Summary
Date Posted: Wednesday, August 14 2024, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
AUTOXPRESS is an importer, distributor, and retailer of tires, auto parts, and accessories in the East African Market.

POSITION TITLE: Head of Retail, Tanzania
REPORTS TO: Country CEO and Group CCO

BASIC FUNCTION
The Tanzania Head of Retail will oversee the operations and performance of the Retail business in Tanzania. Today, Auto{press has 7 retail outlets across Tanzania in Dar Es Selam, Arusha, and Mwanza with plans to open new branches over the next 3-5 years. This role combines strategic oversight with hands-on management, directly influencing branch performance, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and operational efficiency. This role is also responsible for updating management on the performance of the retail business in Tanzania and recommending new strategies to improve the business. The ideal candidate will be a dynamic leader with strong commercial acumen and the ability to drive growth and operational excellence across all branches.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES
Financial performance:
• Ownership of the Retail P&L, including setting and agreeing long term commercial and strategic objectives to grow the business sustainably with management.
• Set and achieve revenue, gross profit, and volume budgets for the retail business. These budgets will be set by branch and by product & service group.
• Provide regular visibility to key stakeholders on sales and profit achievement vs. budget and recommend actions required to ensure budgets are achieved.
• Oversee branch commercial performance by monitoring key metrics (e.g., cars per day, conversion ratio by product and customer category), and work with branch managers to develop and implement specific plans to grow each branch.
• Recommend changes to the company’s product and service offerings, including setting pricing and brand positioning.
• Enhance B2B sales effectiveness, focusing on acquiring. retaining, and growing SME and Garage customers.
• Monitor and manage branch related expenses within budgeted amounts.
• Manage SME, Garage and Part Dealer accounts within the debtors’ policy.

Branch Operations Management:
• Oversee the operational effectiveness of the branch network to ensure high-quality service delivery for
our customers.
• Ensure ISO & SHEQ standards are implemented at the branches
• Establish branch controls to maintain facilities, stock, equipment and general upkeep.
• Take action to close branch issues identified by Internal Audit department
• Ensure branches countrywide have sufficient stock based on the demand profile of their business.
• Give feedback on tyre sizes, part numbers, and brands being demanded by customers that we don’t currently stock, and work with the supply chain team to procure them.
• Monitor slow moving part numbers and tyre sizes regularly, taking actions to clear stock before it becomes obsolete.
• Provide regular visibility to key stakeholders on operational performance at the branches and recommend actions required to improve operational outcomes.
• Visit branches regularly
• Ensure preventative maintenance of equipment is done as per recommended timelines.
Customer Experience and Engagement:
• Implement customer engagement strategies to enhance customer experience, improve customer retention, increase visitation frequency, grow share of wallet with existing customers, and bring in new customers through word-of-mouth.
• Provide regular visibility to key stakeholders on customer engagement metrics and recommend actions required to improve customer outcomes.
• Oversee in-branch assets designed to enhance customer experience, including the CRM, Garage POS software, Booking system, and Recommendation Engine.
• Ensure customer feedback is collected, and use this information to develop insights for improving customer experience and engagement outcomes.
• Manage customer complaints to ensure they are closed rapidly and oversee root cause analysis of complaints to identify systemic issues and limit future cases.
• Foster a customer-centric culture within the organisation by training and incentivising staff to prioritise customer satisfaction and retention ahead of short-term sales results.

Employee engagement and effectiveness
• Develop and implement strategies to enhance staff effectiveness, ensuring alignment with the company’s goals and objectives.
• Recruit the best talent possible, ensuring the business has sufficient human resources to support growth without compromising service levels.
• Identify the training needs at each branch, and work with the Training and HR teams to deliver the required training.
• Work with HR to oversee and continuously improve performance management systems. Set branch staff KPls to ensure they are aligned with the company’s goals, conduct regular performance reviews, and make promotion recommendations where necessary.
• Oversee the employee incentive programme for branch staff to recognise and reward high performance.
• Collaborate with HR on succession planning to ensure a pipeline of talent is ready to take key roles.
• Develop and maintain initiatives to boost staff engagement and morale, including team-building activities, employee recognition events, and feedback mechanisms to ensure staff feel valued and heard.
• Lead efforts to improve internal communications, ensuring that staff are informed, engaged, and aligned with the company’s vision and strategy objectives.
• Coach and mentor the Branch Managers to help them become better leaders.
Reporting, analytics and insights
• Utilise data to develop actionable insights to inform strategic decisions, driving business growth,
enhancing customer experience, and improving overall operational efficiency.
• Benchmark branches based on key performance metrics to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Generate reports on key performance outcomes and use these to communicate with senior management and branch managers.
• Give feedback to the marketing team to help inform future marketing campaigns.
• Gather market information on the ground, and provide these insights to relevant stakeholders.

KEY COMPETENCES
• Finance: Understanding of revenue planning, cost management and budget processes.
• Leadership & Influence: Empathetic and able to collaborate with others, ability to motivate and inspire at multiple levels within the organization.
• Commercial acumen: Strategic thinker with commercial understanding.
• Computing skills: Familiarity with Microsoft Office suite, especially Excel
• Operational expertise: Understanding of retail operations and fast paced customer service industries.
• Implementation & Execution: Ability to prioritise and plan to ensure successful execution of strategies.
• Flexibility & adaptability to change: Be responsive to change, with the ability to learn from mistakes
• Familiarity with the region

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE
Education:
• University degree in technical, financial, or business management, or an equivalent Masters.

Experience
• Minimum S years’ experience in a management role at a Retail or B2C business.
• Developed and executed business plans for a B2C business that resulted in successful profit increases.
• Success in a role requiring data-led decision making.
• Execution of programmes to mentor people, develop their skills, and to ensure clear succession planning.
• Knowledge of the automotive retail environment, tyre industry, and spare parts industry is advantageous.

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Job application procedure
Interested in applying for this job? Click here to submit your application now.

Deadline for application: 31 August 2024
Please send your application letter, CV, copies of educational and professional certificates to: with the subject: Application – Head of Retail.

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