Jim Malafronte

jmalafronte@sdretail.com

Jim has over 25 years of retail and consulting experience with a concentration in retail operations, workforce management, merchandising, process reengineering, budgeting, change management, and customer service. Before joining SD Retail, he spent 12 years in retail consulting with Garr Consulting Group (division of Deloitte and Touche), and BearingPoint. Jim also spent several years in store operations, merchandising and financial analysis as an executive with Macy’s in New York and Rich’s in Atlanta.

Jim’s experience and expertise is wide-ranging. Specific examples include:

• Designed an integrated Workforce Management solution for a national chain drug retailer. Specific solutions include Task Management, Labor Scheduling, and a custom-designed Labor Planning Tool (which contains all labor standards and workload drivers).
• Identified store operations process improvements and developed high-level labor requirements for a national electronics specialty retailer. Designed new processes based on recommendations and implemented in a 26 store pilot program. Developed detailed implementation approach for the chain. Benefits based on pilot results project incremental sales of $ 380M. Client is currently implementing program to the entire 5,000 store chain.
• Managed the retail track of a $6M project for a retail division start-up initiative for a major consumer electronic manufacturer. Client wanted to open retail stores and needed assistance in making the concept become a reality. Scope of work included defining click and mortar web integration strategy and defining all retail systems and processes. Today retail stores achieve over $1 billion in annual sales.
• Managed four teams for a national retailer of tools, apparel, appliances and home furnishings, designing a new Store Operations Strategy to boost profitability in 350 of their small-format stores, which account for nearly $5 billion in sales. The five store operations initiatives center around store management, staffing productivity, compensation, cashiering, and delivery and returns. The initiatives are currently in pilot design and are estimated to increase profitability by over $50 million.
• Led a Store Operations strategy for a national footwear retailer that achieved savings of $27M annually by designing a shared Store Manager concept, creating sales per hour productivity standards, and establishing engineered time standards.
• Designed a small market operational strategy for a national department store which reduced selling costs and aligned store operational strategy with customer service expectations by merchandise type.
• Designed and implemented store operational procedures to improve customer service, efficiency, and effectiveness. Functional areas included: inventory, facilities management, store and district management, financial, payroll management, and customer service.
• Developed and implemented team buying process for a major department store that significantly increased initial markup and negotiated guaranteed gross margin concessions with major vendors.
• Developed store simplification programs that reduced non-value added workload and provided opportunity to reinvest labor in customer service.
• Implemented customer service standards to increase sales and customer satisfaction and reduce selling cost.
• Developed and implemented automated scheduling systems based on customer traffic, productivity standards, and customer service objectives.

Jim has a Bachelor degree and an MBA from the University of Kentucky.