UK Retail Supervisor (Branded E-cigarette) in Manchester

Industry: Branded E-cigarette (Vape / Electronic Atomization)

Position Role: Responsible for terminal sales execution, relationship maintenance, visual merchandising, sell-out activities, and local retail team management for the brand's offline retail channels in the UK (including chain vape shops, convenience stores, specialist vape stores, and wholesaler terminals). Drive channel distribution rate and actual sell-out performance. Familiar with UK TPD regulatory compliance requirements.

Job Responsibilities

• Retail Channel Business & Performance Achievement
  • Undertake the sales, distribution rate, and sell-out targets for the UK retail terminals. Break down the targets to key chains, wholesalers, and core retail outlets, and follow up to complete monthly/quarterly performance indicators.
  • Be responsible for relationship maintenance with key retail accounts (chain convenience stores, e-cigarette chain stores, regional wholesalers, independent vape/tobacco shops). Conduct regular store visits, handle channel requirements, customer complaints, orders, and inventory turnover issues to improve customer retention and repeat orders.
  • Assist in expanding high-quality retail customers, evaluate outlet quality, and promote brand listing, shelf placement, and full SKU distribution to increase brand coverage density at terminals.
  • Monitor terminal inventory levels, coordinate with wholesalers and retail outlets to optimize inventory turnover, reduce stock-outs and dead stock, improve SKU completeness, and coordinate with the domestic supply chain to resolve issues such as shortages and near-expiry products.
• Terminal Execution, Display & Marketing Implementation
  • Strictly implement the brand's terminal standards: shelf display, facings, brand POSM (Point of Sale Materials), and cabinet placement. Complete store display audits during field visits, output rectification plans for display issues, and enhance brand offline exposure and visual competitiveness.
  • Collaborate with the European marketing team to implement UK local offline promotions, in-store events, pop-up activities, and staff incentive schemes. Follow up on execution, review sell-out performance post-event, and provide optimization suggestions.
  • Provide product training to wholesalers and retail store staff, including product knowledge, selling points, compliance sales regulations, and sales techniques, to empower terminal staff and drive in-store conversion.
  • Be familiar with UK TPD e-cigarette regulations, supervise retail-side sales compliance, and strictly prohibit non-compliant advertising, improper displays, and sales to minors, ensuring the brand's retail operations in the UK are legally compliant.
  • Visit terminals to gather market intelligence, including competitor products, pricing, promotional activities, channel policies, and consumer feedback. Regularly output market insight reports and feed back to domestic product, marketing, and sales teams to support strategy adjustments.
  • Produce weekly/monthly reports: terminal visit records, channel performance achievement, distribution rates, inventory data, issue lists, and next-month action plans, synchronized with the domestic headquarters.
• Local Retail Team Management (If applicable)
  • Manage the UK local retail/terminal promotion representative team, set individual KPIs, track daily work, conduct joint store visits, performance evaluations, and provide coaching and empowerment.
  • Manage local staff scheduling and field work supervision, optimize store visit routes to improve team visit efficiency and terminal execution quality.
  • Liaise with domestic sales, supply chain, marketing, and quality control teams to communicate UK retail-side issues such as logistics delivery, product quality, supply of materials, and marketing material requirements, driving issue resolution and closing the loop.

Job Requirements

• Work Background: 3-5 years of offline retail/channel management experience in the UK. Experience in e-cigarettes, FMCG, consumer electronics (3C), or tobacco-related industries is preferred. Familiar with the UK retail ecosystem (convenience stores, independent vape/tobacco shops, specialist vape stores, wholesaler channels). Chain retail customer resources are preferred.
• English proficiency: Native or near-native speaker, capable of independent business negotiations, client visits, and report writing in English.
• Mandarin Chinese proficiency: Strongly preferred to facilitate seamless daily coordination and strategic alignment with the domestic headquarters in China.
• Qualifications: Possess a valid UK work visa, and be able to work long-term in the UK. Hold a valid driving license and be able to travel frequently across cities for field work.
• Professional Skills: Understand terminal sell-out logic, possess client negotiation and relationship maintenance skills. Data analysis capability is required—able to analyze sales, inventory, and distribution data and drive terminal improvements based on data. Familiarity with UK TPD e-cigarette regulations is preferred.
• Soft Skills & Cultural Fit: Cross-cultural adaptability is essential. Candidates with a bi-cultural background (Chinese and UK), proven experience working within HQ corporations, or prior experience acting as a liaison between Chinese and Western teams will be given strong preference, as this role serves as the critical bridge between the headquarters and the local UK market. Result-oriented, highly resilient under pressure, adaptable to field work and store visits. Possess good project follow-up and problem-closing abilities.
• Education: Bachelor's degree or above, preferably in Business, Marketing, or related fields.