Bookings, bookings, and more bookings...

Hi everyone!

Things have begun to calm down here on the third floor of MJ Headquarters.  Market has been over for a while, and the orders are starting to finalize.  We still check the "bookings", or orders, everyday; usually three or four times a day, believe it or not, just to make sure things are up to date.  This has become one of my primary jobs: comparing old bookings to new ones, as in this morning's print-out compared to this afternoon's print-out which is later compared to this evening's print-out.  Sounds a little redundant?  I thought so too, but now I'm starting to realize there is indeed a point to this madness.  Detailed reports are requested at any minute of the day from the executives, merchandising team, finance department, sales room down the hall...you name it, someone's asking for it.  Everyone wants (and needs) to know what's going on at all times, because important decisions are often made on the spot.  This includes closing a door (somewhat technical name for a store open in a certain region or country), dropping a product (whether a whole style is cancelled or just a color), or fixing an error that could prevent orders from going through.  So careful (and often) checking is indeed necessary.

Besides checking these infamous orders (finally, they're starting to balance out and stay the same!) I have been putting together reports that contrast this year's sales with last year's sales, all in hopes of coming up with reasonable forcasts and predictions for the upcoming season we're about to start working on (Spring 2012). 

One thing I've been noticing lately is how important it is to double check your work.  Reading emails, reports, or orders with even the smallest typos completely negates any authority the writer has over the subject matter at hand.  Maybe I'm being too tough, but when I hand in something I've spent hours on only to have it handed back to me thirty seconds later because a small color coding is incorrect, I can see how important this is.  If this is one thing I take away learning from this internship, I know it'll be useful in my college career and even more important in my professional life.  With that being said, you can probably guess I spent a great deal of time today checking over numerous excel files to make sure they were perfect--and when I can hand it in to my boss with confidence and see her smile of approval, it's all worth it!

Hoping to dodge this sporatic New York rain on my way home...talk to you soon!

Alex