Pros
-The pay is competitive for the current retail market. -The brand is easy to sell because L'Occitane makes quality products and have created long-standing brand loyalty like nothing I've seen before. Most clients I have come into contact with have either been shopping for years (many times they were first acquainted with the company in France) or have recently been gifted a L'Occitane product and were very pleased with the results. That speaks volumes. -Another thing that makes L'Occitane easy to sell? The fact that they are fair trade and that they make it a priority to employ those with disabilities! I feel good about selling a quality product, and that the company I work for cares about the people who help produce their products. -When I first on-boarded with L'Occitane, I had quite a bit of retail experience, but no skincare experience. My manager at the time had me attend a two day class session, which I found very beneficial. My travel expenses to the class were paid for, and each day of the class I received a very nice lunch. I learned a lot about skincare, a lot about the company, met other local sales associates, and learned some sales techniques that I hadn't tried yet. I didn't feel like my time was wasted, and I saw direct results in my subsequent sales. -My manager at the time was a pleasure to work for. Very inspiring, non micro-managing. Sad she left for a different position. -Our district manager is very nice and is a reasonable person. Her feedback is always constructive, and she's a people person. She's perfect for the job. -Some have complained about the Gratis. I think the Gratis has been pretty generous in the 6 months I have worked for the company. I don't know if Gratis is different region-wise. For us, it's been solidly good.
Cons
-Working by yourself. I got used to it after a while, but I find that when we get a wave of foot traffic, sales are lost even when I try and do my best to sell to multiple people at a time. I would love for our store to consistently keep high sales! I also feel safer in the mall having a co-worker with me. -I've been working over 32 hours pretty consistently (L'Occitane's full time is 32 hours)...and yet at 26 years old, I'm still considered a part time employee with no benefits. ?? -I'm not sure about our current store manager. She's a great sales person, but as a manager it remains to be seen. -In continuing with the working by yourself issue...it's unfair to market "free mini-facials" around to customers without appointment when you have just one employee on the floor. You could be very slow, but the minute someone else walks through the door you basically have to stop doing the facial and sell to other customers as well. Facials require your undivided attention for the service to be most effective for sales. I shy away from throwing around the idea of facials unless I know we're dead slow, or there are at least two of us on the floor. -Basically they really should have two people on the clock most, if not all the time. -The company has recently been pushing "lease-lining", that is, standing at the entrance and handing out samples during periods of low traffic. Sometimes this works, and gets people into the store, and sometimes it doesn't. The problem I see, is that you look like an annoying kiosk person. I get a lot of people turning down samples (they're free...who wouldn't want a FREE sample?!) but it's because they don't want to be harassed. That's not our aim, but it is what people have been conditioned to expect when they see that sort of thing. So sometimes I think lease lining has the opposite of the intended affect. I guess they figure you lose some, you win some. -I keep seeing the software issue brought up on here. It's true, the computers are slow and not only that, the computers have quite a few issues. If there is one thing I'd tell corporate to get right on...it's software. Not only does it make processing sales slower at times, which is annoying for the customer, but if you're the only one in the store (which is quite often) then it's inevitable that sales will be lost. As a L'Occitane employee, you are trained to multi-task and sell to multiple people at a time. BUT, there's only so much you can do when there is a computer issue. It takes your undivided attention to process a sale in a timely manner so that you have a customer who isn't frustrated.