Page 268 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Unit 13: People in Retailing: Making People Matter

Shop Management Notes

Store is the pivot for any retail store. Managing the shop involves various issues to be looked
into like:

Store facilities
Layout and Display
Selling of merchandise
Customer grievances

Complementary services like gift wrapping home delivery
Prevent shoplifting and inventory shrinking
Receive physical inventory and intimating for the procurement of the same.
Merchandise repackaging/alteration
To execute all these tasks one needs to:

Conduct manpower planning
Prepare manpower requirement
Recruit and hire store personnel

Train them
Plan work schedules
Motivate people to perform
Evaluate individual performances

13.7 Long-term and Short-term HR Planning

A retailer has to focus on overall growth of his organisation. Once the retailer is aware about his
organisational growth pattern it becomes easy for him to project future growth. Company
growth has got all around implications for the organisation especially human resource
management. In the present day when every retailer feels the urge to expand into multiple
stores or diversify into multiple products ranges. This immediately triggers the need for
additional human resources. At any point of time the quality of human resources makes a big
difference in the performance of the retailer. Performance here is defined by the sales volume
achieved by the retailer. Very often it has happened that a retailer has not been able to expand
due to lack of skilled employees or less than required number of employees. It has also been
observed that if a retailer has tried to expand his business even after having this handicap. Then
it has resulted in major losses. Thus under all circumstances a retailer should look into his long-
term needs and have a HR plan designed accordingly.
Despite the significance of long term planning and analysis in the present context the importance
of short term planning cannot be denied. Short term planning is generally of less than one year
duration. India is a nation of many festivals and seasons. Market picks up and also goes down
accordingly. Diwali, Dushehra, Id and Christmas are the festivals which the retailers look upon.
Similarly season and off season are two terms very close to them. All such occasions need
specific short term planning. This scenario has lead to another reality. Suddenly there is a need
for part time employees.

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