Things to Know while Developing your Career in Retail

Retailing is evolving into a global, high-tech industry that plays a major role in the global economy. More than 60 percent of U.S. economic activity is affected by retailing and about one in five U.S. workers is employed by retailers. Although most people identify retailers as stores products seller, retailers are also involved with selling products over the internet through catalogs. Firms selling services to consumers, such as dry cleaning and automobile repairs, are also retailers.

Retailing is defined as a set of business activities that add value to the products and services sold to consumers for their personal or family use. These value-added activities include providing collection, breaking bulk, holding inventory and providing services.

For Example, most large retailers—such as Safeway, Wal-Mart, and Lowe’s – engage in both wholesaling and retailing activities. They buy directly from manufacturers, have merchandise shipped to their warehouses for storage, and then distribute the merchandise to their stores. Other Retailers such as The Gap and Victoria’s Secret are even more vertically integrated. They design the merchandise they sell and then contract with manufacturers to produce it exclusively for them.

Retailing offers exciting and challenging career opportunities. Retailing offers a variety of career paths, such as buying, store management, sales promotion and advertising, personnel, operations/distribution, loss prevention, and finance, in several different corporate forms such as department stores, specialty stores, food stores and discount stores. In addition retailing offers almost immediate accountability for talented people so they can reach key management position within a decade. Starting salaries are competitive, and the compensation of top management ranks among the highest in any industry.

Career Opportunities in Retail Industry

In retail firms career opportunities among the merchandising/buying, store management and corporate staff, function. Corporate positions are found in such area as accounting, finance, promotions and advertising, computer and distribution systems and human resource. The primary entry–level opportunities for a retailing career are in the areas of buying and store management. Buying positions are more number oriented, where as management positions are people oriented. Retailers typically want all of their employees to understand their customers and their merchandise. Therefore, most executives and corporate staff managers begin their careers in the store management or buying.

Store Management

All the discipline necessary to run a successful business: sales planning and goal setting, overall store image and merchandise presentation, budget and expense control, customer service and sales supervision, personnel administration and development and community relations. Store Managers directly work in the local markets, often at quite distance from the home office.

The typical entry-level for store management position is a department manager with responsibility for merchandise presentation, customer service and inventory control for an area of the store.

Merchandise Management

Merchandise management attracts people with strong analytical capabilities, an ability to predict what merchandise will appeal to their target markets, and a skill to negotiating with vendors as well as store management to get things done. Many retailers have divided the merchandising management into two different yet parallel career paths: buying and merchandising planning.

The typical entry-level position of college graduates interested in merchandise management is either assistant buyer or assistant planner in a merchandise category. In these positions you will do the sales analysis needed to support the decision eventually made by the planner or buyer for whom you work.

Corporate Staff

The corporate staff positions in retail firms involve activities and require knowledge, skills and abilities similar to comparable positions in non retail firms. Thus many mangers in these positions identify with their profession rather than Retail Industry.

Management Information System (MIS)

Employees in this area are involved with applications for capturing data and developing and maintaining inventory as well as the management of store system POS terminals and self check-out systems.

Operations/Distributions

Operations employees are responsible for operating and maintaining the store’s physical plant, providing various customer services, the receipt ticketing, warehousing and distribution of store’s inventory and buying and maintaining store supplies and operating equipment. Students in operations and MIS are typically major in Production, Operations or Computer Information System.

Promotions/Advertising

Promotion’s many aspects include public relations, advertising, visual merchandising and special events. This department attempts to build the retail firm’s brand image and encourages customers to visit the retailer’s store and or Website.

Loss Prevention

Loss prevention employees are responsible for protecting the retailer’s assets. They develop system and procedures to minimize employee theft and shoplifting.

Finance/Control

Many retailers are large business involved in complicated business structures. The finance/control division is responsible for the financial health of company. They prepare financial reports for all aspects of the business including long range forecasting and planning, economic trend analysis and budgeting, shortage control and internal audits, gross and net profit, accounts payable to vendors and accounts receivable from charge customers. In addition they manage the retailer’s relationship with the financial community

Real State

Employees in the real state division are responsible for the selecting locations for stores, negotiating leases and land purchases and managing the leasehold costs.

Store Design

Employees working in this area are responsible for the designing the store and presenting merchandise and fixtures in stores.

Human Resource Management

Human resource management is responsible for the effective selection, training, placement, advancements and welfare of employees.

Myths about Retail Sector

There are so many myths about retail jobs. Some are as Following:

1) Sales Clerk Is the Entry Level Job in Retailing

Most students and their parents think that people working in retailing have jobs as sales clerks and cashiers. They hold this view because, as customers in retail stores, they typically only interact with sales associates not their managers. Entry-level positions for college and university graduates are typically management trainees in the buying or store organization not sales associates.

2) College and University Degree Not Needed To Succeed In Retailing

While some employees are promoted on the basis of their retail experience, a college degree is needed for most retail management positions ranging from store managers to CEO. Over 150 colleges and Universities offer programs of study and degrees or major in retailing.

3) Retail Jobs Are Low Paying

Starting salaries for management trainees with a college degree range from $25,000 to $45,000 annually and compensation for top management ranks with the highest in Industry. Compensations vary according to the amount of responsibility. Specialty store managers are generally paid less than department store managers because their annual sales volume is lower.

4) Working in Retailing Requires Long Hours and Frequent Relocation

Retailing has an often exaggerated reputation of demanding long and unusual hours. Superficially this reputation is true. Store managers do work some evenings and weekends. Most professional careers requires more than 40 hours per week for the person to succeed.

5) Retailing Doesn't Provide Opportunities for Women and Minorities

Many people consider retailing to be among the most race and gender blind industry since most purchase are made by women and because minorities are becoming an increasingly important factor in the market.