At FashionUnited, careers in retail are always at the top of jobs
recruited by leading brands such as Moncler and Loewe. The flexibility of
positions in retail offer an It’s also an opportune
setting to develop skill sets in sales, marketing, merchandising and
styling while obtaining a degree or building one’s fashion career. The
hands-on experience gained working on the shop floor is extremely valuable
for the next step in a fashion professional’s career path. Here, we take a
more in-depth look at the vital role of the store manager and it’s core
responsibilities and potential career development.

Job description and responsibilities:

As a store manager in fashion and retail, you are the medium between the
shop floor staff and the senior manager. Retail staff will be looking to
you for leadership and you’re in charge of delegating daily tasks as well
as overseeing your team’s development and training. The senior executives
expect you to communicate and manage store changes to your staff while
executing strategies to achieve sales targets and delivering optimum
customer service. In this first-level management role, your
responsibilities include a wide scope of tasks from recruitment, training
staff, inventory management and store compliance for a specific retail
location.

A typical workday for a store manager in fashion and retail:

The day could start off with a morning huddle meeting with your team to
go over their goals for the day-to-day operations. In the video “A Day in
the Life of a Nike Store Manager,” the sports brand uses the meetings to
align the staff with a consistent message to ensure quality consumer
engagement. According to Joe Platt, the Nike Factory Store Manager or “Head
Coach,” no two days are the same and to him, there is nothing better than
to hit sales targets with his team.

“once the doors open, my focus is on how can we make
the customer experience the best out there whilst ensuring we are set up
ready for our peak trading hours from a store standard, staffing levels,
replenishment and delivery point of view.” Working as a store manager in
retail is never boring and when it comes to customer service skills, you’ll
become an expert and be able to train your team to be patient and
troubleshoot.

It’s also important to acknowledge that working as a store manager in
fashion and retail is not a typical nine-to-five job, but it’s own unique
lifestyle. For example, when others are going on holiday is usually when
the shop floor is the busiest or when the biggest sales happen. Managing
the integration of part-time seasonal staff with full-time employees could
be another challenge for a store manager. To succeed in this role, you must
be energetic, flexible, focused and very organized.

How to become a store manager:

To become a store manager in fashion retail, you can already get started
while obtaining your degree. Since in this field, work experience is highly
valued and your educational background is seen more as beneficial than
necessary if you plan to advance further in your career. The first step is
to gain entry-level work experience in the fashion retail field and build
your customer service, merchandising and management skills. Meanwhile, you
can choose to earn a fashion degree in a specific area of focus. Usually,
after three to five years as a sales staff or merchandiser, you should try
to get promoted to work under the direct supervision of a store manager so
that you’re able to gain hands-on experience learning the ins and outs of a
store’s operations and policies.

Team management skills are extremely important for a store manager as
well as being analytical, thinking on your feet and the ability to
problem-solve. Developing commercial awareness is also a vital requirement
whether it be from on the field experience or educational training.
Familiarity with new technologies or
mobile payment-is now in demand as the shop floor is constantly integrating
mobile shopping and retail trends are nowadays dictated largely by what is
seen on social media.

Next step in the career of a store manager:

The next step in a fashion and retail store manager’s career would be to
become the regional or country manager of a brand overseeing not just one
store, but a district or an entire market. Then, at the very top is the
position of the general manager who is responsible for a company’s overall
retail operations and will usually be based at the headquarters while
travelling frequently to check up on regional flagship stores.

Expected income:

A retail store manager’s expected annual income in the UK currently
averages out to £27,904 according to over 3,000 salaries submitted by
anonymous industry professionals on Glassdoor UK. The expected salary can
vary depending on the applicant’s educational degree, certifications and
number of years of experience in the industry.

to apply for store manager jobs in
fashion in the UK.

Photo: Pexels

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