While online retail is growing at a rapid pace, albeit off a low base, it is still but a tiny drop in the ocean of the total South African retail pie (around 2%).
This means that the majority of South Africans still love to shop in a physical store, whether just to browse or to buy. In fact, according to a recent survey by PWC 64% of respondents said that they want to see, touch and try on merchandise before buying and this is their primary reason for purchasing in-store. With this in mind, a career in Fashion Retail is still extremely relevant and is why the STADIO School of Fashion has launched its “Higher Certificate in Fashion Retail Contact Learning” course for 2022 at its Bellville campus. The first course of its kind in the country, it has been created out of the growing demand for real-life retail experiences.
The 12-month course is ideal for someone who is looking to get into the exciting world of Fashion Retail after high school, an entrepreneur who is expanding their clothing or product range offline or current retail workers looking to upskill themselves. The Higher Certificate also could assist students with accessing degree studies in the instance where matric results prohibited degree or diploma access.
“In recent years there has been an explosion in the concept of ‘showrooming’. This is when a person browses a product in-store, and tries it on, but then buys it online. The opposite is also true as consumers use online sites to ‘showroom’ and then visit a store to buy. Either or, the in-store experience needs to appeal to the discerning shopper who is looking for the latest in fashion trends. This in-real-life experience also plays a significant role in the entire customer journey of the brand as through visual merchandising in-store or windows, it is often the first touchpoint the consumer has with the product,” explains Leonardo Snyman, Executive Head of STADIO’s Bellville Campus.
This Higher Certificate course focuses on retail management, visual merchandising, sales training and business management as part of its curriculum, and is one of 11 new qualifications being offered to students next year.
Among them is also the “Higher Certificate in Digital Marketing Practice”. New to the Bellville campus as of 2022 and offered by STADIO School of Commerce, this course is suited to the person who wishes to enter the rapidly expanding digital marketing industry, or for someone who wishes to brush up on their marketing skills. While offline retail is still the leading touchpoint for consumers, to get them into store often takes a digital marketing effort and is why this course is suited for individuals wishing to enter various industries, including fashion.
The one year course covers branding, advertising, public relations and social media management with a view to meet a client’s marketing needs and teaches students how to engage very specific target audiences. Given around 42% of our population is active on social media every day, this aspect of the course in particular is extremely relevant to today’s marketer.
“Every brand, regardless of industry, is vying for its customers’ attention and given so many are online, researching, reviewing or shopping, it is key that future marketers, or those in the industry already, know how to tailor their marketing efforts digitally to engage and convert prospects to buy on or offline,” concludes Snyman.
For more information visit www.stadio.ac.za.
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