Athletic Retail Manager

Position Overview

Follett Higher Education is a leading educational service provider and omnichannel retailer that provides students, faculty and staff, parents, and fans with the course materials, learning tools, and retail services needed to successfully support the collegiate journey. Follett Higher Education supports over 6 million students through its 1,100 physical and 1,750 eCommerce campus stores across North America.

As an Athletics Retail Manager, you will provide leadership for all facets of the team store, special events, and gameday operations. You will be responsible for inspiring teams to consistently drive results through sales growth while delivering the highest level of brand and operational excellence by ensuring your team delivers an engaging customer experience.

Through your expertise and influence, you will cultivate an environment of mentorship and continuous development of your team members while staying engaged in financial metrics, store performance, and short/long-term planning, and support a Regional Manager with overall team store and campus relationships and operations.

Consistently demonstrate Follett Values - One Team, Innovate & Create, Put People First, Do What's Right, Own the Results, Stand for Inclusion. Demonstrate proficiency in Follett Strategic Core Competencies - Thought, Results, People, and Self.

Responsibilities

• Execute operating plans and daily operations for both traditional and hot market periods consistent with company objectives. To include:
• Execute sales promotions, special events, fan engagement, and preparation of merchandise displays, store layout, and gameday activations.
• Partner with the Regional Manager to review store financials and adjust accordingly to drive sales. Responsible for meeting payroll, controllable expenses, and shrink budgets.
• Review and approve store markups, markdowns, and write-offs within company guidelines.
• Ensures the security of company assets and the safety of associates and customers, and adherence to company policies.
• Oversee omni-channel fulfillment and ensure eComm orders are fulfilled accurately and on time.

• Communicate and partner with the campus. To include:
• Facilitation of athletics, campus, and/or community events.
• Day-to-day communication of store operational activities.
• Strategic Partnership Reviews.
• Ensure outreach and engagement.
• Act as an ambassador for the Follett organization.

• Responsible for full-cycle talent management. To include:
• Develop cross-functional teams of engaged team members with the ability to execute initiatives and drive operational standards to produce business results.
• Ensure effective performance management and maintain a culture of accountability.
• Recruit, train, coach, and develop all team members.
• Plans and prepares work schedules, ensuring coverage.

• Partner to create and maintain an engaging customer service culture, focused on solutions-based selling and an exceptional customer experience. To include:
• Develop and maintain relationships with customers, faculty, staff, administrators, vendors, and One Team Center staff to share information to improve and drive market share.
• Answer routine inquiries and handle escalated complaints.
• Ensure the store is neat, clean, and orderly.

• Ensures that product strategies are aligned with market/customer needs. To include:
• Proficiency in understanding the fan base to ensure actions taken are in support of maximizing the needs of the marketplace.
• Communication with the Regional Manager and Planners regarding local trends and opportunities.
• Provides feedback for planning, merchandising, and buying decisions.
• Ensure all products are correctly priced through ticketing or shelf pricing.

• Incorporates creative merchandising techniques in product presentations. To include:
• Keeps displays filled, restocked, and fresh to maximize sales.
• Develop a dynamic merchandising strategy that regularly updates and changes the aesthetics at all locations to create fresh appeal.