Teamwork is one of the most essential skills in retail ... · PDF fileBTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 2 Retail ... Visual Merchandising Visual merchandisers create the

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25Original text and illustrations © Pearson Education Limited, 2012

Teamwork is one of the most essential skills in retail. This visit will help you master it and help you plan your personal and career development.

Working in a retail environment involves working as part of a retail

team. To do this effectively you need to understand the purpose of

teamwork within a retail environment and how your skills and

knowledge can contribute to a team’s performance. You also need

to be aware of how you can develop these skills and knowledge to

perform at your best when working with others.

For this assessment visit, you will be focusing on building your

team-working skills and looking into the range of roles available in

the retail sector. While most of the work you complete for this visit

will be based on the retail business you work for, you should also

think of it in the context of the broader retail industry.

In this section you will find a range of activities to help you prepare and gather evidence for your assessment related to the following topics:

1. Your occupation and

organisation

2. Your team and its

contribution to the

retail organisation

3. Personal development

and career planning

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BTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 2 Retail

Original text and illustrations © Pearson Education Limited, 2012

2 1. YOUR OCCUPATION AND ORGANISATIONIn the following activities you will investigate the structure of the

retail organisation you are employed in so that you know where

your role fits into its overall structure. You will look into the range

of functions that contribute to the success of different size retail

organisations and explore how they work. This will allow you to

consider the many possible career pathways that you could take

within the retail industry.

You will also investigate the contribution teams make to the

success of a retail organisation and look into the different skills and

knowledge each team member has. You will identify team roles and

responsibilities and assess how they contribute to the team’s goals

as well as the importance of good communication, support and

understanding.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

Retailing is the sale of goods and services to end consumers and is

the most important contributor to the UK economy.

The retail sector is the UK’s largest private sector employer with

just under three million employees, a turnover of £321 billion (2008)

and approximately 295,000 retail businesses. Within these retail

businesses 90 per cent employ fewer than 10 people and 66 per

cent of retail employees work for the largest 75 retail companies.

Those retail employees consist of a ratio of 57 women to 43 men

and almost one-third of retail employees are under 25 years old.

The retail sector is very diverse and employs a slightly higher

proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds compared

with the economy as a whole. Just under half of retail employees

work part-time, with 50 per cent of them having sales and customer

service job roles. Those who work on a full-time basis account for

the 18 per cent of all retail staff who are managers or senior

officials. For more information on retailing’s role in the UK

economy you can access the website www.skilllsmartretail.com

Some of the activities in this section are about identifying where job

opportunities arise in retailing. You should know about the following

aspects regarding the retail organisation you work for:

the number of people it employs in your department, branch,

nationally and globally

the products and services it provides

the type of customers it attracts

the different functional teams there are, such as Visual

Merchandising, Marketing, Store Operations, Buying and

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2Allocations, Finance, Supply chain Distribution, Human

Resources, Information Technology (IT)

the range of job roles and career pathways within those

functional teams

the relationships between different job roles and who is

responsible to whom.

Retail functions

A function is a set of people who work together and perform the

same types of tasks or hold similar positions in an organisation. As

retail organisations grow, their various functions increase as more

employees have to cope with the large demand for products and

retail services.

The different retail formats have different structures. The size of

the retail organisation determines the number of functions within it.

For example, a privately owned wholesaler selling products to local

retailers will have either one or two owners who are involved in a

number of functions, including ordering, recruitment and security.

A small independent retailer may have a manager who also owns

the business, as well as a full-time employee and a couple of

part-time employees.

Manager/owner

Full-time employeePart-time employee Part-time employee

Organisational chart of a small independent retailer

A large multiple retail chain listed on the stock market will have a

complex organisational structure with many roles depending on the

size of the retail business and whether it operates on a local,

national or global basis. The person in charge of a large retail

business will be aware of all aspects of it. They will communicate

any decisions made by the board to the managing director, who is

the key link between what goes on in the business and what is

decided in the boardroom.

A large retail organisation may have a head office where several

functions are performed.

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2Managing Director

Store OperationsFinance &

AdministrationHuman Resources

Buying & AllocationsMarketing Logistics & Distribution Technology

Organisational chart of a large retail organisation

Task 1a

In this activity you will test your knowledge of the functions in a

large retail organisation. Draw arrows to link each function to the

correct list of activities.

Store Operations

Marketing

Buying & Allocations

Human Resources

Technology

Finance & Administration

Logistics & Distribution

Customer data

Pay point systems

Supplier data

Security data

Stock data

Planning

Buying

Inventory Control

Merchandising

Visual displays

Promotions

Public relations

Visual merchandising

Training

Staff budgets

Recruitment

Redundancy

Personnel

Management

Cashier

Sales

Receiving

Loss prevention

Customer service

Property

Refurbishment

Accounting

Credit

Budgeting

Communications

Coordinating suppliers

Transportation & deliveries

Stock control

BTEC Unit 3: 4.1

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2Task 1b

Using your research skills, find out about each of the functions

listed below. Write a short description of each one.

Function Description

1 Store Operations

2 Marketing

3 Human Resources

4 Finance & Administration

5 Logistics & Distribution

6 Technology

7 Buying & Allocations

To progress in retail, you need information about how this dynamic

sector works, what you might earn and the variety of career routes

you can take.

With over three million people working in around 290,000

businesses (see www.skillsmartretail.com) retail’s success

depends on many departments working efficiently together. In each

there exists a variety of job roles from first rung to the top, but it

doesn’t matter what level you start at as this is an industry that has

opportunities to progress with transferable skills across all

businesses. Take a look at the overview of the departments below

which are typical of a large retail business and then complete the

task.

Store Operations No other part of retail carries more responsibility

than the sales floor. With jobs ranging from sales assistants to

store managers, Store Operations deals with finding the right store

location, organising the relevant fixtures and fittings, ensuring

customers receive excellent service and maintaining the store

environment as a place where products turn into profit. All trainees

BTEC Unit 3: 4.1PLTS: IE4

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2 cut their teeth here, and if they work hard they will be rewarded

with fast progression and early responsibility.

Merchandising This is the link between buyers and the sales floor

and the customers. Merchandisers work with buyers and allocators

and supply departments with the low-down on how products

perform, making sure the right products are in the right place at

the right time. This means keeping an eye on stock, checking out

buying trends and predicting what will sell and in what amounts.

Buying Every product appears in a store thanks to a careful process

of selection and sampling from suppliers. Buyers are seen as

having the glitzy job of jetting around the world, but the role comes

with responsibility and they have to get it right. Buyers live in the

future, predicting tomorrow’s tastes and trends by trawling through

data, travelling to see merchandise and attending trade shows.

Human Resources The Human Resources department attracts,

hires and trains the retail workforce, making sure every

department has the best people in the best positions. From

interviewing potential staff to reviewing salaries and performance,

HR professionals organise and motivate, identify skills gaps, build

confidence and develop retail employees to maximise the human

potential in the business.

Marketing and Public Relations (PR) It’s all very well having great

products ready to be sold, but if no one knows what or where they

are, there is not much point. Marketing and PR departments use

TV, radio, online and print media to get the message across about

the organisation’s brand and products.

Visual Merchandising Visual merchandisers create the best store

layouts and the most eye-catching shop windows, in order to get

customers’ buying impulses quickening from the minute they get to

the store to the minute they leave it and after. The job role joins art

with retail. This department is the reason products look so good in

the stores.

IT The systems that support the complete supply chain, from when

merchandise reaches the warehouse to when it is scanned at the

checkout, are provided by the IT department. When IT is doing its

job well, it goes unnoticed, but IT departments are becoming

increasingly high profile with the rise of online retailing. IT also

plays a part in other functional areas such as employee information,

communications, visual merchandising, planning, security and

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for transporters.

Logistics Keeping the products on the shelves and making sure the

stock gets from supplier to store at the right time is the

responsibility of the Logistics functional area. This department

arranges the transport of everything from the factory to front of

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2store, by road, rail, sea or air, making sure it arrives on time, on

schedule and in the right place.

Finance In retail, the finance function deals with money in and

money out. The Finance team plans and secures the financial future

of the business. The team monitors each store’s performance,

allocates the resources, looks at any issues that might prevent the

retail business from making a profit, evaluates financial risk and

works with all the other functional areas.

Retail job roles

Task 2a

You will now test your knowledge of which function area of the

organisation a particular role fits into. The following table contains

a list of team roles. Fill in the right-hand column with the functional

area of each role.

Role Functional area

Junior retail property negotiator

Buying assistant

Training administrator

Visual merchandiser

Trainee systems analyst

Delivery driver

Sales consultant

Personal shopper

Window dresser

Customer service adviser

Area recruitment manager

Regardless of the number of employees and the size of the retail

business, no job role can work in isolation. Relationships between

different job roles are necessary because they all have to work

together. Also, within each team there are lines of accountability,

which means that managers are responsible for those they are in

charge of. The number of team members a manager is responsible

for is known as the span of control. Some managers are in charge

BTEC Unit 3: 4.2

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2 of 20 people whereas others may be responsible for only three. In

the diagram below, the store owner/manager has a small span of

control and is responsible for the assistant manager, the

supervisor, two full-time employees and two part-time employees.

Full-time

sales assistant

Part-time

sales assistant

Full-time

sales assistant

Part-time

sales assistant

Manager

Assistant manager

Supervisor

The span of control in an organisation

Task 2b

Select three of the above functional areas that interest you, and

using two sources of information, identify the different job roles and

career pathways within them and record them in the table below.

An example has been done as a guide.

Functional area Information sources Different job roles Career pathway Your next step

Marketing British Display Society

Careers adviser

Marketing assistant

Marketing manager

PR assistant

Visual merchandising manager

Visual merchandiser

Online visual merchandiser

1 Current role

2 Visual merchandiser

3 Visual merchandising manager

1 Ask at next review to learn about visual merchandising

2 Complete Apprenticeship

For more information you can research www.ehow.co.uk

BTEC Unit 3: 4.1

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2Within a marketing department there are various roles.

Marketing managers oversee the running of the department and

make sure all the customer, product and service information is

accurately collected and analysed. They liaise with Finance so they

know how much money they have, with the buyers so they know

what products and services will be available, and with the company

director so they know what is happening in the future.

Marketing assistants assist the manager and work with various

media companies. They support the marketing manager by liaising

with the other team workers and external contractors such as

printers, publishers and the IT function.

Public relations assistants help promote the public reputation and

image of the retail organisation. This includes writing press

releases, attending press conferences and building relationships

with media professionals. They work well under pressure and know

keeping to deadlines is essential. They are computer literate with

good spelling, grammar and punctuation. They make press cuttings

of stories that have made it to print, and write in-house magazine

articles.

Visual merchandising managers oversee all product presentation

in stores and on the retailer’s website. Their responsibilities include

working with the marketing manager, buyers and allocators and

with the Operations and Finance teams. They use the trends and

customer buying data to co-ordinate which products should be

presented when, where and how. They make sure the visual

merchandisers use their creative skills to present the goods in line

with the retail organisation’s image.

Visual merchandisers attract customers to the store and hold their

interest once they enter. They create attractive displays inside and

outside a store to showcase items, introduce new items, create a

positive store image and increase revenue. They also have to order

printed signage, hang signs from ceilings, set up dramatic lighting

and disassemble the displays.

Online visual merchandisers may also be known as site or web

merchandisers. They co-ordinate the visual display of retail

products on the retailer’s website. They have to evaluate and

change the website continuously to optimise sales. They have to

work with the buyers and the Marketing team to position

promotional offers and the most popular products effectively to

attract customers when they go online.

Depending on the size of the retail organisation, everyone working

within a team is accountable to another team member. There are

four levels of job role.

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2 Management Known as senior management, executive

management or the management team, this is the highest level of

retail organisational management. It has the day-to-day

responsibilities of managing the retail company. An example is the

Marketing manager.

Supervisory This is the level of junior managers in a position of

trust in a retail business. These managers have the power and

authority to give instructions and orders to subordinates and are

held responsible for the work and actions of a small group of

employees. The stockroom supervisor is an example.

Technical This level of workers has certain skills and techniques.

Technical workers provide technical support, usually involving retail

teams where electronic and mechanical systems are used. An IT

technician who works in the website team is an example.

Operative Employees who have an operative role require few skills

but their job role is usually the key one that keeps the retailer

going. An example is the checkout operator in a supermarket.

Task 2c

Identify the various lines of accountability in the Marketing

department of a large retail organisation. The role of Marketing

manager has been done already as an example.

Functional area Job roles Level Accountable to Responsible for

Marketing Marketing manager Management Senior and executive management

Marketing manager

PR assistant


Visual merchandiser


PR assistant


Visual merchandiser


BTEC Unit 3: 4.2

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Teamwork is one of the most essential skills in retail ... · PDF fileBTEC Apprenticeship Assessment Workbook Level 2 Retail ... Visual Merchandising Visual merchandisers create the