Job: Retail Director / District Manager – Duty Free Megastore

Level:゠Retail Director / District Manager
Title: Assistant General Manager
Direct Reports: 100+ people
Industry: Luxury & Consumer Goods
ID: 170
Location: Los Angeles, CA (LAX Airport)
Compensation: Depending on experience from $110k ゠to $160k base + 30% bonus
Market: Travel Retail / Duty Free

Our Client

Our client is an international operator in the Travel Retail industry. They are managing multi-stores channels in the airports around the world with luxury and consumer goods brands.

Objective

The Assistant General Manager – Sales is a key business partner to the General Manager at store゠level. The AGM Sales is a member of the senior team responsible for crafting, leading and delivering approved゠location specific strategies aligned with the execution and achievement of Company targets, strategic goals゠and initiatives.

Ideal Profile

The ideal profile is a well rounded senior Retail Sales professional with entrepreneurial mindset and obviously a strong experience in the retail distribution. The ideal candidate will replace the current GM within 12 months! So we are almost recruiting at a GM level! This is a very LARGE VOLUME operation. We need candidates with retail management of $50 Mio in sales and above (way above!). District Managers welcome.

Job Description

• Prepare and execute approved store productivity plans that achieve or exceed customer penetration,゠spend targets and grow market share.
• Lead your category manager’s to work effectively with Global & Division Merchants to execute the merchandising゠strategies in each of their areas. Ensure each Category Manager is fully conversant with their strategies and relevant゠brand, assortment, collections knowledge and effectively communicates this with their sales team.゠Coach, train and mentor each Category Manager to communicate effectively with their Merchant via monthly゠conference calls and email.
• Drive the local promotional calendar with the Global & Division Merchants and Marketing teams.
• Effectively communicate and execute the Promotions in store as scheduled and agreed in the calendar.
• Lead each Category Manager to take proactive steps to increase their team sales and continuously improve individual productivity of each of their team members.
• Partner with the General Manager for effective utilization of the teams for your location to maximize sales productivity and support delivery of exceptional customer service experiences within your location.
• Active involvement in Lease Brand Business relations: positively contribute to leasing relationships, supporting strategies and tactics to build the lease business and seamlessly integrate the teams into the location. Liaise with merchandising, marketing teams and brands as appropriate on events, training, mystery shoppers, store layouts and expectations on customer service experiences.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with joint venture partners in your location and ensure strong communication links are maintained in store. Drive delivery of consistent customer service levels across your location.
• Maintain keen awareness of competitor movements and activities.
• Participate in sales forecasting as requested by the General Manager.
• Works as part of a team with your local senior team, Business Development, Group and Corporate Finance on the development of proposals for both existing and potential locations as/when required.
• Create and promote a positive work and industrial relations environment in line with DFS values, employee related policies and practices and local environment considerations. Responsible for Category Manager and sales staff retention, staff development and job satisfaction levels. Provide effective team leadership through open communication, training, coaching and active encouragement of Category Manager’s and the sales team to meet or exceed location sales and profitability targets, while role modeling desired behaviors.
• Work with Store teams, Merchants and Visual to execute store presentation and promotional activities.
• Complete internal reports and participate in various projects as/when required.

Requirements

• Bachelor Degree minimum (MBA a plus)
• 7 to 10 years experience in retail management of luxury and/or consumer goods (Luxury, Fashion, Accessories, Food & Beverage, Wines & Spirits, Snacks, Cosmetics, Beauty Products, etc…)
• Multi stores, National chain stores, Flagship stores management experience
• Excellent with MS Office, Excel in particular
• Familiar with multicultural and international environment
• Excellent organization skills and ability to prioritize tasks
• Perfect presentation and communication skills
• Strong multidimensional leadership ability. Able to effectively operate in a culturally diverse
  environment with astuteness and sensitivity.
• Good problem solving skills.
• Mandarin speaker is a big plus.
• Ability to work independently and on weekends and outside of regular office hours, if required.
• Appreciated previous experience: Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, Gap, Zara, H&M, Uniqlo, Sack’s, Wal-Mart, Target, Victoria Secret, Nuance Group, World Duty Free Group, Dufry, Duty Free Americas, DFA, DFS, Duty Free Shoppers, Heinemann, LS Travel Retail
• Appreciated previous titles: General Manager, Assistant General Manager, Boutique Director, Store Director, District Manager, Regional Manager