Retail Manager

Job Description:

About the Role:

The role will be responsible for end-to-end management of the eyewear retail business, covering brand onboarding, retail operations, sales, business development, commercial performance, team management, and overall category growth.

The ideal candidate should have a strong understanding of the eyewear ecosystem, including eyewear brands, optical retail, store operations, product assortment, vendor/brand relationships, sales management, and customer experience.

Key Responsibilities:

Retail Business Management:

- Take end-to-end ownership of eyewear retail operations and business performance.

- Develop and execute strategies to drive sales, profitability, customer acquisition, and overall category growth.

- Monitor business KPIs including sales, margins, conversion, average transaction value, inventory turns, productivity, and store profitability.

- Identify opportunities to improve retail processes, operational efficiency, and customer experience.

- Drive consistent execution of retail standards across stores/outlets.

Brand Onboarding & Management:

- Identify and evaluate potential eyewear brands for onboarding.

- Manage the complete brand onboarding process, including commercial negotiations, assortment planning, pricing, margins, and launch strategy.

- Build and maintain strong relationships with eyewear brands, distributors, manufacturers, and other key partners.

- Review brand performance and develop plans for expansion, optimization, or rationalization.

- Stay updated on emerging eyewear brands, market trends, consumer preferences, and competitive offerings.

Sales & Revenue Management:

- Develop and execute sales strategies to achieve revenue and profitability targets.

- Drive store-level and category-level sales performance.

- Analyse sales trends and identify opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, and improving conversion.

- Establish sales targets and performance metrics for stores and teams.

- Work closely with marketing and merchandising teams to drive promotional and seasonal initiatives.

Store & Retail Operations:

- Oversee day-to-day retail operations across the eyewear business.

- Ensure compliance with SOPs, operational standards, visual merchandising guidelines, and customer service processes.

- Improve store productivity and operational efficiency.

- Ensure effective inventory availability, replenishment, stock management, and ageing control.

- Work with internal teams to resolve operational challenges and ensure seamless store functioning.

Team Leadership:

- Lead, mentor, and develop retail/store teams to achieve business objectives.

- Define KRAs and performance metrics for retail teams.

- Drive a performance-oriented culture with a strong focus on customer service and sales excellence.

- Identify capability gaps and implement appropriate training and development initiatives.

- Build a strong talent pipeline for the retail organization.

Business Analytics & Reporting:

- Track and analyse retail and category performance through regular MIS and business reviews.

- Prepare performance dashboards and provide actionable insights to senior management.

- Identify gaps against targets and implement corrective action plans.

- Use data and market intelligence to support business and assortment decisions.

Customer Experience:

- Ensure a high-quality and consistent customer experience across all retail touchpoints.

- Drive initiatives to improve customer satisfaction, repeat purchases, and customer loyalty.

- Ensure teams deliver strong product knowledge and consultative selling, particularly around frames, lenses, and optical solutions.

Key Requirements:

- 10-15 years of overall experience, with significant experience specifically in the eyewear/optical retail industry.

- Strong experience in end-to-end retail operations and business management.

- Proven experience in eyewear brand onboarding and brand/vendor management.

- Strong understanding of eyewear products, brands, optical retail, and category dynamics.

- Demonstrated track record of delivering sales and profitability targets.

- Experience managing multi-store/multi-location retail operations would be highly preferred.

- Strong commercial, negotiation, analytical, and stakeholder-management skills.

- Proven people-management and leadership capabilities.

- Strong understanding of retail KPIs, inventory management, merchandising, and customer experience.

- Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to build and scale the eyewear category.