How workforce management enhances customer experience in retail

The continuous emergence of robotics, AI and modern technology has brought about large disruptions throughout all industries - and retail is no exception. For instance, last year global retail e-commerce sales amounted to about 2.8 trillion dollars and are only projected to grow more. E-commerce, alongside many other developments, have had quite an effect on the role of stores.

The majority of modern consumers who are just looking to make a purchase can easily do so online. When a customer enters a store, they are looking for something else. They want to have an experience, a connection to a brand. This could be someone walking into a high-end fashion designer store to browse the latest styles, entering a home goods store wanting to be inspired to decorate their new home and even someone stepping into a convenience store for fast and enjoyable service.

With the ever-evolving expectations of the modern consumer, retailers need to adapt. The experience that customers seek comes not only from the store itself but also from its employees. As experience becomes more and more important, it becomes paramount to have an engaged and knowledgeable workforce that can provide the right sales services.

Having employees who can add something extra to the shopper's experience means achieving a maximised turnover, and seeing that the experience is enjoyed, the end result will most likely be a returning customer.

But how can retail businesses ensure staff are providing the experience customers expect and that stores are running optimally?

A good place to start is retail workforce management, workforce management that is built and optimised for retail. SameSystem is one of a few such systems, made exclusively for retailers.

Just as modern technology brought us e-commerce, it has also allowed for the development of intelligent systems that make running a retail store more efficient. Endless amounts of data are collected on customers’ online shopping preferences, so why not make use of in-store data as well?

Having the right retail workforce management solution can take care of tedious administrative tasks across the board, while simultaneously collecting data to instantly improve in-store operations.

Knowing when customers will be in the store is key, and so is having the right staff at the right time. Imagine having an accurately predicted schedule based on data such as the flow of customers throughout the day, the average number of transactions each sales assistant can handle an hour and whether any staff is scheduled to be temporarily off the shop floor - for instance, refilling stock or packaging online purchases for in-store pick-up.

With this schedule, store managers can be confident knowing that the most knowledgeable and high performing sales assistants are on the shop floor during times of high customer traffic, enhancing the shopping experience and resulting in more sales.

Investing in retail workforce management opens the door for endless opportunities to maximise your retail operations. Eliminating administrative tasks and collecting profitable data allows everyone to place more focus on sales and in-store operations, ultimately providing the best shopping experience to customers.

Want to learn more about how retail workforce management like SameSystem can increase your turnover? Click here