What's In A Job? Retail Manager

In the latest of a series on Jobs For Col U fans, we take a look at the jobs here at Colchester United.

Football is an ever broadening industry, providing a range of career paths and, next up, we speak to Gavin Preston, in our Retail team.

1. What is your job title and what does it involve?
Retail Manager - my job involves serving customers, managing the day to day activities within the shop, managing our online shop and buying and merchandising.

2. How long have you worked with the football club? 
I have worked at the club for nine years in total, both full time and part time.

3. Describe a typical day at work
My typical day involves an 8.30am start, where I come in, check my emails and check the online site. This would involves dealing with any queries from the site, processing online orders and getting them sent out. I would also to a check of the shop to make sure it is clean and tidy and that we have enough stock levels for the day ahead.

The shop is then open to the public at 10am. Throughout the remainder of the day I serve customers merchandise, speak to suppliers, carry out product research and maintain the online shop. The shop closes at 4pm – I tidy and cash up and finish at 5.30pm. 

4. What do you find challenging about your job? 
The hardest thing is to make sure we have a varied and suitable product range to suit all of our customers and to make sure we have everything the fans need. 

5. What do you enjoy most about your job? 
I mostly enjoy dealing with the fans, interacting with the fans and match days of course because they are the busiest!

6. Do you work in a team? What do you enjoy most about working in a team environment?
I have a team who support me on match days and that is enjoyable as I work solely otherwise. The atmosphere is good.  

7. Is there anything you would change about your job?
I would like the shop to be busier during the week. This would give me more to work with, we could extend our product range, things would be better and quicker and overall more investment in order to generate new ideas for new products. 

8. Would you recommend this job to someone else starting off in their career and why?
Yes I would because this role is a good solid introduction into retail management. I enjoy being a part of a football club and working within this environment.