General Manager | Retail | Fashion Division

What you will do

General Outline

• Define and prioritize key strategic objectives in coordination with partners throughout the organization to provide decision support through high quality business forecasting, operations and analytics processes.
• Manage strong professional relationships with team members, brands managers, Key Stakeholders and Brand Principals.
• Create highly sophisticated analytical frameworks and functional models to forecast the business and provide recommendations for solving key business problems.
• Develop and maintain KPIs and business dashboards to enable performance management and facilitate accountability.
• Deliver timely, accurate and effective analysis and reporting of financial & operational performance to executive and senior management.
• Ensure reports provide actionable insight into the levers of the business.
• Track performance relative to budgets, schedules, milestones and performance targets.
• Plan and maximize the sales and profit contribution of the Fashion Brands in MENA
• Effectively build and manage operating budgets, P&L and manage KPIs of the same.
• Develop annual regional business plan to reflect the brand positioning, negotiate key aspects of the planned delivery with the brand in each regional market.
• Strategize and implement regional brand communication needs in keeping with the integrity of the brand and regional appeal.
• Maximize turnover by ensuring accurate, timely and commercial sales planning and forecasting.
• Monitoring and maintaining brand profitability of the business lines by management of full price and markdown sales, intake margins, levels of markdown activity and terminal stock.
• Direct the development of operating standards, policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with all laws and company guidelines.
• Lead to ensure effective inventory management system for all business lines within the Group guidelines.
• Managing support functions such as Operations, Process & Compliance, Marketing, Planning, Supply Chain, Wholesale within the company.
• Initiate weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual business reviews with the Head of Departments, Brand Managers and Operations Managers.
• Conducting on-site meetings with management team members on stores\xe2\x80\x99 performance.

Store Profitability and Productivity

• Develop the location\xe2\x80\x99s expense and sales budgets in consultation with Finance.
• Deliver sales and profitability targets. Execute strategies, initiatives and staffing levels are within budgetary guidelines and scheduling is within manpower cost.
• Actively partners with VP \xe2\x80\x93 Asia & Fashion MENA, Robinsons and Watsons MENA, HR Business Partner, Head of Operations, Brand Managers, Planning Manager, Country Managers and Marketing teams to influence and execute strategies to drive sales and profitability.
• Sets store selling and productivity plans to achieve or exceed customer penetration and spend targets and grow market share.
• Responds to changing business conditions in order to deliver sound financial results.
• Minimize stock losses through effective management oversight of stock control practices and security procedures.
• Organize strategies and tactics to build the lease business including working with the product, marketing and HR teams as appropriate on events, training, mystery shoppers, NPS and store layouts.
• Builds strong relationships with Fashion Brand Principals.
• Maintain keen awareness of competitor movements and market performance.

Product, Visual Merchandising, Marketing

• Oversee the regional events calendar for positive brand building through promotional activities.
• Partner with Brand to develop seasonal marketing and PR strategies.
• Ensure the Brands heads are delivering accurate feedback on product needs in respective market.
• Ensure via Operations Managers all stores & stock rooms are in line with the brand standards.

Digital

• Ensure brands have a digital roadmap strategy.
• Strategize to activate the stock integration project to maximize online sales.

Leadership

• Provide coaching, counselling and direction to direct reports to ensure their continued professional growth and development.
• To conduct staff appraisal and quarterly performance review with Brand Heads & functions.
• To improve staff morale leading to positive and dynamic working attitude and environment.
• To maintain general and acceptable staff working conditions.
• To support all Brand Managers to maintain productivity and retail operational standards in areas of work performance and sales.

Team & Service Management

• Partners with other senior management to develop short and long-term strategies and is responsible for implementing those strategies.
• Effectively communicate company overall KPIs and how each country stores\xe2\x80\x99 sales targets and strategies support achievement of Fashion business objectives and KPIs. Ensure country stores\xe2\x80\x99 management team achieve their KPIs and remain focused on overall business strategies. Review progress on a regular basis.
• Create and promote a positive work environment in line with company\xe2\x80\x99s values, employee related policies, practices and local environment considerations. Provide effective team leadership through open communication, training, coaching and active encouragement of direct reports and the team to meet or exceed location sales and profitability targets, while role modelling the desired behaviours.
• Ensure a development plan is in place and actively reviewed for all management and potential management team members.
• Ensure the management team consistently coaches its staff with a focus on enhancing the customer experience. For Sales teams, in addition to service levels, it must include continual improvement and refinement of sales techniques and product knowledge.

Bayt