The Store Manager’s RoleThe Store Manager’s Role

Managing PeopleManaging People

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Chapter Objectives

Identify important characteristics of store managers.

Describe the store manager’s role in merchandise management.

Explain expense control.

Explain the importance of managing store employees.

Explain the importance of working with supervisors.

Explain the importance of positive customer relations.

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What Does a Store Manager Do?

The store manager’s duties can be grouped into the following five large categories:

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Merchandise management

Store operations

Expense control

Personnel management

Customer relations

Characteristics of a Store Manager

A store manager must be good at multitaskingmultitasking.

multitasking working on many tasks at the same time

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A store manager must be a good listener and get along well with different kinds of people.

A store manager must be able to delegatedelegate.

delegate to put an employee in charge of a project to completion

Managing Merchandise

Merchandise tasks include:

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Receiving merchandise into the store

Ticketing and reticketing merchandise

Making decisions about where to place merchandise

Working with buyers

Dealing with markdowns

Managing Merchandise

Many stores carry a combination of name name brandsbrands, private brandsprivate brands, and generic brandsgeneric brands.

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name brands merchandise items designed and made by a specific manufacturer, and sold under that manufacturer's name

private brands merchandise items that are designed and made for the retailer selling them

generic brands merchandise items that are sold without either a brand name or private label

Store Operations

The manager must take care of a number of tasks every day, including:

register till the drawer that holds the cash in the cash register

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Opening and closing the store

Making bank deposits

Maintaining the store

Making sure the register tillregister till has enough cash to start the business day

Expense Control

A store manager must carefully examine store operating expenses and look for ways to keep them as low as possible.

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The manager also manages and controls selling selling expensesexpenses.

selling expenses the expenses associated with the store’s sales associates

Expense Control

Managing loss expenses will keep merchandise prices low and the customers happy.

Preventing shoplifting and employee pilferage is an important part of managing loss expenses.

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Operating an e-tail business on an electronic channel—the Web—can be costly, due to design, delivery, returns, and operating expenses.

Though Many larger dot-com companies crashed in the 1990’s, small stores like Harris Cyclery of West Newton, Massachusetts, actually increase sales using a basic Web site. Today, a third of Harris’s bicycle business rides in on the Web to get hard-to-find parts and personal service.

Describe an e-business’s home page to your class after viewing one through marketingseries.glencoe.com.

While many dot-com stores closed their virtual doors in the 1990s, others, such as Varsity Books, survived and thrived. The e-tailer targeted the textbook market and scored by partnering with brick-and-mortar

Online, Not in Line

school bookstores. Varsity Books provides offsite store-management services, such as payroll, order tracking, inventory management, customer service, and storage. Students avoid long lines by ordering online from a book list customized for their schools.

For more information on retailing, go to marketingseries.glencoe.com.

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What are the five large categories of a store manager’s responsibilities?

Why is the ability to multitask important to a store manager?

What are three areas in which a store manager can control expenses?

1.

2.

3.

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Managing Store Personnel

Duties associated with managing store personnel include:

motivation the act of encouraging employees to do their best at all times and making them feel appreciated

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Hiring employees

Training employees

Supervising employees

– MotivationMotivation

– MoraleMorale

– TeamworkTeamwork

morale the attitude employees have regarding having a positive feeling or one of confidence and good spirits

teamwork a spirit of cooperation among employees as they work toward a common goal

Managing Store Personnel

Two other important duties associated with managing store personnel are:

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Evaluating employees

Working with supervisors

Customer Relations

Important customer relations guidelines are:

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Maintain a friendly store atmosphere.

Remember customers’ names.

Remember customer preferences.

Offer top-notch service.

Keep promises made to customers.

What Does a Store Manager Do?

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Store ManagerStore ManagerManages

MerchandiseManages Store

OperationsControls

ExpensesManagesPeople

Receiving

Ticketing, reticketing

Merchandising theselling area

Working with buyers

Determining markdowns

Opening and closing

Maintaining merchandise

Register till

Store maintenance

Selling expenses

Loss expenses

Operating expenses Hiring

Training

Supervising

Evaluating

Customer relations

Working with supervisors

What are four parts of the store manager’s job of managing store personnel?

List two skills needed to be a good manager.

What are three things a store manager can do to help create good customer relations?

1.

2.

3.

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Answers should include three of the following characteristics: be well-organized, able to multitask, energetic, hardworking, have good people and listening skills, and be able to delegate.

1. Answers can include facilitating the movement of merchandise from receiving, to sales floor, and finally to the customer. More specific tasks named may be checking store inventory, ticketing and reticketing merchandise, merchandising the selling area, working with buyers, or determining markdowns.

2.Identify three characteristics of good store managers.

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Explain one task the store manager performs in merchandise management.

Name the different types of brands that a retail store might carry.

Name brands, private brands, and generic brands. Name brands are merchandise items that are designed and made by a specific manufacturer. Private brands are those that are designed and made for the retailer selling them. Generic brands are featured on merchandise that has no manufacturer label or store label.

3.

Checking Concepts

continued

1.

2.

3.

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Define operating expenses.

Describe one task associated with managing store personnel.

Explain the relationship between a store manager and his or her supervisor.

Operating expenses are all the expenses involved in operating a store except the expense of the merchandise.

4. Answers should include one of the following tasks associated with managing store personnel: planning employee work schedules, and hiring, training, supervising, and evaluating employees.

5. The store manager needs to practice many of the same traits a good store employee does. This includes listening to and following the supervisor's directions, complying with store and company policies, and working as part of a team.

6.

Checking Concepts

continued

4.

5.

6.

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Critical Thinking

Discuss how the different duties of a store manager can be categorized.

Answers may vary but should include some of the following good customer relations techniques: maintain a friendly store atmosphere, remember customers' names, remember customer preferences, offer top-notch service, and keep promises made to customers.

7.Describe good customer relations.

A store manager's duties can be grouped into five large categories: merchandise management, store operations, expense control, personnel management, and customer relations.

8.

Checking Concepts

7.

8.

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