HR Challenges in Retail Management

Are you a people’s person? Do you understand people and possess the quality to identify their skills and hone them? If the answer is yes, then HR is the right career for you. 

Career in Retail HR

Many a times it happens that you enter a store with the intention of shopping, but grumpy looking, disinterested sales stuff happen to change your decision, and all you do is walk out of the store. This happens when the staff is not well trained, which ultimately affects the store’s sales. But who is responsible in retail management for training the staff and making sure that the workforce is at par with the organization’s standards? 

The answer is Human Resource Department. 

Hiring employees, organizing training sessions for the employees, taking care of the compensation, enhancing the company’s human resource and other such activities, form the job profile of a HR professional.  In a nutshell, HR is the backbone of an organization. Before you take the decision, it is of utmost importance that you understand the functions of human resource management.

The retail sector has much to offer then one can think of. Being an HR, involved with training and recruiting employees, I have seen tremendous growth in the area. A career in retail is sure to be promising, with the increasing demand and boom of international labels entering the Indian market.

Challenges of Human Resource Management in Retail

The retail industry has seen a substantial boom in the last few years across the globe and especially in India. The increase in the working population and especially the youth has provided a huge impetus for the growth of this industry. However, the entrance of global players has started to pose severe challenges in the organized retail sector.

The normal functions of HR like taking care of compensation, hiring, performance management and other related activities will be very much a part and parcel of your career as a HR in the retail sector. However, the major challenges lie in recruiting and retaining the right talent for the industry. You will have to deal with the shortage of highly qualified and skilled talent in the industry. The majority of the employees in the retail industry are customer facing and hence the entire training programs and grooming sessions have to be in place. Your major role will be in recruiting such talent, devising training programs, reviewing their performances and ensuring the objectives of the organization are met.

• The retail industry is highly dependent on its people and its workforce is the most critical resource as the on-floor staff faces the customers directly

• Electronic Retailing or e-Tailing companies make attractive and easy to use websites, but running a 24/ 7 show needs proper HR planning.

• The retail environment is highly competitive with global players entering the market

• The people management is of utmost importance and is a mode for both cost and revenue generation

• It employs a lot of people with diverse skill set including both skilled and unskilled labor and training them the right way is important

• Strong orientation is required towards customer service

• Good and efficient decision making skills need to be employed while recruiting for the organization

• Workforce pressure and payroll expenses have to be balanced during seasonal promotions for good customer experience.

 

Stepping into Retail HR 

A number of students today opt for MBA. It has always been rewarding to pursue MBA, provided you do it from a reputed college. To enter the retail sector as HR, MBA in HR could be the right course. Some management institutes like JDBIMS SNDTWU Mumbai offer sectoral specialization with MBA Human Resource Management, which allows students to concentrate on developing their HR abilities in the domain of their interest. Find colleges that offer MBA in HRM, gather information about the entrance criteria and then apply for it.

 

Conclusion

With more and more global players flocking Indian retail, the industry poses significant challenges for Human Resource department. To stay competitive in this sector, HR must create strategies to align the performance of its employees with the overall client satisfaction and devise good motivational and incentive schemes to retain them. The training plays a significant role and helps the employees become more efficient and effective at work.

How to compare MBA vs. Diploma and other Retail Management Courses?

Are you one of those who wish to enroll for one of the retail management courses like MBA Retail Management or short term diploma or certificate programmes, but are unable to decide which course is good for you? 

I faced a similar challenge when I was new to retail for hiring. 

Wondering what is the connection between hiring for retail and applying for a retail management course? To be able to hire the right fit for the right role, recruiter needs to understand the industry first. How it works, what tasks are involved and then what roles it creates. Similarly, as an applicant, get an overview of how the retail industry functions and whether you see yourself in that environment. That helps identify the competencies and in turn comparing different courses in that sector.

I’ll first give a simplified overview of retail management and the functions involved. Then a comparison of a two year full time course with short term retail management courses, followed by a conclusion.

An Overview of Retail Management

Let’s start with what you see when you go window shopping. 

Fashion Store Display Window

A visual merchandiser creates window and interior displays in shops, malls and store to attract the desired types of buyers. There are other parameters as well like store interiors and location.But which store do you enter with the intention of buying? The one that you think offers products of the price range and quality matching your expectation. Some retailers play on the price point of being the cheapest, some identify with a certain image like chic. A merchandiser or buyer takes care of that.

Behind - the - scene

Buying or merchandising is what truly defines retail and makes a retailer unique. This aspect of retail management consists of the activities involved in acquiring particular goods and making them available at the places, times, prices and quantities that enable a retailer to reach its goals. Now the question is how much to buy and respond to customer demands and how to move the products from source to retailing outlet.


Retail supply chain management are related to product procurement and controlling product quality, inventory levels, timing, and expenses. Logistics are also involved in moving the product from source to destination, handling and storing them.

Merchandising vs Supply Chain Management

Other functions include applying retail communication mix for promoting and selling the products, human resource and training, finance and administration, information technology and customer contact service .

Retail Management Courses

Courses I am considering are:

• Two year MBA Retail Management or equivalent PGDM Retail Management programme
• One year Diploma in Retail Management and 
• One year diploma in any particular retail function like supply chain management 

Competency: 

Ask yourself what you want to do in retail and build the right competency.

First of all a Retail Management course will generally cover all aspects of retail. So a MBA Retail and a Diploma in Retail would generally speaking have syllabus designed to cover most of the functions of retail. What MBA also covers are general management concepts and fundamentals of accounting, marketing organization behavior, operations research, research methodology, perspectives of management, etc.

Functions of Retail Management

Specialized courses like a diploma in supply chain give you an in-depth perspective and understanding of supply chain management. So if you are inclined towards cost optimization and other functions of supply chain and want to build a career in SCM specifically, then these short term focused programmes can help build the required competencies. Similarly, if your only focus is Visual Merchandising and store display, then you may consider searching for a relevant short term course.

Career:

Ask the recruiter what they are looking for when they are hiring.

If you’re already working in retail and looking forward to a promotion opportunity or to improve your knowledge, skill or ability in this sector, then a diploma or a certificate program can be helpful. But don’t forget to do a reality check with the HR department your organization and find out about the criteria.

If you are a fresh graduate, check what recruiters in retail sector as looking for in job descriptions. 

My experience of managing vacancies especially for big retailers is putting preference for MBA or equivalent PGDM. The job vacancies are I think the best way to understand the scope of growth in a company and about their compensation offerings. In my view, MBA offers opportunity to move across functions in a business organization. Read some case studies about your favorite leaders and don’t be surprised if you see most of them with cross functional experience.

Time:

Ask yourself how much time you have for management studies.

That I think depends from person to person. As a fresher without experience if you can afford to continue your education with a full time two year course, then might as well consider MBA instead of a one year/ part time diploma or certificate course. 

You’ll also get an opportunity to get involved in campus activities, contests, and events and even work experience through internships. Any reputed institute would have a placement committee to ensure internship and placements to their students. Institutes like JDBIMS , SNDT University Mumbai even have the concept of concurrent placements wherein MBA Retail Management student does 2 days a week field work along with studies to get practical experience in shop floor.

Conclusion:

To summarize, first understand whether you fit in the retail environment and can see yourself from a long term perspective. Once you decide what competencies you want to build, in what time period and for what type of career path, compare retail management courses to find out which one suits your purpose. Decide the course first, then shortlist institutes which are offering those programmes. Make an informed decision.