Management

4 Ways for Retailers to Offset the Impact of Inflation
June 16, 2022 at 9:16 pm

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss an article recently published by Total Retail titled, “How Retailers Can Stay Profitable Despite High Inflation,” authored by Hilding Anderson, head of retail strategy, North America at Publicis Sapient. The article shares five ways that retailers can leverage the headwinds caused…

How Retailers Can Stay Profitable Despite High Inflation
June 8, 2022 at 10:35 am

With an inflation rate that’s higher than we’ve seen in years, retailers are grappling with increased costs, reduced pricing power, and decreased consumer spending — a perfect formula for declining profitability. How a retailer responds in these challenging financial times can set the course for its success or permanent decline, so the stakes are high. Digital…

Walmart Launches College2Career Program
May 16, 2022 at 8:13 pm

This summer Walmart is piloting a new College2Career program, which will give young professionals the chance to fast-track their careers by helping to run a multi-million-dollar business: one of its Walmart stores. According to a blog post on Walmart.com, the program is for recent college graduates and current college students within 12 months of graduating,…

Starbucks to Hike Wages, Increase Employee Training to Hold Off Union Push
May 3, 2022 at 5:41 pm

Starbucks said it will hike wages for tenured workers and double training for new employees as the company and its CEO, Howard Schultz, seek to beat back the union push from its baristas. However, the coffee giant will not offer the enhanced benefits to workers at the roughly 50 company-owned cafes that have voted to unionize.…

Hy-Vee to Move 500 HQ Workers to Store-Based Roles
April 28, 2022 at 6:30 pm

Grocery chain Hy-Vee says it will ask up to 500 of its employees to move from corporate-level jobs to retail positions at its stores. The move comes after the company already eliminated 121 corporate-level positions in March. Hy-Vee says 102 of those employees were offered retail positions. In addition to shifting employees' jobs, the company…

3 Data-Backed Ways to Drive Worker Retention, Productivity, Revenue and More
April 21, 2022 at 12:38 pm

What do retail workers want? This is the question I’m hearing from every retailer I’ve spoken to in the past year. As we strive to find some sense of post-pandemic normalcy — or at least start to understand what our new normal looks like — retail organizations are struggling to battle rising costs and heightened…

How Consumer Grade Workforce Management Systems Help Retailers Keep Pace
April 12, 2022 at 7:21 pm

“Greater competition, increasing consumer demands, a tight labor market, new compliance legislation, and a workforce expecting more from employers — all are making life difficult for retailers around the world.” Sound familiar? Of course it does. The truth is “upheaval” is the standard state of business. “New technologies disrupting business as usual” is a complaint…

Zappos.com Appoints Scott Schaefer CEO
April 7, 2022 at 8:30 pm

Experiential e-commerce retailer Zappos.com has appointed Scott Schaefer as its new CEO, effective immediately, according to a statement released by the company on Wednesday. The move comes two years after late Zappos founder Tony Hsieh stepped down as CEO in August 2020 after 21 years leading the business, and a few months after its most recent…

3 Steps for Embracing Flexible Working Models
March 29, 2022 at 12:31 pm

The Great Resignation, which began in earnest in mid-2021 following the onset of year two of the pandemic, is continuing to send shock waves throughout the U.S. economy and its workforce. According to a recent study by human resources consultancy Korn Ferry, if this crisis is left unchecked, the United States could miss out on…

L.L.Bean Sales Grow 14% During Second Year of Pandemic
March 21, 2022 at 7:06 pm

Increased consumer interest in outdoor lifestyles during the pandemic contributed to double-digit revenue growth for L.L.Bean in its 2021 fiscal year, according to company press release published on March 18. Sales for the outdoor retailer totaled $1.8 billion, a 14 percent increase over 2020, and making it one of L.L.Bean’s most successful years in company history. In…