Store Management

Store management

Definition : Retailing

• “Retailing is the sale of goods and services to the ultimate consumer for personal, family or household use.”
• Retailing is the combination of activities involved in selling or renting consumer goods and services directly to ultimate consumers for their personal or household use
• Retailing is a set of business activities which aims to provide values to the products and the services demanded by the consumers.
• According to Kotler: “Retailing includes all the activities involved in selling goods or services to the final consumers for personal, non-business use”

Definition of Store

Concept of store can be understood  in two dimension

One as a retail store as retailing activities

• A retailer or retail store is any business enterprise whose sale volume comes primarily from retailing. It includes sale of goods and services to the ultimate consumer for personal, family or household use.”
• And other aspect of store  is storekeeping relates to safe custody and preservation of the materials stocked, to their receipts, issue and accounting

A store is a place where the material is kept in such a manner that it can be accounted for and safely maintained and it can be used when required.

What is store management?

According to Afford and Beatty, “Store management is that aspect of material control concerned with the physical storage of goods”.

According to Maynard, “Store management is to receive materials, to protect them while in storage from damage and unauthorized removal, to issue the materials in the right quantities, at the right time to the right place and to provide these services promptly and at minimum cost”.

Stores Management deals with undertaking the right type of materials in sufficient quantity, in a prompt manner whenever needed, to keep it safe against any sort of damage, pilferage, or theft. It is a part of material management. It involves actual material handling which is received held and issued.

Objectives of store management

An efficient stores management has normally the following main objectives.

• To ensure uninterrupted supply of materials without delay to various users of the organization.
• To prevent overstocking and under stocking of the materials
• To ensure safe handling of materials and prevent their damage.
• To protect materials from pilferage, theft, fire and other risks
• To minimize the cost of storage
• To ensure proper and continuous control over the materials.
• To ensure most effective utilization of available storage space
• To optimize the efficiency of the personnel engaged in the store

Who is Store Manager?

A store manager is an individual who is charged with the day-to-day operations or management of the retail store. He/She has a multifaceted role to play. The entire store staff reports to the store manager.

His primary duty is to reach sales target, which is predetermined by the company’s management. Reaching sales targets is also important for the effective operation of the stores and they are commonly set in motion as financial targets on the basis of the store’s turnover or profitability ratio. As the store size increases, so does the responsibilities of the store manager. Depending on the size of the store, complexities regarding the number of floor staff, range of products also varies.

Duties and Responsibilities of Store Manager

• Management of Employees: Management of employees is one of the most important functions performed by the store manager. It ensures the management of the store’s employees, who work at different levels like sales staff, store staff, cleaning staff, and clerical staff.
• Maintenance of sales environment: It encompasses store layout plan implementation, display of merchandise, store replenishment, sales record maintenance, etc.
• Minimization of cost: It takes into account the controlling expenses which are necessary for running a store. So as to apply cost-effective policies, expenses can be minimized leading to increased profitability. This is possible by waste elimination, errors, and accidents. Cost reduction is essential when the operation of the store is done at a low price policy.
• Recruitment, Training, and Development: The primary duty of the retail store manager is to handle the job of recruitment of the right persons for the right job. Thereafter proper training is provided to them to adjust them as per the policies of the store and working environment. New entrants can make or break the whole business. Hence, they should be hired after verifying their minimum qualification and experience.
• Budgeting and Forecasting: The store manager can aptly predict the future of the store, estimating the expenses that may occur in the future and establishing budgets. Then the store manager explains the targets and availability of funds to the head of the departments.
• Implementation of marketing plans: With an aim of pursuing the store’s strategic marketing objectives, marketing policies devised in this regard are implemented.
• Team Leadership: The store manager is also given the task of encouraging the staff and also minimizing any resistance to change in the methods of work that are needed at the time of defining new strategic directions

Functions of Store Management

There are three main functions in which operations at the store level are classified:

1. Personnel
2. Administration
3. Selling

This includes the sub-functions that follow:

• Maintaining store facilities
• Planning work schedules
• Recruitment and Training of workforce to work in stores.
• Performance evaluation of store staff
• Locating and displaying the merchandise.
• Preventing shrinkage of inventory.
• Physical stock taking
• Assisting customers in the selection
• Handling customer complaints
• Providing services like packaging and home delivery.
• Ensuring accurate inventory.

Store personnel are responsible for carrying out the following functions.

• Receipt of incoming materials
• Supervision of unloading of materials and tallying of materials
• Checking for damages or shortages and preparation of the report
• Filling of ‘goods inward’, ‘day book’, or ‘daily collection’ register
• Completion of vendors consignment note (challan)
• Making arrangement for inspection and getting the inspection completed
• Preparation of ‘goods receipt note’ (GRN)
• Preparation of ‘goods rejection memo’ (in case of rejection of materials)
• Sending of materials to the respective stores
• Sending of the relevant documents to the respective departments
• Ensuring all storage and material handling facilities are in proper working order
• Ensuring good housekeeping and cleanliness in the storage space
• Checking, counting and tallying of materials before issue
• Making prompt entries in ‘Bin card’ or stock card
• Ensuring correct documentation of material receipts and material issues
• Ensuring safe and proper handling of materials so as not to damage them
• Ensuring proper record keeping and correct accounting of materials
• Ensuring regular stock verification
• Ensuring that rules and regulations relating to physical custody and preservation of materials are followed
• Ensuring safety of materials and personnel

 Storekeeping Function

Before the material moves into the store, the function of the store begins. In terms of day-to-day operations, the store department must communicate with the user’s office department.

Storekeeping has the following functions:

• Receipt:To receive and account for the inventories that are received.
• Storage:To receive and safely keep the inventory and avoid loss on account of damage, deterioration and pilferage.
• Retrieval:It ensures the materials are easily accessed and space is optimally utilized. It further ensures that the materials are retrieved as and when required.
• Issue:The demand arising on account of the consuming departments is satisfied upon the receipt of the goods.
• Records:To record the receipts and the issues.
• Housekeeping:Emphasis is given on neatness and cleanliness and the same is kept in a manner that the receipts, issue, and storage are satisfactory.
• Surplus Stock:The surplus stock should be properly disposed of.
• Verification:To avoid loss of stock, physical verification should be timely conducted.
• Coordination and Cooperation:To provide for interface with the inspection and the production department

Types of Stores

Based upon the classification, a few items discussed below are separately stored as per the scale and the scope of the operations. For example, there are separate stores for waste materials. The same is true for storing specific chemicals and explosives. In other cases, the same items or products may also be stored together.

For example, raw materials procured from the outside and produced within the organization can be stored together. Because fixtures and jigs are durable, they can be stored alongside equipment and machinery. Further, the consumables and the maintenance equipment can be stored separately. As a result, one can see that there are no stereotypical rules for managing stores. However, the stores can be classified as follows:

1)Main or Centralized Stores:

This denotes the main or the key store which is responsible for providing supplies to the departments, units or even the sub-stores, which are primarily responsible for issuing goods to the users directly. All the receipts and the issues are managed by a single store located centrally.

2)Branch or Decentralised Stores:

Such stores are often located within the plant itself and are of significant size. This is most appropriate when a single store is unable to meet the needs of plants located in different locations.

3)Central Store with Sub-Stores:

This type of system is found in large factories where there are a number of product lines. Under this arrangement, there exists a main lead store which is further connected to small sub-stores, which are responsible for meeting the demand for a respective production unit that is closely located.

The centralized store replenishes all the requirements of the sub-store at periodic intervals. The storekeeper attached to each of the stores maintains a complete record of the inventory and submits all the records to the head storekeeper. This system is also known as the impressed inventory control system or the periodic store control system.

4)Tool and Miscellaneous Stores:

Such stores generally possess the required tools and the equipment that is required by production and manufacturing units. Taking into account the volume of work, the inventory of tools and equipment should be kept up to date.The store is responsible for meeting all the requirements related to the tools for the various units. The tools are issued first and then the central store or main store makes the supply.

The main store is actually not responsible for making the supplies for the individual departments. Like others, the periodic inventory is accounted for and any deviation is sought out. All the obsolete and defective materials are either replaced or repaired before they are kept on the racks for the purpose of the issue.

5)Warehouses:

This is another term used for going down. They constitute the place where goods are kept and stored either for a short tenure or a long tenure and assist manufacturers as well as traders who intend to store goods for one reason or the other. It is not possible for all to have their own storage units, so, in such cases, the services of warehouses can be taken up. In lieu of a certain rental payment, the goods are stored in reasonably good conditions and efforts are made so that the value of the goods is not lost.

6)Centralised Stores

A centralized store is normally the main store that is responsible for providing supplies for the other stores, the sub stores, and the departments which also issue goods to the users. The material is received and issued from a core location. The departments are not authorized to make purchases on their own. For any requirement, they have to approach the central store and the requisition is fulfilled accordingly.

The following are the primary functions of the centralized store:

I) Receiving the materials, equipment, and tools.

2) Issue of materials to the departments and the branch stores

3) Taking remedial measures for stock replenishment.

A store officer is usually appointed to oversee the operations of the store, with store assistants on hand to handle physical receipts and issues.

A centralized store helps in keeping the inventory in one common place and, moreover, the labor requirement is also reduced to a considerable extent. But, if the departments and the units to whom the supply is to be made are widespread, there can be difficulty in meeting their requirements. Problems with material handling can also arise in the case of centralized stores. Ideally, this concept is best suited for small organizations.