Negusse Negash has spent decades as a retail store manager, and knows from experience what it takes to run a store, from keeping the shelves properly stocked with items that sell well, to hiring, training, scheduling, evaluating and retaining the best employees, to making sure customers have the best possible experience. In this small but very useful book, he provides a manual to help a new retail manager get a grounding in the most important aspects of his or her new position.
THE ABCS OF RETAIL MANAGEMENT is well-named. It is a clear, readable, simple guide to the most basic and fundamental aspects of running a store. No complicated theory, elaborate strategies, or convoluted management philosophies here, just the vital everyday information that a manager really needs in order to do the job properly and keep a store functioning well. The book is short and divided into clear chapters, allowing a busy professional to absorb the information without too much investment of time. For a new and inexperienced manager, however, it is well worth the time it takes to read it, as it manages in this short space to cover a wide range of information, offering substantial guidance.
The content is well-organized and structured, allowing a reader to easily find any information on a particular topic that they may happen to need at a given moment. The language matches the content, straightforward enough to be read quickly and comprehended easily, while thorough enough to provide detailed guidance. Charts and tables are well-designed for easy understanding, without distracting bells and whistles. For complicated procedures like financial statements and inventory management, Negash provides detailed, thorough step-by-step guides that walk the reader carefully through the process. At times, perhaps the language and information can feel a bit too simple, but it is perhaps better to tell a new and nervous manager something they already know than to assume they already know the very basics.
THE ABCS OF RETAIL MANAGEMENT is exactly what the title promises – a simple, short, straightforward guide to the most basic, and most important, aspects of running a retail store.