Do you like to work on several areas and are you a multi-tasker? Do you have a taste for challenges? Do people around you often tell you that you are comfortable with human relations and have a sense of leadership? Besides, luxury has always attracted you? Then maybe the job of Deputy Store Director is for you!
What is a Deputy Store Director in the luxury industry?
The Deputy Store Manager has a central role, defining the strategy of his or her store(s) in collaboration with the purchasing, marketing, finance and human resources teams. Its objective is to ensure the daily development of the clientele in its store or stores. The Deputy Store Director is responsible for a variety of tasks, including managing and developing the sales activity, supervising teams and guiding their teams towards professional development. The Deputy Store Manager is also concerned with increasing sales and the sales margin.
What is its role, its missions & its daily life?
The days of a Deputy Store Director are not the same. According to Jean-Charles de Valensart, an alumnus of the International University of Monaco and Deputy Store Director at Louis Vuitton in New Bond Street, London, this job is all about the big picture and requires an entrepreneurial spirit. There is a lot to do, from different angles. According to Jean-Charles, it’s really a 360 degree role, you can work on different themes in the same day: merchandising, human resources, stock management, inventories, etc. A day is never the same.
An example of Jean-Charles’ daily life:
- Process the previous day’s requests
- Prepare the delivery = the key messages to be passed on to the sales teams, the objective being to motivate the teams
- Take care of the flow management, i.e. manage the shop floor in the store. Here, the Deputy Store Director is in contact with his sales teams and customers. The objective is to understand if there are things that need to be corrected, to see what customers are looking at in terms of merchandising, to perhaps change the way products are displayed, etc. Throughout his day, Jean-Charles attends meetings with the various departments (human resources, team manager, visual merchandising teams to analyze the products to be put forward, etc.).
What are the qualities required to become a Deputy Store Director?
To become a Deputy Store Director, you must be able to listen to your teams and make yourself available, be at ease with human contact and interpersonal skills, be dynamic and innovative.
What are the different paths within OMNES Education?
Within the OMNES Education Group, there are essentially two types of pathways:
- A business school course to become a Deputy Store Manager is a first possibility. It is strongly advised to do a Bac+5 and to opt for generalist Grande Ecole courses such as those offered by INSEEC or ESCE.
- It is also possible to start with more specialized courses such as Bachelors in retailing at INSEEC for example. And at the end of this, it would be interesting to continue towards an MSc course at INSEEC or IUM to reach a bac+5 level with dedicated programs in luxury. More traditional programs in Sales Management, Business Development or Marketing can also lead to the position of Deputy Store Director.
