Unified solution for omnified retail
A single solution for speciality retailers to run the store profitably
By looking at the history of changes and challenges, particularly when many challenges emerge together, a unified solution often emerges too. The invention of a Swiss Army knife happened in 1884 when the Swiss army needed a tool that could open canned food, aid in disassembling a rifle, provide a blade, and a screwdriver all in one pocket solution.
Retail has also witnessed multiple changes and challenges throughout the years and retailers adopted various tools on this journey on a needed-basis. This adaptation has been evolving slowly over time until 2020, when consumer behaviour changed overnight, and technological adaptation accelerated. In such a rapid transition there was little time to strategise and think beyond survival. As per the 2021 retail industry analysis by Deloitte, only three in 10 executives rated their organisations as having mature digital capabilities to cope with these changes.
The store of the future post pandemic is still in its early stages. Leaders should act now to prepare their organisation for a technology enabled revolution in customer experience and employee efficiency. As per one report of Mckinsey, the store of the future is likely to achieve EBIT margins twice those of today, with the added benefits of improved customer experience, better employee engagement, and an easier-to run store. The technology necessary to achieve this is available now and is ROI positive. Let us take a look at the top 4 tools needed by Speciality retailers to run a profitable store.
As per the Global state of sales 2021 report by LinkedIn, 74% of sellers say their organisation plans to spend more on sales intelligence tools in the next 12 months. It is the right time for specialty retailers too to invest in tools which can identify the right sales opportunities by analysing customer trends and by pinpointing where and when stores need to focus their resource. Analysing store-specific trends and forecasting monthly or weekly goals into achievable targets at the store and employee level will help them get the most out of their brick-and-mortar operations. Enabling retail leaders to manage stores with real-time KPI dashboards, statistics, and an advanced reporting component to communicate performance to all levels within an organisation will allow them to drive the store’s business more effectively.
A Specialty Retailer does half of its business in its 20 peak open hours. It is critical that retailers meet the needs of these hours to achieve desired sales targets as you cannot achieve your weekly goals without success at peak. One important tool for specialty retailers to invest in is labour scheduling to achieve the highest result during peak hours. Specialty retailers need to invest in a customised labour scheduling tool that builds performance-optimised schedules based on projected traffic trends and continuous assessment of store and employee performance. If this tool can generate schedules that are designed to maximise performance in compliance with labour laws, company policies, and qualifications, brands can focus on delivering the best customer experience and labour costs will go down too.
What is the topmost priority of a retailer when it comes to maintaining brand loyalty? It’s delivering a consistent brand experience across all channels. Forbes says presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23%. Specialty retailers need to ensure a consistent brand execution and customer experience by utilising a retail execution tool that helps them do task management, communications, generate customised store visit reports, audits, surveys, and action plans. Effective implementation of brand guidelines, promotions, events, and other elements required to provide the ideal customer experience can be achieved through an effective retail execution tool.
Technology isn’t just re-shaping the customer experience, working in retail looks different too. Roles of employees have been upgraded with newer responsibilities and higher contributions to the business. Retaining and engaging associates are key factors in bringing the brand to life by providing the best customer experience. Specialty retailers need to invest in an employee engagement tool that provides their employees with schedule flexibility, as well as the ability work in multiple locations, work for more hours, communicate and get recognised among the stores, increase their knowledge, and get involved in healthy competition. Facilitating and engaging employees by putting the right tools in their hands can contribute positively to the business.
Unified Solution
The market has a multitude of solutions for the above-mentioned tools which can make our businesses easier and more profitable. A downside of these point solutions is that they are often independent and not easily accessible from a single system. Due to this, a comprehensive analysis of a business through a single platform becomes almost impossible. Also, they are typically homogeneous solutions that are designed to meet the needs of multiple industries instead of focusing on the particular needs of specialty retail.
Considering these limitations, as well as keeping cost effectiveness in mind, a team of retail experts came together and designed a unified tool that can deliver sales intelligence, labour scheduling, retail execution, employee engagement, and other retail enablement tools through a single platform named StoreForce. StoreForce understands the specialty retail business, its goals, and its path to success very well and provides a unified solution for today’s omnified retail.
To find out more about StoreForce and the services they provide to the retail industry, click here.
This article was also published in The Retailer, our quarterly online magazine providing thought-leading insights from BRC experts and Associate Members.