David Allen Email & Phone Number

Sandy, England, United Kingdom

Consulting with Retail Managers, Senior Site Managers as well as Visitor Operations managers across the Midlands and East of England. With a purpose to maximise profit from the retail operations within my geographical area. To coach retail staff and volunteers on procedures, products and primarily customer service by introducing a culture of surprise and delight. To collaborate with Buying and Merchandising Teams on a regular basis to set the strategic goals in range planning.

Newmarket, Suffolk

Castle Hedingham, Essex

• Increased visitor numbers by 21% in first 6 months of appointment.• Researched and commissioned for a new website to be built to improve the online face of the organisation and with the aim to increase bookings.• Increased the fine dining revenue by 60% within 12 months of appointment.• Project managed all new events through the season and provided leadership to volunteers.• Introduced a new Strategic Business Plan• Collated, maintained and analysed results from data to provide reports to the Board of Directors• Wrote a customer service manual for 300 volunteers and carried out customer service training.• Motivated and managed a large team of volunteers on a daily basis. Improved motivation with the volunteers by empowering their strengths and identifying areas for improvement.• Ability to deliver projects within the framework of the organisation and its governance.• Developed and delivered on an activity plan constructed by the Heritage Lottery Fund meeting their objectives and deadlines.• Introduced new written communication reports to improve communication between Heads of Departments.• Introduced a culture of surprise and delight so customers’ expectations were exceeded. • Known as a Brand Ambassador for the charity whilst creating new business links with local MP’s and parish council leaders to develop the Heritage charity further within the community.• Chair of all commercial committee meetings for the charity, held monthly.• Researched and commissioned a new EPOS system for the gift shop so sales could be analysed.• Recruited new catering team to deliver all the food and beverage service on site.

Shepperton On Thames

• Grew the portfolio of stores from 7 to 18 within a five-year period, generating an additional £3m income• UK management overseeing 18 manned retail stores in the UK with a combined turnover of £6m.• Introduced new business opportunities to open over 40 unmanned concessions within visitor tourist sites, garden centres and department stores across the UK in a 5-year period, contributing a further £1m of business per year. • Seized new commercial business opportunities for 20+ Christmas shops on short term leases which brought additional £300k+ on average for each opportunity, over a 10-year period.• Built, planned and recruited for exhibitions biannually which were the International Boat Shows, (London/Southampton) with 150,000+ visitors per time. • Conducted regular store visits carrying out commercial shop floor walks to ensure standards are kept to the optimum with opportunities to identify weak areas for improvement.• Integral link between stores and head office departments including chairing buying and marketing meetings.• Conducted regular staff one to one appraisals of performance.• Responsible for all merchandising planning and standards for the group.• Management and first point of contact to 50 staff including head office and retail store staff.• Managed essential KPIs including sales analysis, stock levels, sales targets, profitability and staff hour ratios, including designing and rollout of store manager incentive scheme. • Designed and maintained key data and pivot tables to track stock levels vs sales for stores to manage bay analysis with strong excel skills.• Introduced a learning and development culture to lead on all staff training• Strong member of buying group, identifying new product trends by attending gift fairs across the UK and Europe.• Responsible for management and co-ordination full biannual store stock audit checks across all stores and concessions and imported data to stock system with analysis.

Shepperton On Thames

• First point of contact for 20+ stores• Sales analysis and reports created for Retail Group Manager• Liaising with wholesale, mail-order and trade, lynch-pin between departments, dealing with queries.• Stock control for all stores including admin of movement of stock and inter branch transfers• Full stock check audits managed and controlled in all shops twice a year• Stock replenishment pick-notes raised using integrated stock management system

Windsor

• Responsible for full staff management and recruitment at Shepperton and Windsor stores (total 12 staff) including staff performance, disciplinary and grievance procedures. • Delivering on key KPI’s including exceeding sales targets• Range planning and merchandising, overseeing Windows displays, tweaking stock levels for fast/slow sellers.• Cash-handling, managing staff rotas, till reconciliation, management of security, products secure, shoplifters.

Cobham, Surrey

• Responsible for stock control within a £7m turnover site• Responsible for full goods management into store from outside suppliers• Management of stock into store against purchase orders, logged and barcoded• Managed back store area layout so stock was easily found• Negotiated with couriers for best rates for parcel returns, business post, terms and conditions.• Responsible for all customer special orders and returns• Responsible for quarterly stock checks audits

Cobham, Surrey

• Responsibility for 6 staff per shift (managing two shifts per day).• Ensuring staff maintained responsibility for their sales areas• Cash reconciliation• Merchandising plans actioned• Ensuring out of stocks replenished and logged• Responsible for securing building