Author: f1221tenkherdene

Colorblind : Does Color Really Matter?

Posted on by f1221tenkherdene

 

 

Apple has finally announced their iPad Mini. It’s set to be available for sale on November 2nd, with pre-orders starting October 25th. It’s 7.2 mm thick and weighs just 308 mg, but still has the same size screen as the iPad 2.  It features two cameras, a 5 megapixel rear camera and a 1.2 megapixel front camera.

A day after it was made available for pre-order, the Chicago Tribune released an article stating that the white iPad mini has been sold out. As we all know, all Apple products come in two colors, white and black, leaving only black iPad minis available for pre-order. The expected shipping date for the white has been set to two weeks while the black is still available to ship out November 2nd.

So, why is it that something so simple as color makes such a big difference in sales? Being black or white has no impact on the function or the performance of the product. I have seen many instances where the color of the product was made out to be just as important as its performance. There are some car models, clothing items, and other products that are priced differently due to color as well. One retail store I used to work at always priced clothes that were black more than other colors.

Even for me, I find myself being more attracted to white Apple products. My iPhone, iPad 2 , and iPod are all white. I think they look more feminine and pretty compared to the black. I have many friends that have chosen their phones and other Apple products based on color.

So tell me, does color really matter? How big of a role does color design of products play in your decision making? Would you wait for more of the white iPad minis to be available or just purchase the black model and receive it on time?

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/la-fi-tn-apple-white-ipad-mini-20121026,0,4979541.story

Abercrombie & Fitch Management- would you do it?

Posted on by f1221tenkherdene

I have worked as a sales associate for this brand all throughout high school. It seemed like the perfect job to have, I was working for one of the most popular stores for kids my age, had great employee discounts, and got to listen to good music as I worked. However as I worked more and more I started to realize the politics of favoritism and ‘shadiness’ of the management there.

The requirements to become a manager for the company are a Bachelor’s degree and good looks. Most of the managers did not even plan to become one nor majored in the field. The company is known to have the fastest hiring process and it is pretty easy to obtain a Manager-In-Training position. Therefore you end up with very young, fresh out of college people as your manager. In a way it’s great because you can relate to them and actually become friends with your manager, but then you deal with problems such as drama, unprofessionalism, and bias among your managers and co-workers.

One thing that really surprises me about the management there is the terminating process. The company is all about favoritism and good looks, and if they don’t like you or does not think you’re good looking enough they will stop scheduling you. They can’t terminate someone without a legitimate reason therefore they start giving you no hours until you basically give up and stop coming in the store to check your schedule. That’s when they terminate you with “abandonment of job” as the reason.

While some kids are getting terminated without doing anything wrong, some kids that were terminated with a legitimate reason get re-hired with zero problems. I’ve seen many cases where someone was terminated for reasons such as “not showing up for shifts” and “not following look policy” from another store come to our store and have our managers override their termination and re-hire them just for their looks. Managers are put into competition with each other weekly based on how many good looking hires they get on a point system. Therefore most managers will hire a good looking kid no matter how bad of an employee they are.

These are just some of the problems I’ve realized while working for the company. It makes me question if I were to ever get into management, if I would put up with unfair rules and favoritism and unprofessionalism like these, or if I would stand up for what’s right and say something. What would you do?