Luxury Department Store Retail Training Programme

First Friday developed and delivered a bespoke Retail Excellence programme to a world class department store retailer. The programme covered:-
- Commercial Awareness
- The fundamentals of walking the shop floor
- The fundamentals of stock management
- Product, presentation & layout
- Influencing others to maximise commercial gain

Luxury Department Store Retail Training Programme

A world-class department store retailer had completed a full retail review that resulted in a restructure and new roles, responsibility ways of working for their retail teams and managers.

This meant that the general store managers needed to take more ownership and accountability for the commercial performance of their departments, and think and act like business owners. Every decision a retail manager makes on a daily basis can affect the bottom line either positively or negatively, so developing the retail skills and commercial thinking of these managers would play a significant part in delivering strategic goals.

First Friday were recommended to the senior team as “experts in developing skills and behaviours for retail managers”. Working closely with key business stakeholders and subject matter experts to understand the business culture and the opportunities to be more commercial, we used our retail and L & D experience to design, develop and deliver a bespoke Retail Excellence programme.

Commercial Awareness
Understanding what it means to be commercially aware, and how to develop your awareness of internal and external factors to be able to think and act more commercially, and make better business decisions

The fundamentals of walking the shop floor
How to apply the principles of effective shop floor walking within three clearly defined levels; delivering retail standards, enhancing the customer experience and driving commercial performance

The fundamentals of stock management
How to apply the principles of effective stock management within three key areas; optimising stock levels, stock flow and stock relationships

Product, Presentation and Layout
How to apply the principles of working with product, presentation and layout to deliver the optimum balance between commercial gain and a superior customer shopping experience

Influencing others to maximise commercial gain
How to build a robust business case, how to use a thinking framework to support commercial decision making, and how to influence others to support your commercial ideas and decisions

We also designed toolkit resources to support each session including industry insight packs, coaching guides, links and references to additional learning, self- directed learning aids and evaluation tools for line managers.
The business was thrilled with how well the general store managers responded to the Retail Excellence programme, and with the outcomes it delivered. This was evident through:

– Business feedback on the credibility of the First Friday consultants and the value they added through being experienced retailers who now work with world class retailers every day

– Delegate feedback that the programme content and delivery helped them to think and act differently, and that the sessions were of significant benefit in their day-to-day roles

– Delegates being able to implement quick wins and actions which immediately improved the bottom line, alongside identifying actions to support mid and longer term financial improvements

– Excellent stakeholder feedback from the senior Retail and OD and L & D stakeholders

– A request for First Friday to deliver the programme to new cohorts of Sales Managers