Music is Universal
It’s the passionate and dedicated team at Universal Music who help make us the world’s leading music company. From A&R to finance, legal to digital, sales to marketing, Universal Music is the place to grow and develop your career within a truly commercial and innovative business that leads in everything it does.
Everyone is welcome to apply for our roles, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment because of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief, age, marital status, background, pregnancy, or caring responsibilities. We also recognise the importance of diversity of thought within our teams and are fully committed to embracing the talents of people with autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and other forms of neurocognitive variation.
We will always seek to make appropriate adjustments to recruitment, workplaces, and work processes to be fully inclusive to people with different needs and working styles. If you need us to make any reasonable adjustments for you from application onwards, including alternatives to the online form or to disclose a neurocognitive condition, please email UniversalMusicCareers@umusic.com.
The A Side: A Day in The Life
Abbey Road Studios is a globally recognised recording destination, celebrated as the most famous studio in the world. The Studio’s core business incorporates music recording and post-production services, whilst also being a pilgrimage for music fans globally and a major tourist attraction in the capital, with an estimated footfall in the region of 325,000 every year.
The Abbey Road Studios store, in the building adjacent to the Studios, gives visitors a real flavour of the Abbey Road experience, selling a range of high-quality merchandise from Abbey Road Studios’ own product range, vinyl LPs and artist collaborations.
The role of Assistant Manager offers the opportunity to join this world-renowned organisation and play a key role in this iconic business. The position offers an experienced retail manager the opportunity to run a small business unit, managing strategic planning, and overseeing the team’s delivery of product development, buying, multichannel operations, and marketing. It also offers the music lover the opportunity to curate the customer experience and provide international fans and pilgrims with a unique insight into The Studios, past, present, and future.
The B Side: Skills & Experience
Retail Management
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Work with the Abbey Road Studios management team to develop the commercial strategy, ensure the shop meets its revenue targets and that the products on sale both reflect the Abbey Road Studios brand and appeal to visitors
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Help develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to maximise sales and enhance the visitor experience, support targets, and minimise shrinkage. Ensure that all staff fully understand their responsibilities and always comply with these procedures
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Ensure that accounting and financial procedures are strictly adhered to and embed a culture of control and financial discipline
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Maintain a good knowledge and understanding of the retail market and in particular its relation to the arts and heritage world, feeding that knowledge into retail planning
Retail Performance
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Constantly review the trading data and take actions as required/agreed on matters relating to the day-to-day and longer term retail operations. Identify and communicate business critical issues
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Prepare timely, accurate, and high quality reports using the EPOS system and adding relevant supporting information. Communicate performance to the management team as required
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Understand and communicate sales forecasts to inform stock management and the longer-term development of the retail strategy
Retail Operations
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Perform daily opening, closing, and reporting procedures
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Sell store merchandise and manage stock levels and reordering
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Coordinate store displays and special promotions
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Reconcile weekly sales and prepare bank deposits
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Process cash and card transactions using the EPOS system, in accordance with the cash handling procedures
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Capture customer details, through store POS system. Build and maintain the customer database
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Organise appropriate levels of staffing to ensure the efficient operation of the shop, matching operational requirements and salary budget
Visual Merchandising and Display
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Ensure retail spaces are presented and merchandised to a high standard at all times and that standards are defined and maintained to reflect the brand and the commercial strategy and to promote sales growth
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Ensure that the visual merchandising, POS, layout and arrangement of the shop is continually evaluated and improved in order to maximise profit by monitoring sales against different arrangements and adapting layouts accordingly
Stock Management
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Keep shop merchandise in stock, organised, and displayed appropriately
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Ensure appropriate warehouse stock levels are maintained, responding to changes in demand as necessary
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Coordinate and manage relationships with Warehousing and wholesale vendors
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Receive and price store inventory, prepare and process online, telephone, and mail orders for store merchandise
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Liaise with Warehousing to ensure stock deliveries are processed promptly, stored methodically and delivered to the shop as necessary
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Coordinate the store’s annual stock take and the production of final reports
Team Management
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Build a strong, knowledgeable and commercial retail team through effective recruitment, induction, appraisal and disciplinary processes
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Develop and motivate the team to deliver the highest customer service by setting clear objectives and ensuring development needs are identified and met
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Regularly review the performance and operation of the retail team in order to continuously improve the visitor experience and maximize sales and margin. Ensure the shop is maintained and run to the highest standard
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Manage, schedule, and supervise store personnel ensuring that the peaks and troughs of customer flow are well managed and key targets are met.
Customer Service and Brand Experience
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Demonstrate real passion for the Studios, communicating in depth knowledge of the Studios’ past, present and future and how this relates to the retail range – not only to build sales but also to provide a unique customer experience (which will have the added benefit of encouraging visitors to make repeat visits to the store or website and to spread the word)
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Manage the inevitable peaks and troughs of customer flow through staffing and crowd management as identified in the Retail Operations Manual
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Identify opportunities to enhance customer service, including building a customer database and exploring added value services
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Build a culture of strong customer service to enhance the visitor experience and encourage linked sales
Retail Brand, Marketing and Communications
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Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of the events and marketing programme of the Studios and understand the link between the Studios and the products in the shop
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Use this knowledge to support a programme of marketing, PR and in-store promotions (in collaboration with the Marketing department) that maximises sales opportunities and customer engagement
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Benchmark Abbey Road Studios retail against other relevant retail offers, in the sector and beyond, including products, prices, displays and promotions
Legal, Security, Health and Safety
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Be aware of and comply with all relevant Trading Standards requirements and ensure team are fully briefed
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Ensure that the company’s health and safety regulations and procedures, as they relate to the shop, (and associated areas) are complied with at all times
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Assist in the evacuation of the shop in the event of a fire, security alert or other emergency in accordance with stated procedures. Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of emergency procedures
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Ensure that the retail team maintains vigilance at all times to ensure the safety and security of property (the building, cash and stock) and the safety of the public
Other
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Lead or act as a member of project teams for the development of new initiatives
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Undertake other duties that may be necessary from time to time, that are appropriate to the role, within the competence of the role holder and commensurate with the post
Person Specification
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Passionate about music and Abbey Road’s history and heritage
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A strong track record in retail store management, ideally with experience of corporate and entrepreneurial environments
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Experience of translating vision/broad strategies into specific targets and tasks
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Commercial knowledge and awareness, including the ability to retain and disseminate commercial data and of working with P&L accounts, budgeting and forecasting
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Demonstrable experience of recruiting and effectively managing teams in a retail environment, including performance management and skills training
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Extensive customer-facing retail experience, including cash handling, use of EPOS systems and experience in establishing written procedures
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Involvement in the development of product ranges and in the procurement of goods and services
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Good understanding of marketing planning and promotional campaign management
Just So You Know…
The company presents this job description as a guide to the major areas and duties for which the jobholder is accountable. However, the business operates in an environment that demands change and the jobholder's specific responsibilities and activities will vary and develop. Therefore, the job description should be seen as indicative and not as a permanent, definitive, and exhaustive statement.
Job Category:
Customer Service