Retailers such as M&S and Travis Perkins are giving more responsibility to their store managers. Retail Week finds out why and looks into what decisions store managers should make.

In a big retail business, store managers can be seen as just another cog in the machine, but these employees are the closest to an ever-changing customer that retailers are desperately striving to understand and serve. But, depending on the size of the shop, store managers can be responsible for millions of pounds worth of turnover and hundreds of staff members. Given this, should store managers be treated like CEOs of their own multimillion pound business? 

Last month, home and DIY retailer Travis Perkins revealed it was moving away from the “divisional structure” above its builders’ merchants to give branch managers more power to make decisions such as which products to stock in what volumes. 

“Doing this is all about putting the customer back into the heart of decision making”

Jo Moran, M&S

Travis Perkins is not alone. Earlier this year Marks & Spencer said it was moving away from the “head office knows mentality” that had crept into the business and was “taking steps to bring back the voice of the store”.

M&S head of transformation for stores and property Jo Moran tells Retail Week: “Over the past few months at M&S we’ve started to rekindle what we call the voice of the stores, which had become disconnected. Doing this is all about putting the customer back into the heart of decision making.”

It’s a rhetoric that many other business leaders agree with. 

Beaverbrooks managing director Anna Blackburn has made it her mission to increase store manager accountability and believes that empowered, accountable teams “produce higher levels of engagement and better results”.

Decisions, decisions

But what type of decisions should store managers take? 

Marks & Spencer is giving managers the authority to make trading decisions.

Moran says: “Our store managers must be empowered to trade, which is why as part of our transformation they have once again been given sight of their own profit and loss account and information to manage food waste.” 

M&S store managers now lead Monday morning trading feedback calls, which are attended by all commercial executives. The results of the decisions taken in that meeting should be visible in stores by 5pm that day.

Richer Sounds colleague and customer

Richer Sounds managers help decide what their stores should stock

Like Travis Perkins, Richer Sounds – a company renowned for its engaged store staff – has given managers a say in what their stores should stock.

Richer Sounds operations director John Clayton says: “They know and understand what the company’s ethos is, what we are trying to achieve and who we are as a brand, but they also have in-depth knowledge of their local demographics and customers – and the local competition.

“If a store manager and team have a sales skew towards audio, rather than TV, we’d encourage that manager to take advantage of it, and shift ranges around to reflect this, or to move audio products into the windows.”

However, Pets at Home boss Peter Pritchard says some decisions in its stores such as layouts, pricing and ranging require “significant amounts of data” to make truly informed decisions so are therefore better taken by head office specialists that have comparisons and benchmarks to work with.

“We don’t want store managers to become data jockeys. We can do that for them. The real magic a store manager brings is that local knowledge, local expertise to refine what we do and make it more relevant locally.”

“I want my store managers focused on three things – our pets, our customers and our colleagues. These decisions are always taken best closest to the coalface where they are in the best most informed place to make great decisions.”

Listening to all employees

M&S has recently introduced ‘Suggest to Steve’ – a scheme which allows every employee, not just the store managers, to play a part in improving the business by putting their suggestions to chief executive Steve Rowe.

“Every single idea is reviewed and Steve has pledged to write back to every colleague that submits an idea.

“In week one, we had over 1,000 ideas submitted, and ideas are being implemented across our business. We recently introduced an incentive for customers to bring in their own lunch box to our Market Place counters for a 25p discount – an idea that came from Beth in our Moortown store,” Jo Moran explains.

The department store has also provided its store managers with tablets that allow them to spend more time on the shop floor with customers and colleagues rather than being stuck behind a desk in an office.

Pricing power

M&S staff smile

M&S store managers can change the location of displays

Richer Sounds managers also have the power to reduce prices on certain items.

Although M&S doesn’t go that far, Moran says frontline staff provide insight that may change pricing and range.

She says: “On prices and ranges we believe the best way to work is to use the insight from our colleagues on the front line who know our customers and their shopping habits best and hear first-hand their views on our products. If several stores share feedback that a promotion was confusing for customers that would have to be resolved.

“Our stores work seamlessly with colleagues in the support centre [head office] – for example, in clothing, there are weekly ‘buyers and sellers’ calls to ensure feedback is ongoing.

“Using the voice of our stores isn’t just for reacting to things but our stores also help inform future products, offers and ways of working.”

M&S store managers are able to move displays around to a position they feel will best suit their customers.

Spreading store managers too thin

But can too much autonomy be a bad thing?

Although Beaverbrooks’ store managers have regular meetings with regional managers to discuss the direction of the business, Blackburn doesn’t want to risk “spreading them too thinly” by making decisions in areas they aren’t specialists in.

“For us, if managers were making decisions about where products were going or the pricing, that for me would be too distracting. I want them to be focused on what their strengths are. No one person can manage everything in a store, it needs to be shared.”

“We are transparent, which means communicating key business decisions and the rationale behind them”

Anna Blackburn, Beaverbrooks

However, Blackburn says it is important that there is an “open and honest” culture and store managers feel engaged and not simply made to follow orders.

“We are transparent, which means communicating key business decisions and the rationale behind them. It’s less about managing from the top and more about taking people on a journey with us to ensure high levels of engagement,” she adds.

Blackburn’s point on giving store managers too much responsibility is valid but retailers can build a support network around managers and even take away less important tasks.

Travis Perkins has reduced the administrative duties involved in running a store by simplifying processes and reducing reporting requirements. This gives them more freedom to concentrate on more important aspects of running their store.

If retailers truly want to be customer-centric, it makes sense to listen to the people in their business that know them the best. The managers who serve them every day, hear their praise and criticism, and resolve their problems are undoubtedly that.