Recruiting the right merchant managers

Improve recruitment decisions for roles that materially affect branch and business performance.

4 questions answered

Questions answered on this page

01Why can’t we find good branch managers?
02How do I recruit a strong merchant branch manager?
03Should I recruit merchant experience or leadership ability?
04When should I recruit externally rather than promote internally?

Why can’t we find good branch managers?

Good branch managers are difficult to find because the role combines commercial judgement, people leadership, customer understanding and operational control. Many job adverts describe tasks rather than the result and environment, while selection often favours familiar merchant experience without testing management capability. Pay, authority and expectations may also be out of line with the responsibility involved. Define what success in the specific branch requires, including its team, customers, stock, margin and local challenges. Search beyond people already holding the same title and assess evidence from comparable responsibility. Recruitment becomes easier when the role is realistic, attractive and clear, and when the business can explain the support, authority and development available.

How do I recruit a strong merchant branch manager?

Start with the branch outcome, not a recycled job description. Identify the commercial, operational and people challenges the manager must handle during the first year. Build a person specification covering essential knowledge, leadership behaviours, judgement and learning ability. Use structured interviews, practical scenarios and consistent scoring so confident presentation does not outweigh evidence. Ask candidates to explain real decisions, difficult conversations, customer trade-offs and how they used information to improve performance. Check references against the evidence you need. Involve the right stakeholders without turning the process into repeated informal conversations. A strong appointment is someone who can lead this branch in this context, not simply the person with the longest merchant CV.

Should I recruit merchant experience or leadership ability?

Treat merchant experience and leadership ability as separate evidence rather than opposing choices. Sector knowledge helps someone understand products, customers, rhythms and commercial language more quickly. Leadership ability determines whether they can set direction, develop people, make decisions and maintain standards. The balance depends on the branch. A complex turnaround may need stronger merchant and commercial experience, while a stable branch with technical support may allow a capable leader to learn the sector. Test learning agility and identify what support would close genuine gaps. Do not assume experience proves leadership, or that general leadership transfers without practical learning. Recruit against the risks and outcomes of the role, then build a clear induction and development plan.

When should I recruit externally rather than promote internally?

Recruit externally when the role needs capability, experience or challenge that is not currently available inside the business, or when internal candidates are not ready within the required timeframe. External recruitment can bring fresh perspective and proven experience, but it carries integration and cultural risk. Promote internally when the candidate has demonstrated the required behaviours and judgement, not simply loyalty or technical performance. Give internal candidates an honest assessment and development route rather than using promotion to fill an urgent vacancy. Compare both options against the same role criteria. The decision should reflect business need, readiness and support. It should not default to external prestige or internal familiarity.

What you may be seeing

The same branch manager vacancy is difficult to fill, and each search starts with the previous job advert.
Candidates are assessed mainly on merchant experience, personality and whether senior leaders feel comfortable with them.
Strong salespeople or operational specialists are promoted without enough evidence that they can lead people and the whole branch.
External managers arrive with useful experience but struggle because authority, expectations and support were never made clear.
Internal candidates receive little preparation, then are told they are not ready when a vacancy appears.

What good looks like

The business recruits managers against a clear view of the branch, the role and the results required. Merchant experience, leadership behaviour, commercial judgement and learning ability are tested separately using structured evidence. Internal and external candidates face the same core standard, with realistic recognition of their different risks. The offer matches the level of responsibility, and candidates understand the authority and support available. Internal talent is developed before vacancies arise, while external recruitment is used deliberately to add missing capability. The appointment then moves into a planned induction with clear early priorities and reviews. Recruitment becomes one connected process from role design through selection, transition and performance.

What may be happening underneath

Role clarity: The business has not defined the outcomes, decisions and conditions that make this particular management role demanding.
Selection evidence: Interviews rely on rapport and career history rather than structured examples, scenarios and consistent scoring.
Capability balance: Merchant knowledge, leadership, commercial judgement and learning ability are not assessed separately.
Internal pipeline: Potential managers are noticed only when a vacancy appears rather than developed through planned exposure and evidence.
Offer and authority: Responsibility, reward, decision rights and available support do not form a credible proposition.
Transition support: Recruitment is treated as the finish, leaving induction and early performance expectations too informal.

Questions worth asking

01What must this manager deliver in the first year, and which challenges are specific to the branch?
02Which selection evidence would demonstrate leadership, commercial judgement and operational control?
03Where is merchant experience genuinely essential, and where could structured learning close the gap?
04Which internal candidates have demonstrated readiness rather than only potential or loyalty?
05What authority, support and induction will the successful person need to perform?

Where to go next

Strengthen the decision before the appointment is made. BGC recruitment and people resources help merchant leaders define the role, assess evidence consistently and give the successful manager a stronger start.

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