Merchandising Companies Ensure That Brands Keep at the Same Pace as Their Customers

There are many challenges to be faced by brands who locate their products at retail. Good customer service, product location in-store, and employee compliance are just a few of the things that merchandising companies deal with in order to help you secure your place at the top.

The role of merchandising companies is to show you how to be the most effective in selling your product. 

When you are trying to keep up with the changing retail market, it can be difficult to know which strategy is best to adopt. Knowing which route to take in order to keep current customers loyal, while at the same time attracting new customers, can be a challenge. Merchandising companies can help you ensure that you keep your brand current.

Customer satisfaction research studies show that those customers that are loyal to a certain brand will continually purchase that brand, even if there is a slight increase in price. However, if a brand fails to keep up the pace and meet the needs of a constantly evolving market, customers, especially younger customers, will grow impatient and quickly move on to a competitor’s product. Merchandising companies work with you to make sure that you are keeping pace, and meeting the needs of the changing market.

The human mind is both emotional and rational, and so it is important to keep emotion as part of your overall merchandising strategy. Relying solely on fact-and figure-based strategies can severely limit your ability to reach your target market. Merchandising companies will show you how to implement merchandising solutions that employ both a fact-based and emotionally driven merchandising campaign that is much more appealing to consumers.

An engaged customer is a loyal customer. Merchandising companies ensure that brands keep pace by catching the attention of a brand’s consumer by making sure that product placement is efficient, that brand presentation is effective, and that staff at retail are promoting your product well. 

Keeping up with the newest trends and appealing to what is current is essential, and merchandising companies will show you what kinds of strategies to implement in order to do this. By working with a merchandising company, you will be more capable of appealing to the customer through the adoption of the newest market tactics, ensuring that you do not fall behind.

In-store demonstrations or samples, product placement and mystery shopping are all ways that merchandising companies work to make sure that your brand is receiving the attention in needs at retail. Helping you maintain control of your retail presence is an important part of your business, and merchandising companies will help you achieve it!

Falling behind with current trends can spell disaster for your brand, but utilizing the services of a merchandising company will help keep you a step ahead, meaning more brand loyalty and a bigger consumer base.

For more information about the benefits of working with a merchandising company and how it can help you keep pace with customers, or to learn about any of the services provided by Storesupport, please call 1 (877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Canadian Mystery Shopping Providers Tell Brands What Is Really Happening At Retail

Relying on retailers to keep you informed about how your brand is doing at retail, or waiting until your sales profits come in, can be very problematic. A good way to avoid this is by relying on Canadian mystery shopping providers, as Canadian mystery shopping providers tell brands what is really happening at retail.  

How can you determine how well your brand is doing, and how it is perceived by your targeted demographic? Canadian mystery shopping providers can find out. By placing mystery shoppers in the retailers where your brand is being sold, you are able to determine how well that retailer’s staff knows your brand, and what they are telling your customers about it. Are they giving the correct information to the consumer? Is your product being re-stocked in appropriate intervals? Is your product kept in the most efficient location? A Canadian mystery shopper will answer these questions. 

In the retail food industry, the retailer’s primary concern is not always your brand, and very often no incentives exist to push them to see that your brand is being marketed effectively. Canadian mystery shopping providers will solve this problem by identifying any problems in-store, and giving you the intelligence required to address them.

Canadian mystery shopping provides invaluable retail intelligence that helps you stay on top of the competition. Those companies that do not utilize the services of Canadian mystery shopping providers often have no idea how their product is being marketed to consumers, meaning they then have very little ability to influence how their products should be marketed. By taking advantage of services offered through Canadian mystery shopping providers, you can ensure that your brand is receiving the attention it needs in order for your business to profit.

Keeping customers happy is the key to consumer loyalty and retaining customers. Canadian mystery shopping providers allow you to determine the level of customer service being delivered by the retailers who sell your brands. Canadian mystery shoppers can reveal whether or not employees are following procedures, and can also help you to identify and measure how effective staff training programs are.

Canadian mystery shopping providers can also give you valuable information about how consumers feel about your product. Canadian mystery shoppers can find out why your current customers choose your product over your competitors’. They can also determine how potential customers feel about your product allowing you to cater to meet their wants as well. How well does the packaging advertise what customers are looking for? Is it attractive and eye catching? Canadian mystery shoppers can find out.

Thanks to Canadian mystery shopping providers, your ability to know the customer’s perspective can greatly impact your ability to increase sales and build your customer base.

Finding out about what is really happening at retail is a crucial component in keeping customers happy and loyal, as well as increasing your overall profits. Mystery shopping providers are an important part of this process.

For more information about Canadian mystery shopping providers and how they can tell you what is really happening at retail, or to find out about the retail merchandising services offered by Storesupport, please call 1 (877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Is Service Intelligence Mystery Shopping A Must Have For Brands?

Mystery shopping or secret shopping at retail is service intelligence that a retailer simply cannot do without. Service intelligence mystery shopping focuses on providing a brand with much needed intel about what kind of service their customers are receiving at the retail level. Service intelligence mystery shopping is also important to retailers because it lets them know how their staff members are performing. 

The worst thing that a brand or retailer can do is to wait for sales to take a dip to realize where areas for improvement are with respect to the customer services that they are providing to their customers. Top notch customer service leads to brand loyalty which results in life-long customer relationships. Establishing brand loyalty takes significant effort and once you are on top of your game, staying there requires even more focus.

Service intelligence mystery shopping measures people and product performance in-store.

Where brands are concerned, utilizing service intelligence mystery shopping enables you to understand product endorsement at the store level. A great example of this is when consumers approach employees at the retail level and ask about a particular product, asking “which shampoo is the best” for example? Mystery shopping can determine whether the employees are recommending your product? Are your promotional offers being communicated to the customer? Service intelligence mystery shopping also enables you to ensure that the delivery of your brand messaging is correct. When employees are asked about your products, is information being communicated accurately?

Service intelligence mystery shopping can also reveal other issues, like the location of your products in-store, how pricing is being received by other shoppers, planogram compliance, and secondary display compliance issues.

Where retailers are concerned, service intelligence mystery shopping can enable you to measure customer service and manage behavioural issues in your store, and is an opportunity to improve customer retention and loyalty to your store. This ongoing measurement raises the bar and shapes and improves your staff’s performance.

The result of service intelligence mystery shopping delivered through a sales team compliance audit can be eye opening and can reveal issues that could be having a direct impact on your bottom line. Issues in-store that negatively impact the customer, such as long line ups, poor customer service, or staff that lack the required knowledge about the products sold in-store, will reduce sales and brand loyalty. A sales team compliance audit will tell you if you are achieving your customers’ expectations in store.

At the end of a day, when customers are not having a good experience at retail they simply will not choose to visit a particular retailer at all the next time they need to make a purchase. Grocery stores are an excellent example of a type of retail where service intelligence mystery shopping is very important. In many cases, consumers will go to their local grocery store weekly, so the cost to a retailer who has in-store performance issues will face severe financial consequences if a customer has a bad experience and decides not to come back.

Investment in service intelligence mystery shopping is a very important piece to the puzzle that leads to the success of a brand at retail and retailers in general.

For more information about service intelligence mystery shopping or mystery shopping services provided by Storesupport, please call 1 (877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

The Key to Brand Loyalty is Effective Brand Management and Customer Retention Strategies Where Aging Consumers Are Concerned

Customer retention occurs when businesses conduct themselves in a way that results in repeat business, thereby retaining their customers. 

Customer retention strategies should be executed from the moment that a customer becomes a customer, and should extend throughout the lifetime of the relationship. Retaining your customers long-term will largely rely on your ability to service them. Customer retention strategies and maintaining a standard of excellence through great service will not only improve your ability to retain your customers, but will also result in positive word of mouth which will lead to additional new business.  

The most successful brands put the value of their customer before profits through investing in providing a superior service and striving to not meet but exceed their customers’ expectations. This model leads to brand loyalty that can last a lifetime. There have been studies released that have substantiated the direct correlation between customer retention and a company's overall profitability. While customer retention involves investment, the long-term payoff is immense. One study showed that engaged customers generate 1.7 times the revenue than normal customers do.

Brands need to have different customer retention strategies for different demographics. Older consumers represent the most loyal demographic. Brands must adopt customer retention strategies aimed at targeting these consumers and making their needs a priority. Small considerations like package sizes, legible labels with larger text, and packaging that’s easy to open are some examples of ways that a brand can go above and beyond the call of duty to retain customers in this demographic.

Older consumers are habit driven. They like to visit the same retailers again and again and tend to be very brand loyal. They are also more apt to spend more time at retail locations. The older demographic responds to service. In-store demonstrations and product testing are important if a brand plans to lure a customer in this demographic away from the brands they are currently loyal to.

Retaining these customers is less challenging because they have a tendency to fall into a habit. The fastest way to lose a customer in the older demographic is to allow your products to become unavailable to them. When retailers don’t restock a brand’s product on the shelf, it forces the consumer to try a different brand if they don’t want to endure the inconvenience of going to another retailer to look for the product. If the customer likes the new product that they try, in many cases the original brand will lose the loyalty of a customer in an older demographic.

Brands need to ensure that their products are consistently available across all retailers where their products are available, and counting on retailers to ensure this is a risky proposition. This is one area that brands should invest in and make a part of their customer retention strategies.

Customer retention strategies result in brand loyalty, and in the consumer packaged goods industry brand loyalty is the reason that some brands become a household name. The most successful brands at retail are only successful because of their ability to retain customers.

For more information about customer retention strategies, or if you would like more information about Storesupport’s services for brands, please contact us by calling 1 (877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Merchandising Companies Ease In-Store Barriers at Retail

There are so many barriers that brands can encounter at retail. Keeping your brand on top at retail requires constant and consistent focus, and many brands are turning to merchandising companies to ease barriers that they encounter at retail. Many brands, especially smaller brands, don’t have the infrastructure and support to address barriers that present themselves at retail that can have major long-term implications. 

The top three barriers that brands encounter at retail that impact their sales and profitability are in-store merchandising, sales and promotional support, emergency services when things go wrong, and. Brands simply cannot count on retailers and their employees to ensure the best representation of their brand in-store. Brands that want to achieve top sales must ensure that their customers have a consistent experience with their brand from one retailer to the next, which is why measures must be but in place to ensure that consistency.

In-store product demonstrations influence your customers’ buying habits and are your time to shine, as are brand events, promotions and new product launches. Sufficient sales support provided to retailers by your brand ensures that your brand is properly promoted at key retailers. This can pose a logistical challenge to some brands, especially smaller brands, which is why working with experiential marketing companies can be particularly helpful for these brands.

Distribution and merchandising can make or break a brand’s success at retail. Effective distribution planning ensures that products are in the places that will make the most positive impact to a brand’s sales. Merchandising can be a huge barrier because brands rely on retailers to ensure optimal product placement and that products are always in stock and on the shelves. However, often products will:

·         Be displaced

·         Be moved to a different location in-store where a customer is not conditioned to look for them, or

·         There may be times when the product that is on the shelf sells and more product is in the back but retail staff are pre-occupied with other things, so hours or even days may go by before the shelf is re-stocked.

This is one barrier that brands must overcome because if the above occurs it can result in the customer shifting their loyalty to another brand altogether. Brands turn to merchandising companies to overcome this barrier because merchandising companies offer the support and infrastructure to ensure that this doesn’t happen because they take control of the brand’s merchandising at retail.

There are so many things that can go wrong with a brand’s products at retail. Merchandising companies are also able to deal with product pick-up and returns, emergency product recalls, the relabeling of products, product movement and repair, display builds, planogram implementation and compliance, and more… Brands face so many moving variables at retail that merchandising companies are able to help overcome these challenges affordably.

The effort that brands make to get into retailers is significant and staying there becomes a constant undertaking. Investment in sales support, product response and in-store merchandising is a brand’s best chance at building brand loyalty and profitability.

For more information about how merchandising companies are easing barriers that brands are encountering at retail or for more information about our solutions for brands at retail please contact Storesupport at 1 (877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca  

Cost Cutting of Customer Support Services at Retail Directly Impacts the Customer Experience

In the retail industry, the customer experience is paramount to the success of brands and retailers. The customer experience is what will lead to brand loyalty and repeat business. Today’s consumer has so many choices and the retail industry is extremely competitive. Online shopping, mobile technology, big box stores and the introduction of American retailers like Target into the Canadian market space make it more important than ever for retailers to be competitive. 

The cost of labour is one of the largest expenses that retailers face, and unfortunately it is one of the first places that retailers cut costs when doing business. Cost cutting of customer support services in retail directly impacts the customer experience and can do more harm than good in the long run. Cost cutting of customer support services can cost more long-term business to the retailer than cost savings may achieve in the short-term. 

When a retailer implements cost cutting measures that result in cost cutting to customer support services the only person who suffers is the customer. Cost cutting measures in retail result in:

1.       Longer line ups

2.       Customers not being able to find all of the brands that they need because items that are in-stock appear to be sold out because shelves have not been re-stocked

3.       The inability to find a customer service representative to ask questions to

4.       Demotivated employees who are overworked and as a result provide a lower standard of service and more…

Jobs that keep the customer happy and coming back are vital.

In the retail food industry especially, when a consumer has a bad customer experience, for example not being able to find all of the brands they like at a single grocer or long line ups, it doesn’t take long before the consumer will make the choice to switch to another store where they have a positive experience, even if in the end shopping there costs more. This is a classic reason why more expensive retailers exist and thrive. Retailers who offer a better customer experience can get away with charging higher prices because customers will pay to have a better experience.

Do customers have unrealistic expectations with regards to the service that they demand? We don’t think so. At the end of the day if you want to dominate in your market space and be the most competitive, the old adage “the customer is always right” rings as true as ever.

The investment that a retailer makes to keep their customers happy and that will lead to the best customer experience results in increased brand loyalty and profitability for both the retailer and the brands that they sell. The consequences of cost cutting measures that impact the customer experience are too severe to be ignored.

Retailers need to find ways to save without cutting in places that impact services to customers with proper planning and with good guidance. Planning is key, and impacts to the customer must be considered and minimized where cost cutting is a consideration. 

For more information about how you can find ways to affordably improve the customer experience in your store, please contact Storesupport at 1 (877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Brand Loyalty Services Thwarts Social Media Impacts to Brand Loyalty

The social media boom has had major impacts to brand loyalty at retail. If anything, brands that have been able to properly leverage this very popular marketing medium have been able to improve brand loyalty. 

The Financial Times recently released an article, “Can Your Brand Win With Social Media,” which speaks to social media as being one of the most important global developments in media, marketing and technology today.

Through social media consumers can “like” a brand’s page on a social site like Facebook or Twitter, and scan a QR codes on in-store displays or on signage on the highway to receive discounts on merchandise. Brands can benefit from positive feedback made on their social sites by happy customers which can open them up to their social networks with an endorsement.

While the positives far outweigh the negatives, social media does have its “negatives,” and brands must address the negatives in order to ensure continued brand loyalty. Just as a consumer can take to a brand’s social media presence, or their own, to share positive experiences, they can also do so to complain about a bad experience. This is very damaging to brand loyalty because not only could the brand lose the customer who had the bad experience but also the brand loyalty of many in their social network. At the JVS Strictly Business event last year the key note speaker was Jordan Banks, Managing Director of Facebook for Canada. One interesting point made at the event was the stat that a consumer is 4 times more likely to buy from a brand that one of their friends or family members “likes”.

Another major challenge for retailers and brands alike is the emerging trend that CNN has tagged as “Showrooming”. This is where a consumer visits a retailer, sees and takes photos of products that they like, and then return home to try to find them online for less.

Social media and smart phones have also changed consumer buying psychology because of the speed at which they can get information or find what they need. If your brand’s products are not available, out of stock or difficult to find, consumers often do not have the patience they used to. They will simply select another similar product offered by a different brand.

The only way that brands can thwart the negative impacts that social media have on brand loyalty is to go above and beyond the call of duty to deliver a customer experience that exceeds their customers' expectations every time.

For this to happen, a brand must be on top of what happens with their products at the retail level and making an investment in brand loyalty services is a start.

There is no guarantee that every consumer is going to like your product, that is a different issue altogether, but you can take steps to guarantee that the customer receives top notch services and support when they look to purchase your product at retail. Your product must be accessible and available to consumers where they expect to find it and when they need it.

For more information about our brand loyalty services please contact Storesupport at 1 (877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Looking for Work in Toronto - Has Your Ego Affected Your Ability to Find Toronto Employment?

The recent recession left many people in Toronto laid off, displaced and looking for work. Two of the most difficult situations are:

 

1.       When you become laid off and realize that you will need to re-tool and change industries because of altered economic conditions or;

2.       You left the work force to start a family and are re-entering at a time when the employment landscape has changed considerably.

 

If you are looking for work in Toronto and have previously held a high paying or prestigious position, you may now find that there is more competition in the market than ever, and these types of positions are harder to come by. This can present a crushing blow to the ego. The first thing that you need to do if you want to find Toronto employment is set your ego aside and get focused.

Re-entering the job market in Toronto can be both exciting and disappointing at times. Your success will depend on both your energy and outlook on things. When trying to find Toronto employment, getting passed over for an interview or learning that the job offer you were counting on was actually given to someone else can definitely hurt your pride. Realize that this is a natural and common experience that you may encounter during your career transition but also be aware that if you don't tend to your bruised ego in a quick and positive manner, it will impact your ability to find employment.

When your pride is hurt, your motivation, energy and attitude can greatly suffer, and all of these things need to be in tip-top shape to achieve success in the job market.

When looking for work in Toronto, it is important to stay positive. Try not to spend a lot of time talking with former colleagues at your past company if the conversations are emotional and negative. This will only make you feel worse. Stay away from others who have given up. They will make it difficult for you to get your head around the possibility of taking on a new job in a lesser capacity than the one that you held with your previous employer. Do not listen to negative feedback that basically tells you you'll never work again or not to take on a job that is not equal to or higher capacity than the last one you had. Unfortunately, this often comes from well-meaning friends and family members who are not experts on the job market.  

Look at this time as an opportunity to gain new experience. Be open minded to different industries where you can apply your core attributes.  Embark on a new and rewarding career, even if it is in a different industry than you are used to.

The retail industry in Toronto is one that is fairly easy to enter and can provide immense opportunity. The retail industry offers individuals from many different backgrounds with a chance to excel. Those who possess organizational skills and have experience in sales or customer service can be successful in retail. Even folks who have come out of the manufacturing industry or are just handy can be successful at retail. Retail provides opportunities in distribution, store set up, merchandising, sales and customer service.

When looking for work in Toronto, take a “cup-half-full attitude” to your job search. You can get through this tough time by taking care of yourself, reaching out to others, and focusing on your goals. Losing your job or re-entering the workforce can be an opportunity to take stock of your life, rethink your career goals, and rediscover what truly makes you happy.

For more information about looking for work in Toronto or for Toronto employment opportunities, please visit www.storesupport.ca or call Bonnie Yhip at 1 877 421-5081.

The Customer Experience is What Dictates Store Loyalty

How many different grocery stores do you go to every month? Chances are that you are loyal to a particular store, as are most consumers. Strong consumer loyalty is a retailer’s ultimate goal because repeat business is the key to profitability and success within the retail industry.  

Cost is often not what makes a consumer incorporate a retail store into his or her routine. Loblaw’s, for example, is slightly more expensive than store brands like No Frills, yet has a dedicated following of consumers who love the look and feel of the stores, the spacing and organization of the merchandise and the diverse range of merchandise. Similarly, Fortino's also offers pricier merchandise than a food chain like No Frills but many consumers choose Fortino’s because of the wide selection or brands and the quality of the produce. Product placement, customer engagement through product demos, dynamic store set-ups and displays also play a role in the customer’s overall experience.  

The customer experience is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods or services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier. At retail, the customer experience is what will dictate the loyalty that a consumer shows to a particular retail store or brand. Efficient merchandising and distribution plays a huge role in the customer’s experience and features many moving variables that include: 

·         a wide range of products and brands

·         accessibility to those products and brands

·         product availability (products are sufficiently stocked and on the shelves)

·         products are properly priced 

Consumers want to find what they need in all one place especially when it comes to grocery shopping. A consumer will generally be loyal to a store (even if the cost of goods is slightly higher) when they can get everything they need in one central location. A consumer who visits a retailer to find that they don’t sell the brands they love, are consistently out of stock (sold out or simply not on the shelf) and/or the items prices are not clearly marked, can quickly get frustrated. Where un-stocked merchandise is concerned, it is very inconvenient to the consumer and they will likely not forget the experience the next time they need to shop. 

It pays to invest in the customer experience. Many retailers and brands have come to realize that working with professional merchandising and marketing companies can make a big difference when it comes to enhancing their customers’ experience, which leads to increased profit, heightened customer loyalty and increased customer retention.  

Professionals with expertise in this regard can point out and facilitate in-store improvements and offer services to improve overall merchandising and distribution. For example, working with a merchandising and distribution company will mean that your products will always be on the shelf because their staff will ensure that it is never out of stock or sitting in the back of a retailer’s warehouse. They have the skilled resources to provide trained support on-demand during high seasons, facilitate in-store marketing campaigns and assist in ensuring  adequate distribution and effective merchandising to increase store loyalty. 

For more information about the customer experience and improving store loyalty please contact Store Support at 905 847 6513 or visit www.storesupport.ca

Attention All Shelf Stockers, Mystery Shoppers and Other Retail Workers. Do You Think a Career Can Be Built From Retail Experience?

Do you think a career can be built from retail experience? Simply ask the store managers, warehouse managers, merchandisers, buyers and other high level retail executives at major Canadian retailers. Almost all of them would say that their careers began as customer service representatives, shelf stockers, sales, mystery shoppers, warehouse and distribution staff and more. The beauty of the retail industry is that entry level positions are easy to come by and you can enter the retail industry at any age or stage in life. 

Many people get their first retail experience because of a need for secondary income. They enjoy the flexibility of being able to find the income in a part-time or seasonal role at a retailer. Many individuals find that this segues into a long and meaningful career in retail. In fact, for almost every retail professional, what began as a retail job turned into a retail career.

So how does retail experience turn into a retail career? First, establishing a foundation that includes a diverse range of experience will be the key. When thinking about roles at retail, each opportunity should consider the big picture. For example – shelf stockers may end up in the distribution side of retail, retail professionals who ensure that products are in stock and priced may end up in the merchandising side of retail, mystery shoppers may end up  with a meaningful career in merchandising or distribution. Product demonstrators and sales staff may end up with a long and fulfilling career in sales of retail or in marketing.

In an entry level role, especially a proven commitment and passion for your role is necessary before advancement is possible. A high degree of efficiency (for example, quickly ringing up sales), the ability to troubleshoot (determining what the problem or challenge is and how to fix it), strong interpersonal skills (remaining calm when a customer is upset), and great communication (both in listening and speaking) are vital. Your performance in your role at retail will set you apart from those who simply take store jobs out of convenience, and it will show that you have star potential.

As you gain experience, you are likely to discover the long term career opportunities that are most appealing to you. Perhaps you would like to explore retail merchandising, assuming responsibility for merchandise displays, signage, and everything else the customer sees when he or she enters the store. Merchandising is an exciting job that engages your creativity, your understanding of human nature, and your knowledge of the products your store carries. Another retail career path is in management. Perhaps you like the idea of being in charge of every aspect of your department, hiring and managing employees, and bringing your personal touch to the customer experience. Once you have demonstrated that you have an aptitude for management, you can rapidly advance up the management ranks, moving on to store manager, regional manager, or even district manager.

The best way to obtain the most experience in a wide variety of different types of retailers is to work with a placement agency that specializes in the retail industry. A placement agency will have you work with different retailers providing support that will teach you how to represent many different brands. A placement agency will give you the most diverse exposure and experience. You may determine that you would prefer a retail career in consumer packaged goods vs. clothing, for example, and the experience you can gain working through a placement agency will prove to be invaluable in your decision making process.

Wherever your retail career path leads, keep in mind that entry-level retail jobs give you the chance to develop a variety of skills that will serve you well.

For more information about building a career from retail experience or if you are interested in obtaining a one of the following retail positions: shelf stockers, mystery shoppers, customer service, sales, product demonstrations or other retail opportunities, please contact Bonnie Yhip at StoreSupport at 1 877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Best Companies to Work for Part 2 - Is it Important for You to Work for a Company That Values Your Opinion?

Each year, different organizations such as Canada’s Top 100, The Financial Post’s Top 10 and Fortune Magazine’s Top 100, release their lists of the best companies to work for. Instead of listing who we think are the best companies to obtain work, this article is the second in a three part series that will outline the attributes that make for a great work place, and how you can find the right employment to suit your needs.

The best companies to work for in Canada are the ones that listen to and engage their employees. An employee who truly feels that their opinion is valued is a happy employee. Employees have reported that working for an employer who values their opinion makes a huge difference in their overall job satisfaction. The Blessing White 2011 employee engagement report, which is about workplace satisfaction, revealed some very interesting information in this regard. 

·       Out of 10,914 workers surveyed by Blessing White, only 31% reported that they are engaged. In our industry, the retail industry, we have found many employees who approach us for employment are doing so because they have found themselves feeling like their employers do not see them as skilled professionals. Instead, they are viewed as entry level employees, and their voices are often not heard. It is a big mistake for retailers to make. Entry level retail employees are the foundation of the retail industry and must possess many different skill sets to be successful. Retail employees benefit from working with an employer who shows them respect, values their contribution and considers their voices in company decisions.

·       Despite the economic recession, more employees are looking for opportunities outside of their organization than in 2008, suggesting that 2012 will be a challenging year for retention. In our experience, many professionals in the retail industry are starting to look at less conventional employment arrangements. Working directly for a single retailer does not always give the retail professional as much of a feeling of appreciation than those who work for placement agencies that tout its retail workforce as top level professionals who can make or break an organization’s success.

·       Employees worldwide who know their managers as “people” are more likely to be engaged. We have noticed that retail employees who work with an employer who communicates and makes them feel valued makes for a happier work environment and overall experience.

·       The higher up in the organization you go, the more likely you are to be engaged. This statistic speaks volumes as it relates to the retail industry. In the retail industry, front line employees are the foundation of a retailer’s success. This is one reason why it is so important to work with a retail organization who values their employee’s opinions, especially when statistics show that a higher ratio of lower level employees feel disengaged in the work place.

 
Wouldn’t it be nice to work for a company who considers your voice in their vision? When this happens employees will align themselves to reach a company’s goals. Listening to all employees’ thoughts and opinion ensures that lower ranked staff are not excluded and left without a sense of the company’s direction.

For more information about the best companies to work for or if you are looking for a rewarding retail career with an organization who will hear your voice and value your input, please visit www.storesupport.ca or call Bonnie Yhip at 1 877-421-5081.

Strong Retail Management Begins with Effective Distribution Resource Planning

An ongoing challenge in retail management continues to be effective distribution resource planning. Effective distribution resource planning includes setting inventory control parameters to calculate time-phased inventory requirements. When you allow a retailer to be completely responsible for your brand’s distribution resource planning you may run into instances where your product is not on the shelf or runs out of stock. Inevitably, if your product is not available to sell, it won’t. In the end, the retailer could de-list your product despite the fact that it was the retailer’s poor retail management that caused your product to be unavailable for consumer purchase. 

Distribution resource planning is a science that involves many moving variables at both the beginning and end of a period. These variables include:

·          on-hand inventory 

·          back ordered demand of a product

·          required quantity of a product

·          constrained quantity of a product

·          recommended order quantity

In addition to distribution resource planning, a brand is also largely reliant on the retailer staff’s ability and training to understand the impact to a brand when their product is not on the shelf. If left up to them you could have a product that is in-stock but sitting in the back simply because the retailer’s staff has other priorities. It takes considerable effort to get a retailer to list your product and, even more, to keep it listed.

Good retail management is the key to a brand’s success at retail. Many brands work with merchandising companies to ease the burden of distribution resource planning and to ensure that the retailers are not the reason that their products are not on the shelf. Not only do merchandising companies assist with retail management and distribution resource planning, they also include teams that actually go to the retailer’s location to ensure products are in stock and on the shelf. If for some reason your stock is low before you anticipated that it would be, your assigned team will bring additional stock to the store before the retailer runs out. If your product is in stock and not on the shelf, they will ensure it gets there.

In the end, poor retail management and poor distribution resource planning causes the brand and the retailer to lose out on sales. This impacts customer retention greatly. The challenge for the brand is to manage what is already out of the door.  If you have not taken measures to put controls in place, and the retailer is the reason that the product is not getting adequately stocked or is not on the shelf, the retailer has all of the control. You are at the retailer’s mercy and should the retailer de-list the product, you lose out.

Once the product makes its way in-store, a minimal investment on your behalf will ensure that your product is in stock and on the shelf. This will improve your product sales, which profits both the brand and the retailer. It will be a key reason that the retailer continues to offer your product.

For more information about retail management and distribution resource planning please contact Store Support at 905 847 6513 or visit www.storesupport.ca

Best Companies to Work for Part 1 - Is it Important for You to Work for a Company That Cares About Your Quality of Life?

Each year, different organizations such as Canada’s Top 100, The Financial Post’s Top 10 and Fortune Magazine’s Top 100, release their lists of the best companies to work for. Instead of listing who we think are the best companies to work for, this article is the first in a three part series that will outline the attributes that make for a great work place, and how you can find the right employment to suit your needs.

The best companies to work for may not always be the best company for you to work at. Each individual’s personal circumstances are different. Your age, the size of your family, how many children you have, whether or not you are a single parent, your level of education, where you live, your transportation options and your personal financial situation are all going to be deciding factors when determining what is the right kind of job and company for you.

One of the most important attributes of a good employer is that they care about your overall quality of life. If you have a family, flexibility will provide you with balance between work and family to ensure a long term and happy employer/employee relationship. For some families flexibility is even more important than compensation.

Inflexible employers who offer strict shifts, pre-timed and monitored breaks and are nitpicky about sick days can be a challenging fit for mothers who have young children. P.A. days, sick days because of increased incidences of illness (children bring home all kinds of sicknesses) and staying home with sick children as well as holiday and summer child care planning can make maintaining employment difficult for mothers as well as fathers who are single parents.

The best companies to work for are often the ones that offer flexibility.

Those who require flexibility in their employment may find the flexibility they need with a placement agency. Placement agencies are not employment agencies in the sense that they do not place their employee in one particular company, where the terms of employment are determined by the employer, which can result in the inflexibility mentioned in this article, above. .

When you work for a placement agency you are an employee of the placement agency and will be trained in a role, then placed in several different companies. At retail, for example, one week you could be working at Fortinos and the next weekend at Walmart. You are able to tell the placement agency your availability and then they will call you for shifts as it works within your schedule. Because placement agencies will usually have a large workforce, if you are called for a shift that you cannot work, you don’t have to worry that you will have an unhappy employer on the other end of the phone.. They can simply contact another employee to fill the shift.

We only live one life and quality of that life is important. Happiness and family should always be a top priority and a definite way to ensure that you enjoy the right work / life balance is to work for an organization that matches to your personal needs.

For more information about the best companies to work for as well as working for a company that cares about your quality of life, or, if you would like to find out about placement agency opportunities please visit www.storesupport.ca or call Bonnie Yhip at 1 877-421-5081.

Merchandising Companies Save Brands Big When it Comes to Retail Merchandising

Brands spend a considerable amount of effort to get their products to retailers and to achieve competitive placement. Once the combination of financial investment and time spent pitching the brand results in a retailer listing the brand in-store, the next step is to keep the product in the right spot. This can be particularly challenging for smaller brands as products sales are just one of the deciding factors as to whether or not a retailer continues to list their product.

Many brands assume that once a retailer agrees to sell their product the job is done and that the employees of the retailer will ensure that their product is stocked and on the shelf for people to buy. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Obviously, the cost to a brand when its product is not on the shelf is substantial.

Whether you are a small brand or larger more established brand, it makes absolute sense to continue investing in the success of your brand once in-store. Undertrained merchandising personnel costs brands big where retail merchandising is concerned. These personnel are often the reason that products are delayed in making it onto the shelf and they are often responsible for numerous instances of products going out of stock. Faulty retail merchandising is something that can be avoided and is worthy of a brand’s consideration.

Compliant retail merchandising begins with competent merchandisers and customized solutions. In Toronto, merchandising companies have been saving brands a lot of money in this regard. Because merchandising companies specialize in retail merchandising, they are able to offer skilled resources that many retailers simply do not have. Their involvement reduces the retailer’s impact regarding the success or failure of a product at retail.

Compliance can begin before the product hits the shelf. Merchandising companies offer staff that are skilled and have received retail merchandising training to ensure they understand the impact to your brand if your product goes out of stock or is not on the shelf. The in-store representatives of merchandising companies act as your ambassador and their presence ensures that your inventory is full and current.

The experience of working with a merchandising company is invaluable to a brand. Merchandising companies are able to work with brands to plan for situations that often happen at retail and that retail staff may not have considered. The exercise of working with professional merchandising companies allows brands to learn about challenges they may face while avoiding the impact of the potential issues because they have professional guidance available to them as well as the resources to ensure that their products are always on the shelf.

It is ideal to research merchandising companies and hire one before your brand is in-store. This will help avoid loss of revenue. If your brand is already in-store, you can have a merchandising company perform an audit, which will let you know what needs to be done to better maintain your distribution and ensure that your product is there for purchasers to see and buy. This will not only boost sales but also improve your end customer’s perception of the accessibility of your brand.

For more information about how you can improve your brand’s retail merchandising please contact Store Support at 905 847 6513 or visit www.storesupport.ca