Year 1 students on the Tourism Retail and Marketing Management Bachelor’s Degree Programme have been managing a pop-up store at the UTM Educational Restaurant as part of their practicum course. The store introduces the restaurant’s patrons to local brands, while allowing students to gain hands-on experience
A practicum is a core component of all UTM bachelor’s degree programmes for Year 1 undergraduates. It carries course credits, and is designed to give students initial hands-on experience in their study field.
A practicum at UTM is also intended to help each Year 1 undergraduate gain confidence in their capacities and accumulate expertise. It aids in improving their social skills, as students are required to interact with real-life would-be customers, in a front-line setting.
For the practicum course, this semester Year 1 undergraduates on the Tourism Retail and Marketing Management Bachelor’s Degree Programme have been managing a pop-up store at the UTM Educational Restaurant on Friday evenings, introducing to restaurant guests some of the local brands that partner with UTM’s iRetail Lab. The latter training space is a practical-education platform offering University students a real-life setting for exploring branding and marketing management practices. iRetail Lab’s collaborators include local designers and retail brands, that feature their products there.
After undergoing basic training at the iRetail Lab, the Year 1 Tourism Retail and Marketing Management students are put in charge of staffing and managing the pop-up store. Their tasks include setting up the products in the pop-up store’s webshop, introducing the brands and products available at the shop to interested passers-by, and eventually completing sales transactions.
For the practicum course, the Year 1 students on the Tourism Retail and Marketing Management programme were divided into four groups, each one responsible for managing the pop-up store for two weeks. The students need to prepare for that. Such effort includes learning the history and concept behind each brand featured in the pop-up store, selecting the merchandise to be sold at the pop-store, and becoming familiar with retail procedures such as store set up, stock management and completing transactions.
Valuable opportunity
Jack Chen Junhui and Toby Lu Junzhe were part of the first group of students managing the pop-up store, in late March. They say they learned a lot.
“The questions raised by real customers were different from what we had expected,” says Jack. “We realised that we needed far more preparation to provide satisfactory responses to them.”
Toby mentions that it was challenging for him to explain brand details in English. “Details like the materials used to produce the items… those were things that we had not thought about.”
Lachlan Liao Sihan and Nikki Lam Ian Hei, part of the second group responsible for the pop-up store, also say they went into the practicum as novices. “We did not have the chance to be on-site when the first group was hosting the pop-up store,” explains Lachlan, adding that his group was undergoing preparatory training at the iRetail Lab at that time.
Nikki mentions that it was quite difficult to memorise all the product details. “Explaining in Chinese may be a little easier for me; for some specific or professional terms, it was hard to explain them in English,” she says. The student admits that her biggest concern was providing misleading brand information to customers.
Both groups of students agree that the practicum experience was a great opportunity for them to apply the knowledge they had learned in the classroom, in a real-life scenario.
Throughout the process, Toby says he learned the importance in retailing of applying team spirit and working as a group. Jack points out that the practicum gave students opportunities to practise speaking in public and to become more eloquent. Nikki’s comments have a similar sentiment: being at the pop-up store helped students build up their self-confidence as they needed to be able to speak to strangers, she notes.
Lachlan adds: “This practicum – and also the UTM curricular internship in the upcoming Year 3 – helps to enhance our responsiveness and professionalism, so that in the future, we do not easily get nervous when encountering complicated issues.”
The Tourism Retail and Marketing Management Bachelor’s Degree Programme is to be rebranded in the upcoming academic year as the Marketing and Brand Management Bachelor’s Degree Programme. The revised curriculum will focus on marketing and branding theory and practice, equipping students with essential skills for future careers in these fields.
Editor: UTM Public Relations Team
