With the tremendous growth of economy, retail management has emerged
as one of the fastest growing career in the country. The enormous expansion
in the retail sector during the past few years has thrown up a big demand
for trained professionals in the field. It is an industry looking for
people at all levels, from the school pass out with basic skills, to the
well qualified supply chain and retail management professionals. One can
take up a job depending on their interest and aptitude, since retail industry
is an array of activities starting from marketing to branding. This makes
retail profession one of the most demanding career of the era.
The working time and atmosphere all depends up on the company one works
for. One could start his career as a management trainee, and with hard
work and right attitude, could reach the manager posts of different departments.
Advertising agencies, Airlines, insurance companies, banks etc are some
other areas where one can find jobs, apart from retail shops. One can
even start their own business and be an entrepreneur.
Some job prospects in retail industry are :
Sales: It is the entry-level post of
retail business. But as every retail shop is completely dependent
up on the sales they get, this is one of the important posts in this
profession. To be a good sales person, one should have good knowledge
about the products, the shop, the customers etc. Sales associate,
Sales Manager, Department Manager are some of the posts one could
handle in this section.
Store Manager: Store managers sometimes
called General Manager or Store Director, are the responsible persons
for managing an individual store and its day- today functioning. The
store manager is in charge of the employees of the store and he himself
may report to a District or Area manager or the store's owner.
Retail Manager: It is the duty of a
retail manager to plan and coordinate the operations of the outlet.
This involves the layout of merchandise, monitoring the retail orders
and stock, analysing the supply etc. Candidates with MBA can start
off as retail manager.
Retail Buyers and Merchandisers: They
are the persons who select and buy the goods for the retail shop.
They should understand the needs of the customer, should be aware
of the trends in the market, and should possess great enthusiasm and
energy.
Visual Merchandisers: These people give
the brand a face, so they hold one of the very important positions
in the industry. Being a part of concept and design one could also
be a technical designer, product developer and store planner.
Supply Chain Distributors
Logistics and Warehouse Managers
Marketing Executives
Trained and talented retail management professionals are always in great
demand not only in India but abroad also. Big brands like Bata, Cafe Coffee
Day, Raymonds, Reliance India, Pantaloons, Nilgiris, Big Bazaar, Shopper's
stop, Subhiksha, Wallmart, Bharti etc. has opened retail chains throughout
the cities that offers huge job openings. A professional with excellent
communication skills and a flair for convincing people can be recruited
as store managers, customer care executives, merchandise officers, public
relations executive and so on, in multinational companies like Macdonald's,
Dominos, Levis, Nike, Adidas, Benetton, Sharp, Kodak etc.
