Will Visual Managers ever come back? They should get rid of the SMM and bring back the VMs, after all, the CXM are in charge now of their new truck placement, markdowns, etc…The SMM are useless they dont do anything, they dont role up their sleeves and help on the floor, everything is left to be done by the Visual Captain
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I was a visual manager and now a captain. My whole staff left. My store looks so bad people put it on tic tok. It’s embarrassing working for this company
The SMM gets worked to death in this new environment. We’re doing the job of 4 people and getting paid the same. And aside from all of our responsibilities, we have general selling colleagues reporting to us now as well and we coach colleagues on credit and reliability too…and support Omni! But the CXM can’t help with markdowns for an hour out of their day? How does that make any sense? I’m not saying all SMMs are the best but they work their rear ends off and more is expected of them than anyone else in the store. Not to take away from the VC but they don’t carry the weight of the Store like the SMM does. Hopefully Visual Managers come back but it’s wishful thinking. The company is too busy saving money.
Seriously! That's not the case in our store! The SMM is the hardest working person in our store, they do everything! They work the most hours, get yelled at for everything. I feel bad for our SMM. The CXMs don't do any of the stuff you listed. And our visual captain is the slowest moving guy in the store, can't get any thing done cause he's to busy sitting in the office talking or walking around socializing and complaining that he has to much work and no help. Here's an idea for him, shut your mouth and start doing the actual job and then your work will get done!
After holiday is over, what does a visual captain do the rest of the year? Mannequin updates and sale posters changes?
So much visual has been cut back, there aren't even any trend runways or It Lists, just those stupid Own Your Style outposts. Most stores don't even do much with windows anymore.
@burn out 22 I completely agree amd don't forget the floor planning , regional walks, and the dreadful self appraisal . Give me the vmds and I'll go off on my merry way
Oh He-l no. Don't want to go back to that! Meetings, zoom calls, traveling. NO NO NO!
No way are they bringing back visual managers. They're getting by (if only barely) with visual captains, who make lower pay and have no executive benefits...why would they bring back managers? I'm a former visual captain from an ISM test store and within the past year, every single visual captain (except one) in my old division left. We all had years of experience but decided we weren't putting up with this sh*t.
Sure, the stores look like dumpster fires ...the red ba--s are all uneven, the garland is a hot mess, the mannequins are poorly dressed. But hey, as long as they're making plan, who cares, amirite??? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
My store doesn’t care about how we look anymore because we mostly sell clearance, last act, and backstage. Most of the merchandise is hanging on long rails or on the floor. We don’t make the store look pretty, organized, and tidy anymore.
Because of ISM, stores look terrible. Nobody understands how to make it work. Some stores don’t even follow it. Even before then, some stores still looked terrible. I agree, the company doesn’t care about Visual. It’s not a priority. The problem is that there are too many conflicting priorities and then nothing gets done. It is all mediocre. The whole purpose of the pre-covid restructure was to simplify things, and now everything is harder and more complicated. The expectations are still the same or even higher. The customer expects more and so does Macy’s. Not just that, this year, we have way more stock and less staff to handle it. Reducing expenses and looking good on paper is all they care about. We desperately need experienced Visual Managers, but I doubt they’ll come back.
As of right now, Macys no longer values visual. If stores are making the same or more money than they did when they had visual managers, can’t image the role would return. Senior management has no concern for how stores look or for that matter if they are even clean. That is very apparent.
Are you kidding me?! Maybe this is the case at your store, but this is definitely not the norm. The SMM does everything! Visual Captains only do collateral, updates, sale changes, wall scapes, and maybe assist the SMM with projects if they can find the time away from their “busy work.” If they were previous VMs, perhaps they help with fixture placement, workload, and other high level activities. 75% of all Visual Captains in this company are new in their roles. Learn about how ISM actually works. The CXM does not participate in anything related to merchandising, pricing, or in some cases even recovery. All they do is staff their floors, nag colleagues about credit, complain about fitting room, and answer manager assists on Teatro all day. The SMM has to place the truck, do the markdowns, train all of the colleagues on standards, workload plan, support fill in strategy, and even run recovery “teams” on the weekends because the CXMs can’t be bothered to help with even that. And all of this with no hours or sufficient hands. This notion that the SMM does nothing and the VC does everything is TOTAL BS. The SMM oversees the visual process, they are not in charge of doing it. But yes, the Visual Manager should come back. Visual Workload of the stores is too much for one person and actual expertise and experience are needed for that job. The SMM was literally forced to take on visual as a result of restructuring and Visual is not everyone’s cup of tea.