Store Associates

A Major Clothing Retailer Forgets That EX Drives CX
February 28, 2020 at 3:06 pm

A recent article in The New York Times looked at life in retail during the recent holiday selling season. It centered on a busy Manhattan store of a big, well-regarded apparel chain and one of its merchandising managers. I wasn’t surprised to read the retailer equipped employees with several apps to expedite sales and keep…

What Compels Generation Z to Buy From a Brand Again and Again?
February 21, 2020 at 11:53 am

Many retail observers and experts have similar advice for success: provide a data-driven, personalized shopping experience; make transactions as convenient as possible; and engage with shoppers on social media and through influencers. Brands should surely implement these strategies to see what works for them. Our recommendation for engaging with Gen Z shoppers — 18 to…

Compliance or Bust: Retail’s Shift Workforce of the Future
December 17, 2019 at 10:08 am

Labor compliance issues have long plagued the retail supply chain, from sourcing to brick-and-mortar employee operations. Consider the tragedy at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911, perhaps one of the most well-known labor compliance fiascos in the retail industry’s history, which was a direct result of abhorrent worker conditions. Thankfully, compliance issues of this caliber…

How Mobile Technology is Freeing Employees and Supporting New Ways of Working
December 16, 2019 at 11:15 am

The explosion of smartphones and tablets has created a new way of living and working, especially for the 70 percent of workers, known as untethered workers, who don’t sit behind a desk every day. Companies are embracing the mobile shift and have begun to move their IT applications onto mobile platforms for workers who are…

4 Key Elements Driving Superior Customer Experience In-Store
December 9, 2019 at 11:18 am

In a new world of retail comes a new set of responsibilities. According to Adobe’s Digital Trends Report, the single most exciting opportunity in 2020 is the customer experience. The Temkin Group found that companies earning $1 billion annually can expect to make an additional $700 million within three years by investing in the customer…

3 Strategies to Leverage Your Best Customer Service Asset: Your Employees
December 3, 2019 at 10:05 am

Your customers’ store experience — and impression of your brand — starts and ends with your frontline employees. Store associates are directly responsible for delivering your customer service model. Unfortunately, retail work has long had a reputation for low employee morale and high turnover, which can negatively impact employee satisfaction. Retailers have the opportunity to…

8 Proven Ways to Boost Store Efficiency on Black Friday
November 6, 2019 at 2:46 pm

The serious Black Friday players have been preparing for months. They've reviewed their operation and identified all the things they could do better in 2019. It’s big business, and for many retailers their holiday performance informs their whole year profits. Let’s assume you’re not one of the businesses with Black Friday meticulously planned. What can…

3 Ways Your Onboarding Isn’t Setting Seasonal Hires Up for Success
November 6, 2019 at 12:47 pm

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, a crop of talented seasonal employees received job offers from your competitors. And that means the highly coveted pool of seasonal retail talent just got even smaller — a situation that’s only intensifying as the U.S. unemployment rate continues to hover around a near-historic low…

Making Merriment by Reducing Seasonal Burnout
November 5, 2019 at 12:19 pm

More often, a reliable employee who is always willing to go the extra mile, put in the extra hours, and take extra projects on starts slipping. Most often we think it’s a problem at home or outside the workplace. However, it could just be all the “extra” adding up to employee burnout, which was recently…

How Retailers Can Adjust to the ‘Gig Economy’
October 24, 2019 at 10:30 am

The "gig economy" has taken the traditional hourly workforce by storm. 2019 has been a landmark year for the gig economy, with Lyft and Uber going public, and Postmates expected to do so in the near future. And with the number of gig workers forecast to keep growing, the traditional hourly workplace faces daunting competition…