picture from the Careers at FootLocker site
I often share information that derives from unofficial visits to various retail locations. The conversations during these visits happen with sales leads, managers, district managers and in some instances regional managers. I am able to engage every person in a way that isn’t intrusive or threatening. The information I receive isn’t used maliciously, although it most certainly will be used to attack issues that are of importance to everyone who works for the store. During the COVID-19 crisis I haven’t had the ability to engage with my peers face to face, but this hasn’t stopped dialogue.
I’ve texted and direct messaged different people and they have reached out to me. What I’ve come to realize from these conversations with retail employees and sneaker executives at brands is that there is one common factor in the success of stores at this crucial moment, managers. Store managers bear the burden as the first line of defense of the retail brand. They are often disrespected and as salaried employees with a ever-changing roster of employees they are held accountable for every aspect of the business where they are sometimes undervalued.
Consumers reach out to the managers hoping for hook-ups or blaming them for sold out products that the consumer thinks is being held for other people. DM’s place the loss prevention problems on the manager although the manager spends a lot of time explaining that the store layout and lack of hours available for sales leads is a serious problem. During COVID-19 store managers haven’t been simply chilling with stores closed and now that stores are reopening they are more at risk, but it’s the work that was done during the quarantine that has made the MVP status of store managers more relevant.
Stock Locator and e-Commerce for many chains isn’t centrally located. There isn’t one big warehouse where an online order is processed. Every retail store is a fulfillment center. The stores are functioning 4 hours of the day in most cases as order processing stations. This means that during the Stay-At-Home orders, store managers were entering the mall through their back doors, printing paperwork, and preparing pickups for customers ordering products online. Store managers have been actively browsing websites to see what footwear is selling in the secondary market so they can better serve consumers when the doors open. They are writing and texting attempting to find trends and discover what other retail outlets are doing so that they can better compete with their counterparts. At this point the store manager is functioning more like an entrepreneur than an employee.
The Store Manager is a well of knowledge, a source of information for C-Suite execs and the fishing rod in a sea of uncertainty (meaning that the executives and upper management want to catch customers, but without the store manager, that job becomes infinitely more difficult). As stores reopen decisions can’t be made by execs until they have spoken with their managers. The manager will have to continue fulfilling orders and prepare for a new normal at retail. They will have to initiate store policies, and explain how and why those policies will have to be augmented. They will have to keep customers at a six foot arms length and explain why only 2 people can be in the store at one time, without being attacked or threatened because the consumer isn’t taking self-distancing policies seriously. The store manager at sneaker retail, as the new normal becomes understood, should be given a larger status and extensive input from the managers should be considered as consulting and bonuses should applied accordingly. Store Managers will have to take on the responsibilities of how products that have been in the home during quarantine, but need to be returned are handled. They will have to learn to clean in a more extensive manner and monitor how products are tried on. It’s unsettling to consider and I hadn’t thought about this until I heard from several of my peers.
The store manager has kept sneaker retail afloat and will be the most dangerous job in the industry as we learn how the virus shapes brick and mortar.
Store Managers are the Real MVPs.
