Certificate in Retail Operations Enrollment Now Open!
Do you want to start your own business? Or looking to take your business to the next level?
Retail Alliance Foundation offers classes and mentoring to assist aspiring and existing retailers in operating their businesses successfully. The program is called Certificate in Retail Operations.
Completely practical, our lessons help new business owners figure out hard problems like cash flow, balance sheets, merchandise management and lease agreements—all things business owners struggle with daily.
The Certificate is a 14-week program earned by completing seven classes, each only 2 hours per week and 2 weeks in length (although there may be some homework!). Subject matter experts in each topic present live to the class as this allows for interaction with the students. These subject matter experts are industry professionals, ranging from successful retailers to marketing experts to tax professionals.
Topics covered:
Startup
The cornerstone of the Certificate in Retail Operations, introducing participants to the legal and personal demands of running a successful retail business.
Retail Accounting
The foundational for budget development and understanding how the Seven Principles work together to form a cohesive whole. Although this class is a discrete topic, the concepts learned will be an integral part of the other five courses.
Marketing and Advertising
Understanding the actions and processes, including marketing research and advertising, required to promote a retail business and to bring customers into a retail establishment.
Merchandising and Inventory Management
Learn how to effectively plan and promote the sale of their goods and services through appropriate presentation in their retail outlets. Merchandising is differentiated from marketing by focusing on what happens inside a store to complete a sale. Essential to the course is understanding the role of accounting in effective merchandising.
HR Management
Explore the appropriate methods of devising formal systems for the management of people—covering three major areas: staffing, employee compensation and benefits, and defining/designating work.
Loss Prevention & Security
Develop a set of practices to preserve profit including business activities specifically designed to reduce preventable losses. Areas covered include employee theft, shoplifting, paperwork errors, supplier fraud, and unknown or miscellaneous issues. Business Planning To allow participants to demonstrate the feasibility of their prospective new business by developing a roadmap for its first several years of operation.