Duties of the store director, job descriptions, functions

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Store manager is a managerial and responsible position. Regardless of the specialization of the store, whether it is cosmetics, household appliances or baby food, the organization of the process and, therefore, the tasks that the director must solve, require managerial experience, organizational skills and leadership qualities of the person holding this position.

Why do we need a store manager

In retail, business owners or their relatives often run the store. When the assortment expands, sales volumes grow, the number of outlets increases, the owner may not be able to cope with the volume of work.

Owners of retail chains and stores are, first of all, strategists who determine the prospects and develop a development concept. And the practice of implementing the concept in life requires solving many smaller tasks that strategists have no time to mess with. And even the most wonderful concept can collapse if it is implemented by non-professionals.

Besides, involving a hired director,the owner gets time not only to create directions of activity and strategy, but also to control its development, which will prevent actions that are dangerous for the business.

Approaches to store management

The duties of a store manager may only include administrative functions, as is customary in large retail chains. The director monitors the volume of sales, the order in the store, the movement and storage of goods, customer complaints, and the work of staff. Subordinate to such a director are merchandisers who determine volumes and engage in purchases. But suppliers, prices, assortment are under the jurisdiction of the central office, which also deals with all issues of the store.

A director can actually be a director who deals with all areas of the store's operations and development, including financial planning. The maximum independence of the director allows business owners to deal with global issues without interfering with the current activities of the store. Since such work as a director allows you to communicate with both suppliers and customers, to understand the problems of both, the opinion and advice of the head can be taken into account by the owner in the development of existing and the development of new directions.

Requirements for a store manager

A hired store manager must have a specialized higher education in the field of trade. Economic or management education is allowed, but higher education is required. Knowledge of economics, management and organization of work,the basics of psychology, ethics and aesthetics, marketing and advertising - all this helps to fulfill the duties of a store manager.

The next requirement is work experience. In the trading field, the candidate for this position must have worked for at least five years and have management experience, and at least twenty people must be subordinate.

True, employers in the resume of the store manager often pay attention to the personal qualities of the applicant: organizational skills, energy, focus on results, creative thinking and high intelligence, believing that the rest can be taught. For employers, knowledge of the specifics of trade is important; persuasion, negotiation and meeting skills; selection, evaluation, motivation and stimulation of personnel; ability to resolve conflicts.

Responsibilities of a store manager

The job of a store director is to solve administrative, economic and financial issues related to the activities of a trading institution.

The director must organize the work of the store, his task is to reduce costs and improve the quality of service.

The duties of the store manager include:

- ensuring reasonable prices for goods and fulfilling the sales plan;

- checking the readiness of the store for work: the quality of products, their display on the shelves, the availability of price tags, sanitary conditions, the serviceability of trading and measuring equipment;

- checking the correctness of the documentationfor the delivery of goods and related to its sale;

- monitoring of inventory and turnover for all product categories;

- development and monitoring of compliance with the mandatory list of products based on consumer demand research;

- signing contracts for the supply of goods and monitoring their execution, negotiating;

- organization and management of the inventory, determining the causes of shortages;

- team management, checking the quality of the work of personnel, their skills and compliance with their positions;

- control of compliance with the norms and requirements of safety and labor protection.

How to search for a store manager candidate

The job description of a store manager includes general requirements, and an interview for a store manager is conducted by a specific employer with certain requirements. Typically interview questions:

- functional duties at the previous workplace and work goals;

- organization of structural subordination and accountability: how the interaction with the immediate supervisor was carried out, and how the applicant managed his subordinates, their tasks;

- description of the most memorable situation of managing subordinates - how it arose, what it led to, how it ended.

Trade legislation is an important issue for the head of a trade institution.

It is also important to know the technologies of the store: how it opens and closes, the principles of product distribution,work with inspection bodies.

And the specifics of the store (description and features of the presentation of goods, assortment, prices, category of buyers) can be studied after starting to work. The main thing is to understand the importance of each component.

Multiple choices

The store manager's resumes have been selected, the interview has been conducted, the store owner is left to make a choice, guided by his priorities. Most network owners prefer to promote their own employees. This is a good motivation for development and striving for growth together with the company. In addition, people are well aware of the product and its features, the team in which they work, the principles of organizing the process, and the requirements of the owners. And everyone knows the workers themselves, which is also important.

Your benefits may be in other cases. If you choose a director with experience in other stores, then the set of attitudes and principles of work can equally inject a fresh spirit into the activity in a new place or be completely unacceptable there.

Former executives in another field are valuable management experience, but it will take a long time to master the specifics of retail.

A former store owner who had to close his business for some reason may bring the same problems to a new location.

Friends, relatives and close acquaintances in the position of store manager are most often a reliable rear, but ignorance of the specifics can lead to serious problems.

Professional development of the directorshop

Any new employee, including the director, needs to be trained. Any candidate, because there are no ideal specialists, has gaps in training. An in-house employee at a lower level needs to be trained in the basics of management, and an executive from another area needs to be trained in the principles of retail.

Adaptation and preparation of a new director is important not only for him personally, but also for the business as a whole. And even when the period of formation is over, the store manager will have to constantly improve his skills, because the market does not stand still. New sales promotion tools, pricing policy and range of products, competitors, legal framework, management accounting, suppliers and interaction with them are changing and appearing.

A competent director, a competent and reliable person who owns the tools necessary for work, will manage the store so that profits grow, and competitors always lag behind.