Athletic Retail Manager - East Lansing, MI

Follett Corporation; East Lansing (MI); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Follett Corporation seeks an Athletics Retail Manager to lead the team store, events, and gameday operations. Drive sales growth while delivering brand and store excellence and an engaging customer experience.

You will mentor staff, monitor financials, and support regional relationships, aiming for strong performance and continuous development across campuses.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
• 3-5 years of Retail management or strong customer service experience.
• Academic retail experience a plus.

Responsibilities

• Execute operating plans and daily operations for traditional and hot market periods.
• Promote sales, events, fan engagement, and merchandise displays.
• Review store financials with Regional Manager and manage payroll/expenses.
• Approve markups, markdowns, and write-offs within guidelines.
• Ensure asset security and safety, and oversee omni-channel fulfillment.
• Partner with campus and stakeholders for events and engagement.

Skills

Customer service

Leadership

Problem-solving

Time management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

POS systems

Job description

Position Overview

Follett Higher Education is a leading educational service provider and omnichannel retailer that provides students, faculty and staff, parents, and fans with the course materials, learning tools, and retail services needed to successfully support the collegiate journey. Follett Higher Education supports over 6 million students through its 1,100 physical and 1,750 eCommerce campus stores across North America.

As an Athletics Retail Manager, you will provide leadership for all facets of the team store, special events, and gameday operations. You will be responsible for inspiring teams to consistently drive results through sales growth while delivering the highest level of brand and operational excellence by ensuring your team delivers an engaging customer experience.

Through your expertise and influence, you will cultivate an environment of mentorship and continuous development of your team members while staying engaged in financial metrics, store performance, and short/long-term planning, and support a Regional Manager with overall team store and campus relationships and operations.

Consistently demonstrate Follett Values - One Team, Innovate & Create, Put People First, Do What's Right, Own the Results, Stand for Inclusion. Demonstrate proficiency in Follett Strategic Core Competencies - Thought, Results, People, and Self.

Responsibilities

Driving Results in Both Sales and Profit:

• Execute operating plans and daily operations for both traditional and hot market periods consistent with company objectives. To include:
• Execute sales promotions, special events, fan engagement, and preparation of merchandise displays, store layout, and gameday activations.
• Partner with the Regional Manager to review store financials and adjust accordingly to drive sales. Responsible for meeting payroll, controllable expenses, and shrink budgets.
• Review and approve store markups, markdowns, and write-offs within company guidelines.
• Ensures the security of company assets and the safety of associates and customers, and adherence to company policies.
• Oversee omni-channel fulfillment and ensure eComm orders are fulfilled accurately and on time.

Campus Relationships:

• Communicate and partner with the campus. To include:
• Facilitation of athletics, campus, and/or community events.
• Day-to-day communication of store operational activities.
• Strategic Partnership Reviews.
• Ensure outreach and engagement.
• Act as an ambassador for the Follett organization.

Talent Management:

• Responsible for full-cycle talent management. To include:
• Develop cross-functional teams of engaged team members with the ability to execute initiatives and drive operational standards to produce business results.
• Ensure effective performance management and maintain a culture of accountability.
• Recruit, train, coach, and develop all team members.
• Plans and prepares work schedules, ensuring coverage.

Customer Service:

• Partner to create and maintain an engaging customer service culture, focused on solutions-based selling and an exceptional customer experience. To include:
• Develop and maintain relationships with customers, faculty, staff, administrators, vendors, and One Team Center staff to share information to improve and drive market share.
• Answer routine inquiries and handle escalated complaints.
• Ensure the store is neat, clean, and orderly.

Product:

• Ensures that product strategies are aligned with market/customer needs. To include:
• Proficiency in understanding the fan base to ensure actions taken are in support of maximizing the needs of the marketplace.
• Communication with the Regional Manager and Planners regarding local trends and opportunities.Provides feedback for planning, merchandising, and buying decisions.
• Ensure all products are correctly priced through ticketing or shelf pricing.

Merchandising:

• Incorporates creative merchandising techniques in product presentations. To include:
• Keeps displays filled, restocked, and fresh to maximize sales.
• Develop a dynamic merchandising strategy that regularly updates and changes the aesthetics at all locations to create fresh appeal.

Other duties as assigned to support general store operations.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
• 3-5 years of Retail management or strong customer service experience.
• Academic retail experience a plus.
• Strong organizational, time management, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong customer service, communication, and presentation skills.
• Strong analytical skills and financial acumen.
• General computer skills.
• Advanced relationship building, a demonstrated ability to influence a team, and customer outreach.
• This position may require driving, depending on the location.