Retail Manager

Position Overview

The Retail Manager plays a pivotal role in driving sell-out growth by crafting and executing strategic commercial initiatives, optimizing brand performance, and fostering strong relationships with key accounts. This position ensures seamless alignment between sales, marketing, supply chain, and finance to enhance market presence, sustain revenue growth, and uphold operational excellence across all commercial functions. The Retail Manager is responsible for translating business objectives into actionable plans while maintaining a sharp focus on performance metrics, market trends, and consumer insights.

Core Responsibilities

Sell-Out Management

The Retail Manager is tasked with developing and implementing annual sell-out targets to drive revenue growth. This includes leading the execution of brand and trade marketing (TM) activations such as product launches, visibility initiatives, and planogram optimizations. The role involves closely monitoring ranking and market share performance, comparing actuals against targets, and reporting on market trends, competitor activities, and consumer behavior to uncover new business opportunities. Additionally, the Retail Manager participates in Sales Inventory Stock Out (SISO) management and collaborates in forecast processes to ensure accurate demand planning. Topline growth is further driven through strategic door management and channel development, with a focus on meeting KPIs across all sales channels.

Team Leadership & Development

As a leader, the Retail Manager is responsible for guiding the sell-out team—including Sales Specialists (SS) and Business Controllers (BC)—to achieve key performance indicators (KPIs). This involves creating and implementing work plans, enhancing BC productivity, and providing continuous coaching, mentoring, and performance feedback to foster team development. Regular team meetings and performance evaluations are conducted to ensure alignment with organizational goals. The role also includes overseeing the submission of commissions for SS and BC, as well as preparing and presenting sales reports, suggested orders, and door stock positions to senior management.

Customer Relationship Management

Building and maintaining long-term relationships with key accounts is a critical function of this role. The Retail Manager leads joint business planning (JBP) initiatives with strategic customers to align on shared objectives and drive mutual growth. This position also addresses escalations, operational challenges, and service concerns to ensure customer satisfaction and retention. Proactive engagement with accounts helps identify opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

Performance Monitoring & Reporting

The Retail Manager is responsible for tracking and reporting on commercial KPIs, including sales performance, ranking, market share, and stock health. Monthly business reviews (MBR) are conducted to provide actionable insights and recommendations to management. Corrective actions are implemented in underperforming areas to address gaps and optimize performance. Collaboration with the supply chain team ensures accurate demand forecasting and stock availability, while monitoring stock-on-hand (SOH) levels, returns, and slow-moving inventory to minimize financial impact. The role also ensures the timely execution of launch orders, replenishments, and assortment adjustments to meet market demands.

Key Competencies

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop and execute long-term commercial strategies that align with business objectives.
• Commercial Acumen: Deep understanding of market dynamics, consumer behavior, and competitive landscapes to drive revenue growth.
• Leadership & Team Management: Proven ability to inspire, mentor, and lead cross-functional teams to achieve performance targets.
• Negotiation & Influence: Strong interpersonal skills to build relationships, resolve conflicts, and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Analytical & Problem-Solving Skills: Proficiency in data analysis to identify trends, assess performance, and implement data-driven solutions.
• Customer Orientation: Commitment to delivering exceptional customer experiences and fostering long-term partnerships.
• Execution & Operational Excellence: Ability to translate strategies into actionable plans and ensure flawless execution across all commercial activities.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, trade-union membership, political or philosophical beliefs, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, health, or disability. Job applications will never be assessed on the basis of these criteria. However, in certain cases, some of this information may be required to comply with local legal obligations.