Sarah Bansal has 19 years of experience in customer service, retail, retail finance, and training. She is highly organized, driven, and passionate about delivering exceptional customer service and being an inspirational leader. Her most recent role was as Store Manager for House of Fraser.com, where she managed a team of 14 and achieved a 97% customer satisfaction rating. Prior to that, she held roles as a Store Liaison for Ikano Financial Services and as a Sales Development Manager for Benefit Cosmetics. She is married and received a BA in Business Studies from The Robert Gordon University.

1. Sarah Bansal
A highly organised, driven, passionate and friendly manager with 19 years experience in Customer
Service, Retail, Retail Finance and Training who believes the key to success is a strong work ethic,
being an inspirational leader and delivering exceptional customer service
Key qualities
Organisation skills: I have excellent planning and co-ordinating skills which make me a strong multi-tasker
and my flexible style allows me to adapt to the changing needs of the business.
People: I work hard to quickly establish close working relationships by listening and asking questions. This
helps me to get the best out of my team, effectively coach and encourage.
Time management: I achieve my best results when working to deadlines. I love the challenge and the sense
of achievement involved.
A strong work ethic: I’m dedicated, loyal and hard working. I’m happy to do whatever is necessary to get the
job done.
Career Summary
Store Manager, House of Fraser.com (Aug 2011 – Aug 2016)
Until recently, I managed the world’s 1st
Buy & Collect/online shopping store, a unique service not available
anywhere else on the highstreet.
I joined HoF to specifically launch this high profile store and am pleased to say that, as a trial, it has been a
success. House of Fraser, Aberdeen has surpassed all expectations both for sales and profit and has
provided HoF with valuable insight for their multichannel business and future .com stores.
Key responsibilities
 Managing a team of 14 including a Deputy Store Manager
 Delivering consistent and exceptional ‘VIP’ customer service – 97% customer satisfaction YTD achieved
(1st
in HoF)
 100% accountability for recruitment, team training and development, performance management and HR
 Educating customers to help them understand the service, website and how to place an online order
 Customer order management inc. the operation of a large stock room and daily deliveries
 Dealing with customer order issues inc. missing orders, incorrect items and damages
 Maintaining exceptional VM and store standards
 Responsibility for cash management
 Responsibility for achieving the required audit standard and stocktake result
 Working with the HoF trading calendar to drive promotional activity and sales
 Working with the Union Square marketing team to promote the service and drive sales
 Continually providing HoF with website and customer experience feedback to improve service and the
online offer
Store Liaison, Ikano Financial Services Ltd (Aug 2005 – June 2011)
Field role responsibilities
 Ownership of 210 New Look stores
 Helping NL managers understand their business opportunities, objectives and targets and how to achieve
them
 Ensuring that stores complied with all FSA, TCF & DPA standards
 Working with NL Regional managers each quarter to establish card strategy and required support
 Providing managers with regular performance information and ensuring that this information was
effectively cascaded
 Motivating and encouraging store teams to hit their card recruitment and quality targets
 Training inc. 121’s with new/existing team members and managers, group sessions, launching new
products or product changes, promotions and incentives roll-out and attending 9 regional meetings each
quarter

2. Account support responsibilities
 Creating and maintaining all store training materials ensuring that they were compliant and liaising with
NL Retail Operations to ensure they were audience appropriate
 Store incentive management including planning, prize sourcing, execution and results reporting
 Co-ordination of all reporting amends and NL store structure updates whilst adhering to strict deadlines
 Co-ordination and production of all Ikano store comms, product and incentive updates
 Liaising with NL Customer Services regarding New Look card complaints and other issues
 Liaising with Ikano Customer Services to ensure the call centre team was informed of all cardholder
promotions, store incentives and product updates
Sales Development Manager, Benefit Cosmetics (Nov 2004 – Aug 2005)
Key responsibilities
 10 retail outlets inc. Selfridges, House of Fraser, Debenhams and Boots
 100% accountability for recruitment, performance management and HR
 Team training and development to ensure a consistently high level of customer service and successful
selling
 Motivating store teams to achieve their targets, to be proactive and self-driven
 Maintaining exceptional merchandising and hygiene standards
 Facilitating effective communication between Benefit HO, Benefit team members and the retailer
 Commercial responsibilities including eventing and various admin tasks
Store Manager Designate/Senior Sales Manager, Debenhams (Aug 1997 – Nov 2004)
Whilst at Debenhams I progressed from the position of Management Trainee through to Store Manager
Designate. In my final role I managed the Health & Beauty department which was 10th
in turnover (£6m per
year) had a team of 75 staff (100+ at peak) and was highly target orientated.
Key responsibilities
 Ensuring that all accounts delivered exceptional customer service
 100% ownership of stock levels and merchandising disciplines
 Building strong relationships with Area Managers and suppliers
 100% accountability for recruitment, performance management and HR
 Co-ordinating 3 in-store promotional sites (10 at peak) to drive and maximise my business
I had the added responsibility of controlling all local marketing activity for the store. This included managing
a yearly calendar and budget and working closely with several external contacts including press, radio and
the centre marketing team.
In addition, I was a member of the Debenhams ‘International’ training team. I completed a store opening
programme in Copenhagen and Jakarta with 150 and 200 staff (without English) respectively.
Personal Details
Sarah Bansal Marital Status: Married
40 Pennan Road Nationality: British
Ellon Contact no: 07712479741
Aberdeenshire Email: sarah.bansal81@gmail.com
AB418AT https://uk.linkedin.com/in/sarah-bansal-63b1b0117
Education Summary
Ellon Academy The Robert Gordon University
1989 – 1995 1995 - 1999
6th
year Study (C) 2:2 BA ‘Hons’ Business Studies
5 Higher Grades (A-C)
7 Standard Grades (1-3)
References available on request