FASHION STUDENTS GAIN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN GLOBAL RETAIL OPERATIONS COURSE
May 16, 2019
Over the last 8 years, our Fashion Arts and Business program has established a WIN-WIN collaboration with the Vaughan Mills Shopping Center, part of the Ivanhoe Cambridge group. This collaboration provides our 4th semester students the opportunity to work hands-on with Mall Leasing, Marketing & Tourism Management teams to create business concepts that meet the evolving needs of the retail center. Students draw on their knowledge from previous semesters and in the Global Retail Operations course are assigned their mission: To think like retail consultants and create or source business concepts that shopping centers can implement.
As a group, students review global retail trends, mall demographics & psychographics and select a business concept worth exploring. They prepare strategies for visual presentation, marketing and customer experiences that bring this concept to life. Their sales pitch to the mall management team provides them with an opportunity to hone their presentation and selling skills. This year our managers from Vaughan Mill said: “The students had great ideas, presented well and really did a great job in coming up with unique experiences. We will surely take some ideas away with us." In addition, Vaughan Mills took the next step, " We were so impressed by the caliber of students that we would like to arrange a JOB FAIR at Humber College.”
Congratulations to all of the students, who will be able to add this element of experiential learning to their personal resumes and portfolios. Thank you to their Professor, Anna Zamparo.
