VP of Retail Stores
Location : New York, NY
About Our Company
M.M.LaFleur is a female-founded womenswear company based in New York City. We believe the world is a better place when women succeed, so we celebrate the modern professional woman through our clothing, styling, and community. Our thoughtfully designed pieces are practical, comfortable, and beautiful, and we hope that when you wear them, you feel like the most polished and powerful version of yourself. Our goal is to take the work out of dressing for work—whether that means heading to the office, networking over brunch, leading PTA meetings, or anything in between.
Who are we?
We're a group of go-getters who are passionate about reimagining the way women shop and dress for work. We get inspiration from our customers, and everything we design has a purpose and a human touch. We think big, but we sweat the details, and we take our work (but never ourselves) seriously. We’re steady but nimble, thanks to a whip-smart, energetic team that’s not afraid to be scrappy. We are perfectionists who sometimes spill on our clothes—we own our mistakes, turn challenges into growth, and evolve as we learn. We embrace ambiguity, celebrate weird ideas, and love a work in progress. We are kind but direct, and we practice Kizukai—a Japanese word that means “empathy in action.” We are incredibly proud of the team we’ve built, and we’re excited to continue evolving as we grow.
Covid-19 Note
Our corporate office is located in lower Manhattan, but to prevent the spread of Covid-19, most of our positions are currently remote.
About this Role
M.M.LaFleur is looking for a growth-minded, results-oriented and people-focused leader to oversee and grow the next iteration of our retail experience. We are looking for a customer obsessed leader to set and achieve our retail channel goals in our stores, for our virtual appointments and to design additional opportunities to drive sales with our customers.
Our retail stores are a significant focus for future company growth. At the beginning of 2020, we had 6 store locations and two experiential format locations that were exceeding targets. We are currently focusing on our re-opening strategy and looking for a leader to drive short-term and long-term planning for this channel inclusive of people leadership, customer experience, sales strategy and real estate optimization.
In addition to the retail stores, the leader will oversee our virtual appointment model and continue to iterate on new shopping experiences and additional ways to grow the business.
The VP will need to travel 25-50% of the time to work onsite with the team in our stores, as well as evaluate future real estate opportunities. This role reports to the President and will act as a key thought partner for the business.
Who Are You?
You are a collaborative executive. You thrive in a team environment and enjoy tackling problems with a group of other great leaders
You inspire your teams. They want to work for and learn from you. You are excited to mentor future leaders and manage high-performing teams
You are an analytical whiz and an expert problem solver. You are comfortable dissecting ambiguous situations and excel in providing recommendations for a path forward
You operate in both the “today” and the “tomorrow.” You can be hands-on and address today's challenges while maintaining an outlook for where we'll be six months, a year, and five years out
You believe wholeheartedly in our company’s mission
What will you do?
Innovate on a retail experience that delights our customers and drives incremental sales
Drive all sales efforts with our customers in stores, in virtual appointments and any other direct sales interactions.
Identify partnerships and leverage them to drive incremental sales and co-marketing experiences in our stores.
Create a consistent in-store experience for customers across the retail stores
Work with store leaders to ensure store experience meets expectations specifically health and safety requirements
Identify future customer opportunities by understanding product and service requirements
Roll-out new store technologies that improve the customer experience with cross-functional teams
Own and manage the retail P&L across all locations
Deliver weekly business reports that offer fact-based summaries of performance and facilitate decision-making; Understand key performance indicators and correlating behaviors to impact each driver
Build business cases to support all new business ideas and retail extension opportunities
Support the new store expansion process with real estate development and market analysis
Lead a growing retail team that fosters a people first, success-oriented, accountable environment
Focus on health and safety standards for our employees and our customers before revenue goals
Build, drive, and protect a rewarding and engaging culture dedicated to motivating, developing and retaining talent
Encourage a high level of trust and transparency across all levels and functions
Build stronger connection between corporate and store teams through improved communications and feedback channels
Work closely with the store teams to ensure productive and positive working environments across all locations
Strategically position talent for future growth and expansion; build clear professional development plans and opportunities
Promote diversity in the workplace and ensure recruiting and development strategies attract and grow a diverse pool of candidates
Drive our values that reward, promote, and encourage high performance while ensuring we always do the right thing for our people
Partner with Operations and Digital leadership
Partner with Digital leadership on the development of a clienteling program that works through multiple channels (SMS, Zoom, Email); including development of lead follow-up, lookbooks, and current customer management.
Work with the Operations team to ensure operations and logistics activities support in-store performance
Oversee all new store opens with cross-functional coordination and teamwide communication
Work with the Operations team to build and uphold seamless store operational procedures
What skills or experience do you have?
Minimum of twelve years of experience in consumer facing retail and sales at an established, large scale company. Start-up, high-growth experience a plus.
Excellent people leadership skills with experience managing large teams.
Experience building teams, incentive programs, sales targets and developing retail strategy
P&L ownership within an organization of at least $50mm annual revenue
You are inspired by the evolution of the Retail experience
Adaptable and able to seamlessly lead through change with a strong sense of accountability and ownership
Able to execute strategies quickly and effectively with strong analytical and problem solving skills
