Running a luxury retail store is a very complex task in itself as we need to balance and create a conducive atmosphere for the customer’s s well as the retail stylist and the sales associate. And Retail stylists can be a critical element when it comes to running or ruining everything.

This is a high turnover industry and investing some time and resources in the Retail stylist and the sales associate can reap high profits. As an Apple recruiting manager said, “We’ve learned to value magnetic personality just as much as proficiency.”

Some traits are inherent and some of which can be developed.  Working in retail luxury stores there are some skills and characteristics is must-have when we are looking forward to running everything in harmony and drive the growth. The following are the skills that every Luxury Retail stylist should have. 

The desire to help others

The major role of a retail stylist is to help others. Therefore the most important trait a retail stylist should have is an interest and an earnest desire to help others. The luxury retail industry is all about providing the customer with the best they want and deserve. Hence as a retail stylist or a sales associate should be interested in figuring out what a customer wants and how to get it to them.

Empathy

An empathetic stylist is one who can put themselves in the customers’ shoes and understand what truly their Customer desires. Empathy is a fundamental block of active listening skills and many successful retail stylists, as well as business persons, have acclaimed this trait as the thing that will save brick-and-mortar retail.

Must be resilient

Luxury retail can be sometimes a tough industry. Hence we must be good at bouncing back whenever dealing with edgy or difficult customers. Resilience is also essential when there are weather sales slumps. If the store is experiencing a downturn, we need to have the ability to recover from that period of slow days or months.

Also due to various online platforms, the sales get affected as said by Andrea Lublin, a Los Angeles-based stylist and blogger who has found a niche among working mothers like herself “This is a tough time for fashion; everyone’s game has to be soup with all the photography and Instagram — people are sick of spending and not looking good,”

Deep product knowledge

The key behind being a great stylist is to have an in-depth knowledge of the catalog. This goes a long way in enabling finding the problems and creating solutions for them concerning the customer point of view. This thing develops over time, but the process can be made easier by management,

By practicing the following retail product knowledge can be developed.

• Teaching new employees about a few key products and what makes them special
• Keeping flyers or posters handy for a quick check with relevant product information
• Conducting unboxing sessions with the team
• By being up to date, through indulging in trade shows and events, reading industry publications, and following experts.

For instance Sammy Moussallam a stylist and designer in Toronto for the past seven years. Sammie Moussallam has an enormous knowledge of the field and also his stories have been published in the hottest magazines including Zink Magazine, Dress to Kill, Spade, Fantastikmag, and many more.

Communication skills

As a retail stylist, the job is to be well articulated while greeting customers, entertaining their queries, and explaining to them why they need to buy one of the product which will be very helpful to them

And even if some of them are not doing good at it. There are various ways through which Communication skills can be developed. Such as role-playing during slow or off-hours, providing a template of what and how things are to be said. Practicing using positive and negative scenarios which may happen in the near future.