Cluster Manager - North Central

White Stuff•Manchester, North East

9h•Hybrid

About The Position

White Stuff was established in 1985 through a simple idea. This idea grew and now we have shops and concessions in the UK and internationally, selling women’s and men’s clothing as well as beautiful accessories and homeware. Our original prints (all designed inhouse), intricate details, and considered design touches reflect our personality and make us subtly distinctive. Our people are at the heart of our brand, constantly moving and driving us forward. We’re sociable, talented and likeminded and we’re not hierarchical or political in how we do business. We encourage entrepreneurial ideas and accountability at all levels. This is a Area Manager role and covers 13 store locations within the North Central area. The stores you'll be working across are: Beverly, Buxton, Chester, Harrogate, Heswall, Ilkley, Lincoln, Louth, Lytham, Manchester, Newark, Northallerton, Gainsborough Browns. Your focus will be on delivering business objectives and achieving budgeted sales by managing a Cluster of shops. You’ll regularly visit, mentor, and lead each shop within your Cluster and hold accountability for their success. You will report to the Regional Manager and work alongside them to maximise shop and regional results by driving KPI performance, customer experience, brand values, and culture alongside people management.

Requirements

Previous fashion retail experience
Experience driving commercial success across shops
Experience influencing teams
Inspire others with your passion and expertise
Be your true self and bring out the best in others too

Responsibilities

Inspire, motivate and engage the teams within your Cluster and proactively manage their performance.
Role model our brand values and behaviours and lead by example, including progressing your own personal development.
Identify and manage risks through actions plans and the implementation of change and improvements.
Support the Regional Manager to deliver retail strategy and achieve business objectives by holding ownership for Cluster targets.
Promote an open and supportive culture within your Cluster, actively encouraging innovation and feedback.
Work alongside Head Office, Retail, Distribution Centre, and Customer Care stakeholders to ensure alignment and meet business needs. Communicate strategy, objectives and plans as appropriate, cascade updates to ensure teams hold the necessary knowledge, and report progress upwards.
Ensure the shops within your Cluster are maximising their individual profit opportunities.
Use commercial acumen to make decisions and drive Cluster performance. Report feedback and data to Head Office to influence processes and decision-making.
Monitor and review data, implementing measures and actions to increase success.
Oversee payroll and productivity for your Cluster, supporting Shop Managers to maximise their Pay to Sales.
Oversee shop shrinkage and stock loss to ensure shops meet business targets, and action as improvement is needed.
Strategically monitor competitor presence and actions within your cluster, and identify new shop opportunities including marketing, brand engagement, events, and new locations.
Hold strong and professional relationships with the Shop Managers within your Cluster, including regular shop visits and guidance.
Oversee recruitment for your Cluster, ensuring that vacancies are filled effectively in line with our brand values.
Engage with talent management throughout your Cluster shops. Recognise and reward high or outstanding performance, while building action plans and providing support for underperformance. Work with individual Shop Managers to support their continuous learning and development.
Support Shop Managers in identifying and resolving team training needs.
Maintain an understanding of wellbeing across your Cluster, coaching Shop Managers to proactively support their team members and advising in specific cases.
Collaborate with the People Team and Shop Managers to resolve any performance, conduct, or absence cases.
Hold accountability for the customer experience across your Cluster. Act as brand ambassador our pillars (Be Friendly, Be Valuable, Be Inspiring) and ensure your teams represent these throughout the Customer Journey.
Lead a multichannel strategy across your Cluster which results in strong KPIs for endless aisle orders, tagging, sign-ups, and opt-in conversion.
Oversee the processes, VM standards, security, Health and Safety, employment law, housekeeping within your Cluster shops, offering guidance and direction as required to meet brand standards.
Oversee Visual Merchandising within your Cluster to ensure product layouts are maximising shop sales opportunities. Provide feedback and guidance on floor moves, promotions, product launches, and windows to ensure they represent guidelines. Act as representative, sharing best practice and feedback to your Regional Manager and the VM team.
Review operational processes within your cluster shops to maximise efficiencies. Communicate changes and improvements across the business for sharing of best practice and consistency.
Living our Values, making sure these are alive in the shop.
Holding an awareness of our charity partner and the positive impact this has including supporting any events or charity promotions.
Understanding our approach to ethical sourcing and environmental impact to be able to explain this to our customers and the team.