Responsibilities of Store Managers

In general, the responsibilities of store manager are as follows :

(1)     Management  of employees : The first and the foremost responsibility of the retail store manager is the management of employees. The store manager has to manage store employees working at various levels such as sales staff, store staff, cleaning staff and clerical staff.

(2)     Maintaining the sales environment : It involves implementation of store layout plans, displaying merchandise, replenishment of stock, visual merchandising task and maintaining the sales record effectively.

(3)     Cost Minimisation : It involves controlling expenses that are essential to run a store. By way of applying cost effective policies, expenses can be reduced resulting in increased profitability. It is possible by elimination of waste, errors and accidents. This task of minimising cost becomes necessary when store is running on low price policy.

(4)     Recruitment, Training and Development : The store manager has to handle the job of recruiting the right persons at right jobs. Then train and adjust them according to the stores policies and working environment. If they need any training, they must be provided in or out of the store. These new entrants are those who make the store either an achievement or can mar the whole business.

          Therefore, retail manager should ensure that be it cashier or sales executive or store keeper, they should be hired after considering their minimum qualification and experience in the concerned field. If after recruiting, training and development, still these employees are not performing well after several warnings, they must be fired from the store. The store manager must ensure that all the employees at different levels are honestly doing their duties and are not creating problem for the store or other employees.

If any retail manager, employee or group of employees are lacking in some managerial skill / knowhow he/they must be provided with proper training, as trained employees work fast and in more effective way.

(5)     Budgeting and Forecasting : The store manager is more suitable for predicting the store’s future performance, calculating future expenses and accordingly setting budgets. Explaining the set targets and the funds available to departmental heads and collecting their performance at regular intervals  comes under implementation of retail strategy.

 (6)    Implementing Marketing Plans : This involves implementation of marketing policies devised in order to pursue store’s strategic marketing objectives. For examples, to allocate space for sales promotion activities, inspecting effectiveness of sales distribution programs etc.

(7)     Team Leadership : The store manager also has the task to motivating his employees and reducing any resistance to change in working methods that may be required when new strategic directions are set. Retail manager ensures that all his employees should work like a team leaving any personal grudge.

(8)     Maintaining leave and salary record : The store manager should have the proper balance and written record of the money comes in the store by way of selling the goods. He is also responsible for keeping the whole record of all the employees with regard to their working hours, number of days worked by each and every employee.

He will take care that each employee is getting the salary according to the number of days and hours served by them for the store, so that there should not be any partiality with any store employee.