Budgeting and Cash Flow What you’ll learn to do: Explain the purpose and logistics of budgeting and cash flow The budgeting process helps retailers balance expenditures with incoming revenue. As you have read previously, retailers manage a host of operational expenses like: rent, utilities, labor, and inventory costs. And, while the sale of products does provide income, the timing of the transactions means that retail managers may be awaiting revenue to… Read More »Budgeting and Cash Flow

Balance Sheets What you’ll learn to do: Explain how a balance sheet is used to evaluate an asset management path The balance sheet shows a financial picture of what a business is worth at a particular point in time—usually the end of a month. It is not the same thing as an income statement, which provides a snapshot of a company’s financial performance over a specified period of time. Instead, the… Read More »Balance Sheets

Income Statements What you’ll learn to do: Explain how an income statement is used to evaluate a profit management path In the next sections, we’ll focus on accounting tools, which help decision-makers better understand what is happening within the business. The income statement, also known as the profit and loss statement or statement of operations, is the foundation for this financial analysis. It provides a snapshot of a company’s financial performance… Read More »Income Statements

Performance Objectives and Measurements A performance metric measures an organization’s behavior, activities, and performance. It should support a range of stakeholder needs from customers to shareholders to employees. While traditionally many metrics are finance based, inwardly focusing on the performance of the organization, metrics may also focus on the performance against customer requirements and value. In project management, performance metrics are used to assess the health of the project and… Read More »Performance Objectives and Measurements

Financial Plans What you’ll learn to do: Use strategic profit modeling to create a financial plan In the coming sections, we will consider how best to assess the financial performance of a company, comparing it to past performance or others within the competitive environment. We’ll focus on tools retailers use to measure, summarize, and assess their finances.  Ultimately, these are planning tools, which not only describe how well an organization is… Read More »Financial Plans

Financial Strategies in Retail In Module 3, you learned about distribution channels, the ways that products or services get to the end user and all the activities that bridge the producers with consumers, including: Logistics: assembly, warehousing, sorting, and transportation Facilitation: channel coordination, marketing, promotion, financing, and post-purchase service and maintenance Transaction: buying, selling, and the associated assumption of risk These activities support the exchange of goods, transferring products and… Read More »Financial Strategies in Retail

Putting It Together: Retail Human Resources So the structure of the staff from the CEO or president to the cashiers, stockers and maintenance staff are all important and necessary components of a well run retail business. Whether you are managing a single store or are part of a larger national chain store, similar tasks need to be completed on different scales.   Human resources needs to manage all of these… Read More »Putting It Together: Retail Human Resources

Legal Issues in Human Resource Management What you’ll learn to do: Examine legal issues involved in human resource management As modern day society moves forward many new legal issues arise that would never before have been anticipated. This is true within any realm of business but most considerably retail management. The best way to manage potential liability concerns is to avoid having to defend a lawsuit altogether. By communicating up front… Read More »Legal Issues in Human Resource Management

Diverse and Inclusive Workforce Understanding and responding to changing societal expectations is necessary when running a retail organization. When HR management sets out to build their workforce it is important to practice good corporate social responsibility. “Corporate social responsibility is the responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society through transparent and ethical behavior.”[9] Now more than ever, today’s society takes notice when a company’s… Read More »Diverse and Inclusive Workforce

Motivating Employees Productivity is a great measuring tool for retail managers when evaluating how well their workforce is performing. But how does a retail organization motivate its employees to keep productivity levels functioning at maximum capacity? As with any business the nature of incentives, motivational techniques and methods will vary depending on the type and size of store and even which division is being managed. For instance, what works to… Read More »Motivating Employees