Area Operations Manager

Role : Area Operations Manager

Locations- Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jabalpur, Kolhapur

Profile Summary

Our Area Operations Manager is responsible for developing and expanding the business in the respective area and managing the store operations across the respective area thereby increasing the customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

Driving Sales and Customer Service

a. Driving and ensuring to meet or exceed the sales plan of the respective territory monthly/ quarterly and annually

b. Driving and focusing on providing the customer services thereby increasing the Net Promoter Score (NPS) for the store

c. Drive culture of high sales performance expectations, i.e. SALES Leadership

d. Motivates and inspires field team to drive for results.

e. Review financial performance at regional level to identify improvement opportunities.

f. Serve as critical strategy planning link between Corporate and the field organization.

g. Translate corporate goals including financial returns, sales growth and market share, into business plans.

h. Assess field capability and establish performance priorities at group level.

Manpower Planning & People Development

a. Working with the HR team and the Store Manager in ensuring staffing levels are adequate to effectively operate the store

b. Direct responsibility for professional development of Lenskart Associates

c. Assess and prioritize advanced management skill gaps including those related to design and implementation of business plans, forecasts, financial analysis, associate development and communication.

d. Conduct two-way, formal and informal performance evaluations of Lenskart Associates which review professional development needs and accomplishments as well as overall achievement of management objectives

e. Responsible for establishing a culture that embraces diversity and maximizes the learnings from a diverse team.

f. Overall responsibility for associate development

Managing P&L of the Assigned Stores

a. Responsible for managing and maintaining territory and store budgets to ensure profitability at store as well as territory level

b. Managing the top and bottom line effectively of the assigned territory and stores

c. Responsible for reducing shrinkage

d. Managing the productivity of the staff

e. Using cost effective methods to ensure productivity of the respective territory

Managing and Maintaining High Standards of Retail Operations

a. Regular Store Visits to:

o Audit stores

o Coaching the Store Managers

o Motivate staff through sales discussions

o Check VM, stock availability

o Check store hygiene, grooming

o Assess discipline levels in store – opening times, staff attendance, process adherence etc.

b. Analyze data before Store Visits

o Monitoring Sales through data.

o Assessing the productivity and achievements of the stores

o Store Staffing levels.

o Product flow, supply, demand and shrinkage.

o NPS and MC scores

o Reviewing measures to achieve performance targets

a. Bridge communication between Management and floor

o Recommending changes to ZM/BH basis visits.

o Ensure Timely reporting of Data when needed.

o Implementing and enforcing company regulations

o Implement process change

o Attending conferences, events and meetings at regional as well as corporate level to enhance knowledge and skill sets

Inventory Management

a. Ensures availability of required merchandise and services at each of the assigned stores

b. Ensuring that inventory levels are well balanced and making key decisions about inventory control at each of the assigned stores

c. Ensuring physical verification of inventory on regular intervals is being conducted at each of the assigned stores

d. Ensuring the staff at store level has basic understanding of POS System to ensure transactions are properly and effectively processed

e. Ensuring necessary quality checks for the new products is being conducted in a timely manner

f. Responsible for reducing shrinkage at store level

g. Working very closely with various departments in the organization till the product reaches the customer and ensuring the best customer experience to the Lenskart Customer

Key Personal and Professional Attributes:

• Collaborative Skills: The role requires the incumbent to work closely and coordinate with the Internal and external teams to create success. S/he should be able to seamlessly navigate these relationship dynamics in a high growth, young, agile business environment.
• Functional understanding: The role is critical for the business performance and would require the incumbent to create a competitive business advantage. It would be critical to analyze the effectiveness of the processes on a day to day basis and course correct.
• Data driven/ Analytical: The role is required to drive specific process efficiency metrics and would be accountable to drive data-driven decision making.
• Results oriented: The role is required to work on deliver on daily numbers, short-term goals and long-term milestones set by business and efficacy. Meeting these milestones would be critical to create success.
• Extroverted Personality
• Pleasant & Friendly who can be easily approached
• Pragmatic Leaders who are self -motivated and resilient
• Passionate
• Energetic
• Positive Attitude
• Ability to handle stressful situations
• Problem Solving & Decision Making
• Assertive
• Sales Driven & Number Oriented Team player

Candidate Profile:

• Full Time Post Graduate with 7-9 years of relevant experience into retail industry
• Post-Graduation is a must

• Very strong communication skills- both written and verbal and must be a good orator
• Should have hands on experience working on Microsoft Office- Including Excel, PPT & Word

e) Strong inter-personal skills (friendly, caring & patient)

f) Sales oriented

g) Strong Management/leadership skills.

h) Strong organizational skills.

i) Strong team builder

Required Managerial Competencies

People Management

• Mentors team members and colleagues; guides them with regard to development and career progression.
• Clearly communicates work responsibilities and expectations and takes steps to balance the workload among team members.
• Anticipates the effect of an action on other people and modifies such action accordingly.
• Resolves conflicts among colleagues in just and fair manner

Proactive Problem Solving Skills

• Anticipates problems before they develop, and takes steps to avert them.
• Considers a situation from multiple perspectives before deciding on a course of action.
• Adept at managing the flow of information in times of crisis.
• Appeals to reason, facts, and figures and adapts managerial style based on the demands of the situation

Commercial Savviness

• Protects the commercial interests of the company with the aim of maximizing revenue.
• Takes appropriate business decisions after performing a cost-benefit analysis and pre-empts problems and resolves them, ensuring minimal business loss.
• Builds and manages workforce based on organizational goals and budget constraints

Customer Expectation Management

• Adept at balancing the interests of the company with the needs and expectations of the client/customer
• Responds deliberately and diplomatically to protect company interests
• Communicates effectively about sensitive matters and influences the client/customer when required

Planning and Organizing

• Adept at prioritization and time management to ensure efficient and timely completion of assignments
• Manages and shifts priorities as required and incorporates new approaches
• Delegates work effectively among team members

Required Personality Traits

• Extraversion - The trait is marked by pronounced engagement with the external world. Extraverts enjoy interacting with people, and are often perceived as full of energy. They tend to be enthusiastic, action-oriented individuals. They possess high group visibility, like to talk, and assert themselves
• Conscientiousness- It is a tendency to display self-discipline, act dutifully, and strive for achievement against measures or outside expectations. It is related to the way in which people control, regulate, and direct their impulses. High scores on conscientiousness indicate a preference for planned rather than spontaneous behavior
• Openness to Experience- Openness is a general appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience. People who are open to experience are intellectually curious, open to emotion, sensitive to beauty and willing to try new things. They tend to be, when compared to closed people, more creative and more aware of their feelings
• Agreeableness- The agreeableness trait reflects individual differences in general concern for social harmony. Agreeable individual’s value getting along with others. They are generally considerate, kind, generous, trusting and trustworthy, helpful, and willing to compromise their interests with others.
• Polychronicity- it is defined as a continuum, and preferences for degrees of engagement. At one extreme is the pattern of focusing on one task at a time, interpreting other potential tasks and events as interruptions and attempting to shield one's chosen task from such interference. The other extreme is actually open-ended, it involves engagement in several tasks simultaneously, sometimes literally simultaneously and sometimes in a frequent back-and-forth engagement pattern
• Emotional Stability- People high on emotional stability do not tend to have a negative outlook of the future and hence are usually calmer. Persons who score low in emotional stability generally have a fearful and negative disposition, with an ominous foreboding about things.