Career Path Research: Shop Manager Role in Retail Industry Report

This report presents a detailed career research analysis, focusing on the retail industry and the specific role of a shop manager within a clothing outlet. The report begins with an introduction to career research and the rationale for choosing the retail sector, highlighting its growth and opportunities. It then delves into primary and secondary research methodologies, examining industry trends such as technological advancements and globalization, and the skills and knowledge required for a shop manager, including communication, leadership, and IT proficiency. The report includes a personal skill audit and an interview with a fashion store manager from Marks & Spencer to gather insights. The evaluation section assesses the author's suitability for the role, considering their MBA background and interest in fashion. The conclusion summarizes the findings, emphasizing the importance of career research in identifying suitable pathways and skill development. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the retail industry and the shop manager position, offering valuable insights for individuals considering this career path.

Assig Career
viewpoint

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1
ANALYSIS & APPLICATION.............................................................................................1
Secondary research..................................................................................................1
Primary research.......................................................................................................4
Evaluation..................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................7
APPENDICES....................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Career research is a process where individual perform a detailed evaluation over
the career path in order to determine industry to be entered and type of job to be
selected. This support an aspirant to investigate several sectors and choose best
among them for future job. Being a freshly graduate it is a time to select a segment in
which I can pursue my career path and for this I have chosen retail industry as it is
considered to be one of the fastest growing industry which provide several career
growth options to aspirants. For performing this investigation on retail sector I have
decided to perform both primary as well as secondary research for the position of shop
manager in clothing outlet.
ANALYSIS & APPLICATION
Retail industry involve group of businesses that operates for selling merchandise
to consumers for their final use by breaking bulk. It is one of the fastest growing sectors
which involve regular anticipation of new retailer for offering product or services related
with basic need of people. This industry is growing rapid pace that contribute toward
growth of economy and also provide various job opportunities to people so that they can
lead a more successful career path (Browning, Thompson and Dawson, 2016).
Becoming a Shop manager is one of the greatest opportunity for each individual who
want to pursue their career in fashion retailing as it provided several new option to keep
growing. This is because a manager is responsible for handling all the activities that are
performed within a store and resolving issues that clients are facing. These all
contribute toward enhancing their skills and capability which in turn support them in
choosing a better career path. For further evaluating the importance of this job role
primary as well as secondary investigation has been performed which is presented
below:
Secondary research
Under this type of investigation, data is gathered from the sources where
information is already published by some another person over similar kind of research.
The secondary investigation is performed in order to develop an understanding
regrading current area of investigation by considering previously published data so that
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it can be further explored over specific area (Lämsä and et. al., 2017). The secondary
information is basically gathered from sources like webpages, articles, census, internet
etc.
General trends that may have impact over chosen profession:-
The store manger within an organisation dealing in clothing holds up several
responsibility related with the proper management of stores from keeping the stock
available to keep it updated as per trend in order to keep customers satisfied. But
despite of all this, there are some trends or changes that retail industry continuously
experiencing as there is increase in players who came up in industry with new ideas to
keep aside from crowd and achieve competitive edge (Cairoli, 2017). The major trends
found in fashion retailing is more customised services, technological up-gradation,
globalisation etc. which hugely influence the operations performed by a store manager
in following manner:
 A store manager must aware about several technologies that can be used by
them to make operations much easier, like inventory management system,
supply chain management system etc. which support shop manager to have a
knowledge regarding the availability of stock and source through which stock can
be called. By getting updated with such technology the shop managers be able to
simplify their operations and reduce the chances of error.
 The anticipation of globalisation has changes the need and expectation of
customers that they hold toward an organisation which highly influence the
operations performed by store manager (Gati, 2017). This is because the store
manager is responsible for selecting and representing the clothing designs on
which the customer shopping experience depends. Hence, manager must be
aware about the fashion trend prevailing at global market and the expectations
that customers have so that more customised services can be provided.
Skills / knowledge and experience required :-
A Clothing store manager holds up several role and responsibilities as they have
to manager the overall store and each operations performed in that particular store.
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They are responsible for fulfilling the store operational requirement, scheduling the
tasks to be performed, assigning tasks, manage store staff in term of recruiting &
training, determining current & future customer requirement, arranging stock as per the
demand and so on (Latzke and et. al., 2015). Therefore, the store manager required
several skills and knowledge in order to perform such responsibilities in effective
manner. These are mentioned below:-
Skills:- Communication skill:- It is one of the crucial skill for a store manager as they
have to communicate with the employees regarding the task they have to
perform and this skill help them in clearly explaining the role of each employees
so that duplication of work can be avoided (Pouyaud and et. al., 2017). Leadership skills:- The store manager is responsible for handling each
operations performed in store and their leadership skills is very essential. As by
leading employees effectively the store manager become able to divert the
efforts of employees toward organisational goals. Conflict management skills:- While working together number of conflicts arises
among employees and by effective conflict management skills store manager
become able to convert issue into constructive conflict that results in benefit of
both the parties. Time management:- The store manager must be expertise in time management
so that proper action can be taken in timely manner for achieving maximum
customer satisfaction (Gilbert, 2014).
 Adaptability:- The fashion retailer is working in dynamic environment where
changes are experienced much frequently. Therefore, a store manager must be
adaptable to changing environment so that operations can be managed as per
the expectations of customers.
Knowledge area and experience:- Information Technology:- The store manager must have a knowledge
regarding IT and manner it can be used for performing operations in more
effective manner. Because IT is used in several things such as managing and
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storing data, sharing information, billing, performing market research and offering
online services to customers (Strauss, 2018).
 Accounting & Finance:- A store manager is responsible for creating budget and
accessing the financial information regarding sales as well as cost incurred in
management of store for ascertaining the profit and loss faced by store. Hence,
they must have thorough understanding of finance so that proper management
can be taken place regarding the store operations.
Personal Skill Audit:-
1. Bad
2. Not Bad
3. Average
4. Good
5. Very Good
Skills (personal audit
questionnaire)
1 2 3 4 5
1). Communication skills *
2). Leadership *
3). Conflict Management Skills *
4). Time managment *
5). Adaptability *
6). Information Technology *
7). Accounting & Finance *
Primary research
Primary research is defined as the method through which fresh and relevant data
is collected which not yet been investigated by any other person. In order to determine
the skills and knowledge that a store manager required, primary investigation has been
performed by arranging an interview with store manager (Hirschi, 2018). From this
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interview following skills has been found that are essentials for an fashion store
manager:-
Name of contact Mr. Thomas
Company Marks & Spencer
Job tittle Fashion store manager
Date of contact 18/03/19
How did you contact them I went for a seminar in university their I met
with Mr. Thomas and who is a store
manager in Mark & Spencer. I asked
several question from him for collecting
information regarding my chosen career
path.
Question asked 1). I asked him about improvement that
company experienced in ten years?
2). I asked about the culture and working
environment of organization?
3). Additional benefit that managers get?
Summary of response So he brief me about it and said that
organisation has experienced a
tremendous growth in ten years by
managing both physical and digital
platform which become possible only
through advancement of technology. Apart
from that organizational culture is also
positive as leaders are cooperative in
nature. and it provide benefits like PF,
medical benefit etc.
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Evaluation
I have completed my graduation and now its a time to select a particular career
path to pursue so that I can apply all my learning to achieve a better career. Recently I
have completed by MBA in Marketing & Finance specialisation and for availing better
career opportunity I have decide to step into retail industry for pursuing a job role of
clothing store manager. I feel this would be best field to start a job and building a most
successful career path as retail sector is one of the fastest growing industry which
operates at both physical as well as virtual platform. Hence, this would be a greater
opportunity that provide me a chance to enhance my managerial skill along with IT
knowledge that further contribute toward a better career path. The main reason behind
selecting this job role is that I am quite active about the trends that are prevailing in
fashion industry which support me in a great extend while managing the stock. In
addition to this my communication and IT skills are good which support me in managing
my team much effectively by applying the IT skills which simplify the operations.
Despite of all this, MBA is an overall personal development course which provide
an individual understanding regrading the skills as well as tactics that are required for
proper management. This understanding will support me in performing my work well by
ensuring effective management of activities and my interest area in fashion trend will
further motivate me in performing well in term of my job role. Therefore the career in
retail industry as a clothing store manager is best for me in my understanding and this
will provide me a better career pathway.
CONCLUSION
From the above performed investigation it can be interpreted that career
research is one of the crucial thing that each individual must perform before selecting a
pathway to pursue their career goals. This investigation support in identifying the
benefits as well as challenges that an individual will experienced so that proper pathway
can be selected. In addition to this it also support in identifying the trends that are
prevailing in a particular job role so that proper skill enhancement can be performed by
a person in this regard.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Browning, L., Thompson, K. and Dawson, D., 2016. It takes a village to raise an ECR:
Organisational strategies for building successful academic research careers.
International Journal for Researcher Development. 7(2). pp.192-197.
Cairoli, C. M., 2017. Categorization of survey text utilizing natural language processing
and demographic filtering. Naval Postgraduate School Monterey United States.
Gati, I., 2017. Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice: A Viewpoint from a Member
of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Career Assessment. Society for
Vocational Psychology: Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice.
Gilbert, L. A., 2014. Men in dual-career families: Current realities and future prospects.
Psychology Press.
Hirschi, A., 2018. The fourth industrial revolution: Issues and implications for career
research and practice. The career development quarterly. 66(3). pp.192-204.
Lämsä, A. M. and et. al., 2017. The expatriate’s family as a stakeholder of the firm: a
responsibility viewpoint. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management. 28(20). pp.2916-2935.
Latzke, M. and et. al., 2015. Relational career capital: Towards a sustainable
perspective. Handbook of research on sustainable careers. pp.50-66.
Pouyaud, J. and et. al., 2017. Life and career design dialogues and resilience. In
Psychology of career adaptability, employability and resilience (pp. 49-64).
Springer, Cham.
Strauss, A. L., 2018. Professions, work and careers. Routledge.
Villanueva-Flores, M., Valle, R. and Bornay-Barrachina, M., 2017. Perceptions of
discrimination and distributive injustice among people with physical disabilities:
in jobs, compensation and career development. Personnel Review. 46(3).
pp.680-698.
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APPENDICES
CURRICULUM VITAE
Curriculum Vitae
Name: - Shine Robert
Address: - 29th street, West-side lane, London
Phone No: - 142513648
Career Aim: To pursue career in a company where I can implement all my skills and
get an opportunity to develop them.
Educational Qualification: -
 BBA
 MBA
Experience: Store executive in retail store for 1 year.
Declaration:
I hereby declare that the information presented above are current and true as per my
knowledge.
Date:
Place:
JOB DESCRIPTION
Organisation Name: ZARA
Post: Shop Manager
Roles and Responsibilities Try to determine the competitor’s strategies and develop best tactics for attracting
customers toward stores for purchasing product or services as per their need. Responsible for assigning and making employees aware about the task to be
performed by them. Investigate about the current trends in marketplace and demand of customers for
filling up stock accordingly.
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 Coordinate with team members in order to direct them over right track to achieve
sales targets.
Required Qualification
Must be Graduated from affiliates university
MBA in marketing and finance specialisation
Experience required
At-least one year experience in retailing firm
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