Retail Management: Investing in People Support to Lower Costs

It is no secret that, in the retail management world, the pool of potential employees is vast, but sometimes does not yield the type of output that your company needs. This often results in high turnover rates, and thus money lost due to the process of hiring and onboarding.

How much are you actually spending? What are your employee turnover rates? The following three areas can mean big bucks when it comes to people support to keep your location running smoothly. And this is especially true when it comes to temporary or short-term hires (think seasonal employees).

Hiring. Whether you advertise the open position with a sign on the storefront window, on your website, or through a job site, there are always eventual costs associated with hiring. Sifting through a stack of resumes to find potential candidates takes time, as does the interview process, and the time it takes to conduct reference checks and fill out paperwork – this is inevitable.

Training. Once you have decided on a new employee, this is when the costs can really start to add up. Onboarding, if done correctly, can be incredibly costly. The time it takes (and the money that is spent paying for that time) to train the employee properly, to ensure that they understand and can adhere to your high standards, isn’t negligible. Maybe you hold orientation sessions to make them feel comfortable and introduce them to the company’s core values, or perhaps you have them shadow another employee for a period of time. Whatever your methods, the training period is one that can’t be avoided. After all, if you skimp on the training, you are the one who will ultimately suffer.

Firing. What about when that employee, or any other employee, doesn’t seem to work out. Do you try to save time and money by keeping them on and attempting to fix the issue, or do you cut your losses and let that employee go, thereby leading to the repetition of the entire process once again? Or, in the case of seasonal employees, you’ve just got to let them go when you know you’ll have to try again come the next seasonal rush.

Ok, great – so we’ve outlined all of the issues that are inherent in retail management – and for the most part they can’t really be avoided. So what are your options? Well, when it comes to people support, especially during peak times that necessitate hiring waves or potential short term hires, why not take a step back and rely on a company that can offer trained, professional, experienced replacements to cover whatever areas require the attention, on short notice, and just for the period required. This means no hiring, no onboarding, and no eventual firing. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? We thought so. So, when you are in a lurch, maybe think about how not hiring can actually get you the best employee out there.

For more about people support that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg please contact Storesupport today by calling 1-877-421-5081.

Generational Brand Loyalty: Reaching the Millennial Market

Brand Loyalty; that ever-elusive, continually changing concept that always seems difficult to pin down, let alone achieve, has yet again reared its (ugly? Guess it depends on how you look at it) head. It seems that with each year, new ideas surrounding how brand loyalty can be garnered are developed – some utter drivel, and others quite useful. And with each generation gap, this advice becomes even more important! After all, you aim to target a specific group, or groups, and if you can’t identify the members or their wants/needs, you might find yourself out in left field.

Check out this great infographic from Direct Marketing News, aptly title “Talkin’ ‘bout My Generation.” According to the image and accompanied report, there are some highly significant stats that should be considered. According to a recent study regarding brand loyalty among Millennials (those aged 18-33), the often accepted view that this age cohort is not brand loyal at all may not actually be all that accurate. In fact, the study found that 43% of respondents stated that they use the same brands as their parents, while 40% said that they feel the same level of brand loyalty as their parents, while a further 24% believed they actually held more brand loyalty than their parents. Check it out to find out what else the study found!

When it comes to brand loyalty and generational differences, don’t just blindly accept that those younger generations are not focused on the traditions of their forbearers. In order to harness the power of each generation, the knowledge regarding what they want needs to be harnessed first.

For more about utilizing generational brand loyalty please contact Storesupport by calling 1-877-421-5081.

Retail Merchandising Top 5 List for Simple Success

As a retailer, retail merchandising is one of the most critical factors in the success of your brand. How you merchandise in store plays a major role in the customer perception of your brand, and can seriously impact consumer behaviour. When done correctly, retail merchandising can mean a big boost for your bottom line, but if the potential is ignored, the adverse is often the result.

With this in mind, here is our list of the top 5 simple solutions that can have huge impacts.

1.      Minimize sale signs. If you have sale signs all over the store, the effect can often be the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. If sale signs are plastered everywhere, shoppers can become desensitized and the power of a sale can get lost in the shuffle. And, if you seem to have sale signs up all over the place, all of the time, one is inevitably going to start to question whether they are actually getting a deal. 

2.      Create space. If a customer can’t move freely through the aisles because of oversized displays or signage, the result may be a shifting of loyalty. Make sure that stands are always out of the way, but still visible, to ensure that carts can make their way through the isle without issue.  

3.      Coordinate colour. Over the last few years the power of colour has really started to receive some much overdue attention – and for good reason. The psychology of colour can play a big part in consumer behaviour, so just thinking about what looks good on the display, rather than the science behind it, may not get you the results you want. 

4.      Take advantage of the season. Many of you likely already do this – but to what extent, and how often? We are not just talking about the major seasonal periods (Christmas, back to school), but even the lesser ones. Any time you can pull on those heartstrings, create interest, or just get people thinking is great. Create displays that catch the attention of shoppers and draw them in.  

5.      Keep things changing on a regular basis. Keeping customers’ attention with creative and innovative signage and displays takes work, and sometimes it is easy to just continue with the same visual retail merchandising for a period of time. However, if a customer sees the same stagnant signs/displays week after week, those signs/displays severely lose their power. If things are not fresh and new, people will eventually come to ignore them.

Retail merchandising does take work, but sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to create interest, encourage purchasing decisions and keep customers coming back. Use these tips to ensure that your merchandising garners the attention that you want.

For more retail merchandising tips or for assistance with a campaign that takes into consideration all of the factors that make it successful, please contact Storesupport today by calling 1-877-421-5081.