Retail Area Manager

Jimmy Choo sta cercando su Milano un Retail Area Manager con esperienza che si occupi di Italia e Francia.

The role of Area Manager is to support our continued growth and development as we expand into the region.

Reporting into the Retail Director EMEA, the person in this role will be expected to deliver growth and maximise both sales and profitability.

The role will also be responsible for providing the retail teams and stores with a stimulating and supportive environment while maintaining and increasing standards of customer service and other areas across the stores.

The role will be based in either Milan or Paris and will involve a significant amount of travel to stores across the region.

Key Responsibilities:

Commercial

• Providing leadership and support to Store Managers in the area and teams to maximise sales and growth in each location
• Identify new business opportunities within the region, but also for existing stores.
• To oversee new store openings and store refurbishments within the region
• Support the Retail Director EMEA on any rent negotiations, new deal negotiations and contract renewals
• Responsible for setting, measuring and helping teams to achieve sales and KPI targets within the region in line with company goals. This will include ensuring that stores use these KPIs to drive sales and to achieve the financial goals of the Company
• Work closely with Department stores within the zone in which we have concessions ensuring constructive and collaborative relationships
• Identify and act on any market changes that may impact the business
• Working collaboratively with the EMEA Marketing team to identify marketing opportunities and roll out marketing initiatives with a key focus on maximising sales potential and brand recognition
• Ensure that all CRM strategies and on-going programs including client acquisition, client retention and customer database management are effectively carried out and maintained across the region
• Develop a deep understanding of the customer base in the region, know the key clients, understand customer trends and the specific needs of the market
• To ensure that product needs for the market are reported to the Buying team
• To work with the Merchandising and Buying team to ensure that each store has the optimum stock package to meet the needs of the local market and to alert to any shifts or developments in the region that may impact on the previously defined buying strategies
• To have an regular communication with the VM team and ensure that needs of the market are reflected within the VM directives in order to ensure they understand and adhere to our visual merchandising guidelines, as well as ensuring VM champions in store are well trained and supported
• Support store teams on the shop floor as required

Finance and Operations

• Support the Retail Director EMEA with the regional store P&Ls, focusing on increasing profitability and driving business results
• Carefully manage store operating costs within budgets
• Ensure that all retail stores in the region are fully compliant with financial, HR, legal and retail operation rules and procedures with a view to ensuring operational excellence
• Work with the store teams to ensure that all retail stores in the region are trained in stock control procedures and then adhere to them to prevent any inventory slippage and so we can ensure that we have accurate inventory stock holdings
• Work with Store Managers to manage maintenance issues within the retail stores and ensure they are resolved swiftly and in line with budget
• Identify and help resolve any Health & Safety and legal issues that might arise
• Ensure that the flow of goods into and out of the store from a logistics perspective is seamless and is structured to best support the needs of the store.

People

• Recruit, train, and develop a strong Retail Management team ensuring all positions are filled in a timely manner with experienced and talented recruits, driving a culture of excellence across all retail activities
• In partnership with the regional HR team, support Store Managers and Assistant Managers with capability and performance issues, raising line managers competence in dealing with employee relations issues and performance and ensuring that the Retail team are able to recruit a ‘best in class’ team of Sales Associates
• Provide detailed feedback to direct reports on performance and development areas
• Ensure all HR issues are dealt with in a timely and effective manner in line with guidance provided by the HR team
• Work closely with the Retail Excellence Development Manager to define training programs to ensure that we are investing in, and developing, our people
• Ensure that the Retail Excellence program is effectively rolled out and maintained across all the retail stores and participate in any future updates of this program to benefit the retail business

Experience Required

• Graduate calibre individual
• Advanced level Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Office
• Must be fluent English, Italian and French
• The candidate must have had significant previous experience working in Italian and French markets within a luxury fashion company, ideally managing multiple store locations within the region and in particular have a had a proven track record of working within the Italian and French market
• Demonstrate a deep understanding and awareness of luxury retail, fashion, customer demand and competitor activity within the zone
• Knowledge of Retail and Luxury best practices
• Demonstrable experience of increasing turnover and profitability in previous roles, as well as successful management of P&Ls, budgets and sales growth
• Successful track record of recruiting, delivering effective training programs, managing HR-related issues, an understanding of the payroll function, Italian and French social and labour law and generally optimizing the team to deliver the best results for the Company

Particular Skills/Knowledge Required

• The ability to inspire, motivate and lead
• Excellent communication and ‘people’ skills
• A strong commitment to customer service
• The ability to work under pressure and handle challenging situations
• Confidence, drive and enthusiasm
• Decision-making ability and a sense of responsibility
• Planning and organizational skills
• Commercial acumen
• A capacity for innovation