Blind Applying champion of Peek & Cloppenburg! Gianna will soon be sharing her insights from the preparations of the new season, as she is doing her internship in Düsseldorf.

How fitting do you find an internship at Peek & Cloppenburg with your career interests?

Since I have already had practical experience in the fashion industry (mytheresa, ChiChiFan Hamburg) and I have always been interested in the latest fahion trends, I can cleary see myself in a fashion oriented business.

Peek & Cloppenburg, being one of Germany’s biggest fashion companies, is the perfect employer for me to gain more work experience. Besides, I will get insight in the Buying department which is an area I always wanted to work in. This internship truly meets my career interests and I can imagine working for this company after my studies too.

Düsseldorf is known for its architecture and style. Any fashion tips for this summer season?

For a summer stroll a flyaway bohemian dress, or a delicate white dress, combined with espadrille shoes are essentials in every girl’s closet. But also bright colors such as red, yellow and blue are a must this summer season.

You have been to Paris, Shanghai and New Jersey. Which aspect of traveling do you like the most?

I am crazy about exploring a city or a country, trying local food as well as getting into some adventures. I really appreciate those memories and experiences in life. What I will never forget was snorkeling in the Bahamas while sharks were swimming next to me or the best cheesecake ever that I had in New York City.

Follow the adventure...