Work Experience at Matalan- Company Market

Company Market

Market sector: Matalan's market sector is predominantly based on modern families, whether they are a young family with babies/toddlers, or older children who are in secondary school; Matalan provides most products for families. 

Market level: As Matalan  create products that are affordable for the average family, who may have tight budgets and don't want to over spend on clothing and homeware products.

Customer profile: 

• Who they are:   Mostly female, aged between 28-55, has a family to look after, busy lifestyle, works 9-5, has a tight budget to spend on clothing/homeware, isn't fashion conscious but still likes to look nice at reasonable prices.
• What they do:  Works hard at a 9-5 job, looks after her young family, has 200 pounds spare at the end of each month to spend on clothing/ homeware/ socialising/ kids clubs etc, tries to keep fit at least twice per week.

Products on sale: Matalan create women's wear, as well as accessories, footwear, lingerie, nightwear, and holiday wear. Also sell menswear; clothing, footwear, accessories, nightwear, underwear. Baby and toddler wear; night suits, baby grows, accessories (hats, gloves, socks etc), baby accessories (changing mats, comforters, blankets etc). Homeware; hanging pictures, lights, cushions, candles, bathroom accessories. 

Competitors: Matalan's competitors include brands such as Tesco, Asda, Primark, Next, H&M and M&S.

Matalan's target audience (working parents and young family's)

A few of Matalan's competitors (H&M, Next, Marks and Spencers)

Work Experience at Matalan; Company profile

Name: Matalan

Description of business: Matalan is a British clothing and homeware brand created by John Hargreaves in 1985. The head office is based in Knowsely, and boasts an impressive 217 stores across the UK. It creates fashion forward women's, men's and children's wear, as well as stylish homeware, at affordable prices. 

Mission statement: Matalan's mission statement is to 'provide outstanding value for modern families'.

Aims and Objectives: 'We take our time to listen, understand and evolve to fit changing modern family needs, always with an emphasis on providing the highest quality clothing and homeware for the lowest price. 12 million UK families each year trust us with their precious family budgets and to provide the range, style, quality and value that enable them to run a modern, happy, family home. It's no surprise then that we were recently awarded a prestigious Gold Award at the Mumsnet Family Friendly awards for a second year running.'

My role in the company: I helped the junior buyers on the children's accessories and nightwear department during my 2 weeks there. My tasks included: making sure the sample room was tidy, attend fittings, check post; make sure everything on the clothing labels/swing tags was correct, attend meetings about future trends I also sat in on a meeting with merchandise team.

Staff hierarchy:

1. CEO- John Hargreaves
2. Upper Management- Head buyers/designers/merchandisers. Head of departments.
3. Department Management- Assistant buyers/designers/merchandisers
4. Workers- trainee buyers/designers/merchandisers

Exteriors of a Matalan store

Inside of a Matalan store (ladies wear)

John Hargreaves owner and founder of Matalan