Ryan Scott was able to complete a one-week placement at Very and Littlewood's headquarters (Shop Direct) in Liverpool with financial support from the Futures Fund.
The Business and Marketing Management final-year student spent a week in this digital company putting what he has learned in the classroom into practice. He also took this opportunity to complete research for his dissertation about how different management styles affect staff performance in the workplace.
“I am about to graduate into an extremely competitive market with a degree that will allow me to work in many different areas of business so this was a great opportunity for me to experience different areas of the business. It also let me gain an idea of which sectors of work I would like to target myself towards,” he explained.
While undertaking his placement at Shop Direct, Ryan learned the insights of the Social Media department and the Marketing department.
He said: “I was able to experience ongoing current promotions they are planning such as TV advertisements and magazine editorials.
“One of the highlights of this was being able to see how promotions go from the planning stage and understand why they were happening in the first place, to seeing different departments have their input in promotions in meetings (teams such as legal, buying, sales, e-commerce, creative and marketing all have a say), to then being able to see the actual promotions being made in the studios that Very own on a different site.
“Most adverts and photo shoots are filmed on site at their huge media studios where I was able to witness shoots taking place and discuss with people such as digital merchandisers about how the final products are created. I also worked with the more analytical marketing team within e-commerce who deal with analysing the results of the promotions in the end which was highly informative.”
For Ryan, taking this placement has been hugely beneficial to his studies and career aspirations. He concluded by expressing his gratitude to the Futures Fund and its donors for allowing him to have the opportunity to gain an insight in the industry he wants to work in.
He stated: “I would like to thank the Futures Fund and the donors for allowing me to have this opportunity to see how companies who I dreamed of working for actually operate. I have been able to gain an understanding of which careers I want to aim for while also completing critical research for my dissertation.
“Going to Shop Direct at this point in my degree was truly life changing and excited me about the prospects of what I can do with my degree from the University of Sunderland.”