5 Ways Effective Retail Operations Can Elevate Store Performance
With payroll budget cuts and a dip in sales, both brought on by the pandemic, retail store operations took a hit. There simply weren’t enough resources to complete all the work that goes into effectively running a physical store.
Yoobic, a task management solution for frontline workers, outlined five solutions for streamlining store operations and elevating store performance in their white paper. The report points out that even though store sales are increasing, it’s important for retailers to not forget the hard lessons learned during the pandemic, as it’ll help stores adapt to their new roles in a future that is still unpredictable.
With fewer stores and employees, a surge in foot traffic, heavier workloads, and intense hiring competition, retailers are facing challenges even at a time when the retail industry seems to be taking a turn for the better.
Let’s look at the strategies Yoobic outlined to elevate store performance.
Digitize Store Tasks
In order to overcome challenges, retailers should look into technological solutions so stores can operate efficiently with fewer employees and minimal resources.
Digitizing store operations allows instant visibility into store performance. And this visibility allows for quick reactions or changes to maximize sales. Before major digital transformations, and even with smaller companies today, corporate offices relied on stores to implement new initiatives, but did’t have a way to confirm if everything was implemented the correct way – or sometimes at all.
But in today’s retail landscape, retailers can’t wait days or weeks to find out whether or not stores are up to par and have implemented all the initiatives that will enhance the customer experience. This is where digitization comes into play. If store tasks and processes are digitized, data can be collected, and reports can identify the things stores need to improve on and how corporate offices can support stores better – a win-win scenario.
Improve Store Communications
Clear communication is key for effective store operations. In order to obtain a higher level of communication, the white paper suggests that stores “use accessible, non-hierarchical and engaging store communications to connect retail employees to their organization and peers in other locations.” This can be achieved in many ways – by using mobile devices to ensure that internal communications are sent to every single employee, regardless of their role. This would not only ensure that every employee has received the directives, but would also create a check and balance when each employee could read all communication first-hand and not rely on information being relayed person to person, with key facts sometimes being lost in the shuffle.
The white paper found that 35% of retail employees feel disconnected from their organizations and peers. Transparency and non-hierarchical communication could help a greater number of employees feel connected.
Simplify Store Processes
It’s obvious that the more time that is spent on tasks, and task management, the less time store employees have to focus on customers. And with fewer employees working in stores today, it’s even more important that the ones who are on the sales-floor have ample time to enhance the customer experience. This is one of many reasons why simplifying store processes is crucial. As the white paper states, “When store teams spend too much time on tasks, customer experience suffers.”
Simplifying and digitizing repetitive processes can alleviate some of the time restraints store employees are facing, and in turn, can also elevate the customer experience. Stores should get rid of paper-based processes, merge tools like email, phone, and intranet so employees only have one place to check for all communication, and digitize complex processes – as task handovers and waiting for approvals is where bottlenecks happen. These efficiencies can increase overall productivity.
Digitize Regional Team Processes
Digital transformation is key to addressing many store issues – including supporting stores remotely. District or regional managers are tasked with managing their people and their stores from a distance. This is not an easy task in terms of store operations as they often can’t physically check in on all their stores in-person.
Connecting store employees and regional managers through live chats or video calls can open up remote communication and give regional teams more visibility into each store’s operations and performance.
Upskill Store Teams In The Flow Of Work
Retail employees need the right training tools in order to perform at their best and to drive conversions or increase sales. As the white paper outlines, “Employee knowledge drives conversions. Retailers need those in-store conversions now more than ever. But “traditional” training (in-person, take-home materials or conventional e-learning courses) doesn’t keep up with store associate needs because it’s infrequent and not at their fingertips”
37% of retail employees are trained only once per year or less. Due to the inconvenience of lengthy training programs, they aren’t the most effective. If you talk to almost any retail store employee, they will tell you about a time they were directed straight to the sales floor with minimal training – with training put off until time allowed.
The current training methods have low adoption rates because they’re inconvenient for busy store teams. Unfortunately, that means the training doesn’t get completed or the information is not retained.
Solutions to this problem include using mobile to ensure training materials are available to all employees, to keep training materials short and easily digestible so that it fits into store employee’s flow of work, and making sure the content is fun and engaging. Setting the stores up for success is the only way to achieve a significant increase in sales.
