Retail Management - Operations

Position Title: Operations Manager                                                    Reports To: Store Manager

Job Overview

As an Operations Manager you will maintain the primary responsibility for the overall business operations of your store. You must not only understand and execute the policies and procedures for your store retail, rental and custom business operations, but also train, coach, and support store staff on all aspects of store operations. You will interact with customers in all aspects of the retail, rental and custom business, and you will provide exemplary service.

Essential Functions

Sales and Service:

• Greet and interact with customers in a friendly and professional manner, including professional telephone courtesy.
• Follow through on all promises made, problems discovered, rental and custom not committed orders/pickups or special-order requests for customers on a timely basis.
• Ensure the store staff are delivering outstanding customer service by coaching, teaching and leading by example. Support the store in achieving established goals for retail, rental and custom sales volume, and quality of sales.
• Observe and facilitate the tuxedo rental process with the store staff, in order to ensure outstanding customer service. Provide tuxedo rental training and coaching when appropriate.
• Drive rental revenues by training store staff to drive APU, wedding group size, wedding build and prom units, while ensuring proficiency in rental product knowledge and proper fitting/measuring procedures, and customer service.
• Become involved in all customer tuxedo rental complaints and returns that occur while you are in the store, as well as all other customer concerns when you are the senior manager on duty. Ensure all customer complaints are resolved immediately and to the best possible satisfaction of our customers, while working within the parameters of Company policy and the needs of your business.
• Work with your store manager and multi-unit manager(s) to analyze and drive tuxedo sales volume.
• Provide professional and timely telephone contact with customers to set in-store appointments, follow up on incomplete rental orders, resolve any rental order discrepancies or inaccuracies, and to gauge customer satisfaction and quality assurance.
• Lead special occasion/ rental marketing efforts for the store.
• Minimally, learn how to perform basic alterations (plain bottoms and cuffs) and press all customer garments.
• Coordinate, help staff, and attend occasion based trade shows (i.e. bridal shows, quince shows, and the like), with help of Regional Managers, Zone Vice Presidents, Special Occasion Team, and bridal show coordinators, ensuring proper selling behaviors and best practices are deployed at trade shows. Report back on all competition at trade shows and work to develop new leads to build on future opportunities with vendors and show producers.
• Coordinate and lead on site school fittings for prom.

Operations:

• Analyze and follow-up on all tuxedo reports and concerns generated by reports Learn and demonstrate proficiency of all store operations systems, including but not limited to Oracle, POS, WFM and Loop communications, along with all operations processes and procedures.

• Ensure all store prom files, wedding files, custom files, and school files are all present and up-to-date, per guidelines. (Paper and digital)
• Ensure all visual guidelines for rental floor sets, custom presentation, and David’s Bridal floor sets are up-to-date and per presentation guidelines.
• Ensure store is current on style availability updates, custom fabric availability updates, and unavailable information (discontinued rental product or custom fabric)
• Ensure store is following up with prescribed communication to customers (i.e. 48/30/30 calls for rental)
• Conduct rental inventories.
• Properly control inventory by following all regional standards for reporting stock counts and inventory discrepancies.
• Ensure all custom, rental and retail price changes, promotions and signage changes are complete on time.
• Ensure store employees are trained and proficient in Oracle, POS, WFM and Loop communications, systems processes and procedures.
• Ensure your store is customer ready by taking the lead for all non-customer facing duties such as shipment processing, ecommerce processing, NTS ship rates, and back of house operations.
• Monitor and react to special occasion merchandise needs. Maintain knowledge of all special occasion merchandise available to the customer, and all in-store sample merchandise.  Ensure price changes, markdowns and sale set-up are completed accurately and on time, including but not limited to ensuring that all product is properly ticketed, matches the POS computer system and matches any and all pertinent signage at all times.
• Secure all Company assets according to procedures. Ensure proper deposit of all money received on Company’s behalf, and properly and timely deposit in bank on a daily basis. Secure your store through proper closing, alarm procedures and timely response to alarm calls.
• Assist store management team with maintaining proper staffing including scheduling in WFM
• Assist in receiving shipments, putting away new merchandise, maintaining a clean, neat, sized and organized store based on our merchandising to sell standards.

Team Based Work Environment

• Adhere to all Company policies as outlined in the Employee Handbook and/or all Company practices and procedures.
• Maintain your own timecard as an accurate reflection of your time worked, including clocking in and out for appropriate meal periods. When you are the manager on duty, ensure other employees comply with meal period requirements and clock in and out appropriately.
• Serve as a role model to all store team members and provide enthusiastic motivational leadership. Project a positive attitude and friendly demeanor.
• Continuously observe the work performance of your team and, in the manager’s absence, supply immediate feedback to all employees when expectations are not met and positive reinforcement when they are. Communicate regularly with the Store Manager on observed performance so that the Store Manager can accurately evaluate employee performance.
• When you are the senior manager on duty, address employee performance concerns and disciplinary issues within your store. Communicate these concerns to the Store Manager in a timely manner, in order for the Store Manager to provide follow up as needed.
• Report any incidents, accidents, or safety hazards that occur in your store to the manager on duty and/or to the appropriate corporate personnel.
• Maintain a workplace free of harassment and discrimination by strictly adhering to the Company’s Anti Discrimination and Harassment policies and by promptly reporting any concerns under those policies to your Regional Manager or the Human Resources Department.

• Assist store management team with maintaining proper staffing at all times, especially during peak hours or business periods, by regularly communicating the anticipated tuxedo rental volume and tuxedo deliveries along with staffing needs.
• Take an active role in weekly staff meetings at your store. Attend all zone and store meetings, training courses and store inventory.
• Work with the Store Manager to ensure the store is visually set to standards (inside/outside).
• Help recruit and retain high caliber personnel that meet our all-inclusive store team environments. 
• Practice and adhere to good store and individual health etiquette for ourselves, our teams and customers

Qualifications

• Proven track record of successful employment history in the customer service industry.
• Strong organizational and leadership skills and the ability to multi-task in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. Comfortable communicating with partners at all levels, both internal and external.
• Proven ability to develop teams into high performing individuals and by providing training and development.
• Proficient in technology systems and applications.
• Must have strong decision-making and problem-solving skills.
• Creative, and business savvy individual who demonstrates good judgement.
• Self-motivated, results oriented, innovative thinker.
• Ability to work weekends, nights and holidays.

Physical and Mental Requirements

• Interpret, follow and execute detailed instructions.  Learn, apply and retain Company policies and procedures; merchandise and selling information. 
• Solve employee and customer problems containing numerous variables and be able to relay sensitive or complex information and obtain consensus from diverse groups.
• Read, count and write to accurately complete documentation and inventory. 
• Carry out simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division or be able to perform these with a calculator.
• Bend down and squat to locate and pick up merchandise located at ground level and to assist customers put on shoes; bend down and crouch to mark pants for alterations. Climb a ladder to reach merchandise and or supplies located above shoulder level.
• Lift arms and reach over the head to hang or take merchandise off racks or place on customer. 
• Operate a computer and cash register, including manual tasks such as reaching across the counter to exchange monies with customer, grasping, pulling, pushing, and folding merchandise to wrap customer purchases.
• Stand and walk for the majority of work shift, sometimes as long as twelve hours per day, five or sometimes six days per week.
• Frequent (at least 2/3 of the work day) bending and twisting at neck and waist, crouching and squatting, reaching above and below shoulder height, grasping, pulling, pushing and fine manipulation with both hands, lifting up to 50 lbs.
• Meet all schedule requirements.  Work at least 40 hours per week, which may include working any of the hours the store is in operation, at least two closing shifts per week, Saturdays, and six days per week during peak periods.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.