Concession Partnerships Manager

Job Introduction

Selfridges has always been much more than a shop. We’re a social space where everyone is welcome and feels a sense of belonging, a creative playground where culture and commerce collide, and an experimental hub where you can discover the most innovative and sustainable ideas in retail. We’re here to help make the world brighter. And you can be an important part of this. We’ll talk more about the role below, but before we get to that, let’s share with you the good stuff…  

Rewards and benefits 

Life at Selfridges is dynamic, exciting, and always evolving. As well as working with some of the most cutting-edge, iconic and boundary-pushing brands, designers and creatives, we also offer our team members opportunities to help make a positive difference through our network of communities, both within and outside Selfridges. Here are just a few of our rewards and benefits that help make our team experience that bit more extraordinary. 

• Flexible working options to benefit you, your family and your wellbeing that can include part-time, flexi-time, job sharing or hybrid working

• Generous annual leave that increases with length of service 

• Up to five paid volunteering days – from beach cleans to co-ordinating food and clothing donations 

• Family leave that suits your set up including Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Surrogacy and Shared Parental leave policies 

• Defined pension contribution scheme  

• Generous bonus and/or commission scheme  

• Enviable team member discount including sale previews and double discount days 

• Exclusive local discounts on a range of restaurants, bars, beauticians and entertainment 

• Subsidised gym memberships  

• Annual travel pass and cycle-to-work schemes  

• A sustainable car salary sacrifice scheme 

• Several internal communities to get involved in from our Diversity Board and Green Warriors who are leading the charge on D,E&I and sustainability, to the Wellbeings who are always thinking of new ways to champion healthy minds, bodies and routines for our team members 

• Workplace Options, our confidential team member assistance programme for when life gets tricky or you need a little guidance 

• Access to a wide range of training programmes to help your career development 

Read on to find out how you can play your part in Reinventing Retail… 

Role Responsibility

As Concession Partnerships Manager, you will report into the Head of Concession Partnerships and be instrumental in building and strengthening relationships with our concession brand partners across major categories, including Fashion. You will work collaboratively with various stakeholders to deliver a consistent and homogenous experience for both customers and team members through the store, creating a seamless and 360 offer between our Own Bought and Concessions businesses.

As Concession Partnerships Manager, you will be responsible for delivering results through the following objectives:

• Build a strong bridge between retail and concession management teams, ultimately supporting the Divisional & Department manager communities to be more strategic in driving sales & experiences through brand partners within their divisions.
• Highlight and provide insight on key points of difference between concessions and own-bought, including service offer, staffing plans, product strategy and operational efficiency, ultimately bridging the gap between both business models and enabling a seamless offer across the store for our customers.
• Be aware of the competitor landscape and be able to identify gaps in the offer or performance of brands within Selfridges as compared to the rest of the market. Partner with the concession to ensure we are working collaboratively together to minimise the gaps.
• Collaborate with other key teams and stakeholders, including Retail Operations, Buying & Merchandising, Marketing and Events & Clientelling & Service teams) to ensure that we have a 360 view of opportunities to boost concession performance
• Partner closely with the Buying team to have regular reviews of concession performance vs plan and align on key areas of focus to optimise their performance while being in line with the overall vision & strategy we have for the concession partner.
• Know top customers within Concession brands and identify opportunities to create unique experiences that they can leverage.
• Act as a key point of contact for Concession Managers, ensuring timely management of day-to-day needs, while equally providing them with strategic and insightful data to strengthen their core offer and performance.
• Ensure that the concession team members are adhering to our Selfridges standards both front of house and back of house.
• Be involved with the Store Approval process, identifying ways to make the process as efficient and smooth as possible.
• Understand the overall Selfridges vision and 121 Customer Strategy, ensuring that concession partners are mutually aligned to our values, including Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

The Ideal Candidate

Key Skills & Experience:

• A strong communicator – you are friendly and confident in your manner, and you excel in building solid relationships with concession partners as well as our internal management teams.
• Commercially astute – You are responsive and timely in addressing and managing brand partner needs, aligning as needed with Divisional team or other internal stakeholders to relay consistent messages. You will ultimately build strong relationships that will enable you to have influence over how our concession partners plan and deliver their commercial plans.
• A natural leader – you are comfortable coaching and influencing teams who do not directly report into you yet need to collaborate with you to achieve collective success. You can drive performance and enable change as well as support development.
• A team player – you bring ideas and share best practices with the senior managers. You are collaborative and can work flexibly as part of the management team.
• Agile & Solution-oriented – you can deal with ambiguity and are able to navigate grey areas with a high level of tact and empathy, remain constructive and solution-oriented keeping in mind the overall objective of the role and importance of collective success.
• Experience in managing and nurturing relationships with external partners (ideally this will be specific to concession partners)

Key objectives for this role include:

• Driving concessions sales plans - identifying risks and opportunities
• Growing client engagement through Selfridges led events
• Reducing lead time in closing operational issues
• Increasing team member engagement
• Increase consistency in team member experience by driving inclusive hiring practices aligned with Selfridges values throughout the store approvals process.

This guide represents a summary of the role, however all team members are expected to be flexible in the work they undertake, which may change from time to time, according to the needs of the business​

About the Company

Everyone is welcome 

Selfridges is a place where we want everyone to feel a sense of belonging. We embrace every self and are committed to cultivating a diverse and inclusive working culture. We are leading with purpose to not only increase the visibility and recognition of under-represented talent within our organisation, but the wider industry too. Here at Selfridges, everyone is welcome – irrespective of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age or disability, we stand by equal opportunities for all.   

Our awards cabinet  

We’re not ones to brag, but since you asked...Selfridges has won the award for The World’s Best Department Store an unprecedented four times at the IGDS awards, with an additional award for the Best Sustainability Campaign. We were also recognised as a ‘Best 25 Big Company to Work For 2020’ as awarded by The Sunday Times. 

Selfridges