Students give heart and "sole" to Macy's project.

"Can we explode the shoe business by improving the shopping experience?"

That was the question that members of the ladies' shoe department at Macy's asked Melissa Sanchez (BA '05), Frina Chiodi (BA '05), and Scott Sklar (BA '05)—all marketing majors—along with ten others in last spring's undergraduate marketing internship in the College of Business Administration.

From left to right, Sophia Galvin, manager of diversity with FIU students
Frina Chiodi, Melissa Sanchez, Adriana Acedo, Scott Sklar, and
Jessica Pacheco.

Participants in the internship spent hundreds of hours on 250 surveys, 35 in-depth interviews, observation at Macy's, and employee interviews—then focused their recommendations on displays and customer service.

The student team members presented their findings to buyers and planners and were then invited back to present to the senior management team. And that wasn't the only exciting invitation: the three leaders were invited to accept jobs. Chiodi, who just had a baby, isn't in the job market; Sklar opted for another opportunity, but this summer, Sanchez launched her retail career in the Women's Moderate Ready to Wear department, where she is working with the Style & Co., Emma James and JH Collectibles brands.

Internship gives student foot in the door

For her contribution to the project, Melissa Sanchez led the team that focused on Macy's shoe displays.

"I helped create the surveys," she said, "and I shadowed a person in the Dadeland Shoe Department, when I saw the back room activities. I also went to seven or eight of Macy's competitors and saw how customers reacted to displays. If they complained, I noted what they complained about."

Sanchez credits many of her experiences in the College—including tips from Tim Dugan Birrittella, lecturer, Department of Marketing, who guides the internship—with preparing her for securing a job and being more than ready for its demands.

"I used a strategy he taught us to negotiate my salary," she said. "I sold myself, focusing on the fact that I have work experience, and that Macy's had already seen me perform through my activities in the internship."

Being able to hone her communication skills also was an advantage.

"We had to make presentations in every business class," Sanchez said. "That really helped me learn how to make a good impression."

Now that she has her first retail job, she can put her experience—including her degree and her Certificate in Retail Management—into practice.

Identifying steps to enhance customer service

Frina Chiodi headed the customer service team, working to make sure that they could identify the main issues and present ways the Shoe Department could deliver customer service better. She had already graduated from Florida International University in December and took the internship on a non-credit basis.

"I saw the internship as an opportunity to see how to approach a marketing situation—my first chance to be in the field with a real-life customer—and as a chance to work with Birrittella," she said. "It was very interesting to interact with management at a time when the company is transitioning from Burdine's to Macy's."

The change has an impact on branding and image, both of which will affect marketing issues. So does inventory.

"Macy's will be carrying more expensive brands," she said. "That shift poses challenges for the Department."

The company continues to be interested in having the College's students work with them in the internship and said they'd learned some lessons, according to Chiodi.

"In order for the marketing students to devise appropriate recommendations, the questions have to be posed with great precision," she said.

Student gets kick out of data

Sklar, a senior account executive at a mortgage company, liked the statistical, rather than the creative, demands of the project.

"I put together the statistical data, ensuring it was realistic and accurate," he said, admitting that when he learned the assignment would focus on women's shoes, he thought it was "the worst topic possible."

"I know nothing about shoes or about how women shop," he said. "But I helped come up with a scientific questionnaire and analyzed it. It was real data, and the process was really fun."

Though committed for now to his current career path, which is more lucrative than the opportunities he sees for himself in marketing, he admits that he loves marketing and is very interested in it.

"Now I know I have other options and contacts," he said. "The experience gave me a new door to walk through in the future."

"The senior management team from Macy's—which included N.K. Trip Tripathy, president and chief operating officer of Macy's Florida—reacted favorably to the students' half-hour presentation," Birrittella said. "They made us feel at home, asked questions, and really sought the students' opinions."

According to Birrittella, the benefits of the internship are many. "Macy's benefits because we are able to obtain objective feedback from consumers, which would be hard for them to get on their own. Our students benefit because they work on a real project, deal with real issues, and present to real decision-makers. And, obviously, some get job offers."

The internship, part of the program for the business school's students obtaining the Certificate in Retail Management, follows a fall course in retail marketing.