The Frontline Worker Disconnect

By Cris Grossmann, CEO & co-founder, Beekeeper

Cristian Grossmann, CEO, Beekeeper

Prior to founding Beekeeper, Cris worked for Accenture on high profile international projects in the field of IT Strategy for the financial and public sectors. Cris studied Chemical Engineering and got his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, both at ETH Zurich. Before moving to beautiful Zurich, Cris was born and raised in an entrepreneurial Swiss-Mexican family in Mexico City.

When the retail frontline succeeds, their organizations thrive, driving sales, customer loyalty and profitability. That’s the bottom line for any retail organization looking to boost sales and fuel organizational success. However, establishing a productive and content workforce requires retailers to address the growing disconnect between the retail frontline and their managers. In 2023 retail employers must focus on the increasing gap between how their frontline staff are currently being managed and how they should be managed in order to create a connected workforce.

As retailers prioritize frontline success, they will need to address how the frontline disconnect drives high turnover and low engagement — and rectify it immediately. As a result, in 2023 we will see a greater emphasis on retail employee experience, the use of frontline success system technologies to solve the growing disconnect, and new policies and procedures to effectively manage frontline staff. Here are some of the ways these new developments in retail staff management will occur:

Frontline managers are not being properly equipped with the tools and skill sets they need to manage their retail staff well. This will change in 2023. Retail organizations will increasingly commit to more robust manager training which is customized to their specific roles, needs and challenges. Rather than one size fits all training, companies will deliver training that is customized to the specific training needs of frontline management — whether that is fostering a better communication style for high-stress environments or developing the listening skills needed specifically for managing an hourly workforce or more. Upper retail management will recognize that they need to provide more support to their frontline managers for them to be truly effective in their roles.

Prediction #1: Retailers will Invest in Frontline Managers

In 2023, it’s time retailers embrace various workplace innovations and invest investing in a frontline success system to solve the frontline disconnect and create a productive, happy and loyal workforce.

Prediction #2: Retailers will provide more Support to their Frontline Teams

Prediction #3: Retailers will Flatten Internal Communications

Invest in Frontline Success Systems

Retail leaders and executives are accepting the fact that for their managers and frontliners to truly gel they need more support on all fronts. Whether it’s providing competitive benefits, improving workplace safety, shift flexibility, better training and necessary tools and technologies, retailers are recognizing that investing in frontline workers’ experience is the key to improving engagement and retention. By giving their workers and frontline managers easier access to these resources, retail organizations will set them up for success by closing the disconnect, which leads to a more productive workforce and ultimately a more profitable organization.

The root of disconnect often lies in poor communication and no feedback. A top-down, hierarchical approach to communication creates information silos. It kills collaboration and creates a disconnect between executive leadership and their teams on the frontline. The solution is to flatten internal communications, and give workers and their managers tech-driven ways to communicate quickly and securely. It’s time to facilitate instantaneous feedback between managers and staff, and. Employees — whether frontline or desk-bound — thrive with positive feedback and recognition from their peers and supervisors. Siloed or hierarchical communication processes stymie these types of spontaneous communications and genuine connective moments. The most competitive organizations are making that possible with mobile tech solutions designed to help workers and their managers succeed.

As we emerge from the pandemic to a different world, we are seeing the development of various workplace innovations contributing to the future of work. In 2023, it’s time retailers caught up with these innovations. By investing in a frontline success system, retailers can solve the frontline disconnect and create a productive, happy and loyal workforce.

The State of the Retail Industry 2023

JAN 2023

07/05/2024 15:52:32

Essentials for Retail in 2023: The Employee and Customer Experience

By Kevin Shank

CEO, Compucom

With the pandemic subsiding, Americans embraced in-person shopping during the 2022 holiday season, returning to stores and malls in big numbers. Early results for the weekend showed that consumers’ love affair with online shopping remained as strong as it was during the pandemic. Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks in-store and online retail sales, said in-store sales were up 12% year-over-year on Black Friday, while ecommerce sales rose 14%.

According to Shopify, consumers are craving opportunities to shop in person, but they expect the buying experience to be consistent both online and off.

Retail winners are those which balance growth strategies with tactics to prioritize a unique, seamless and tech-enabled customer experience – whether it be purchasing in-store or from the couch.

Kevin Shank is CEO of Compucom. Providing global leadership to advance Compucom’s mission and strategy, Kevin is enabling Compucom to deliver best-in-breed IT services to our customers, harnessing our company’s capabilities and team members to pursue market opportunities that drive profitable growth.

Throughout his career, Kevin has combined his passion for technology with his strategic vision to lead successful business transformations among leading managed services providers. Known as an inspiring and motivational leader with extensive expertise in identifying and driving growth, he returned to Compucom in December 2022, where he served as a senior executive from 2005-2014.

Shank previously worked in senior-level executive positions at the company from 2005 to 2014, then left to pursue other opportunities which included serving as CEO of Pivot Technology Solutions and President of Computacenter North America, which acquired Pivot in 2020. Previously, Kevin held key leadership roles across many industry leaders including General Electric and GE Capital IT Solutions. Kevin is a graduate of Indiana University-Fort Wayne with dual degrees in Finance and Marketing where he played basketball and was an NCAA Academic All-American.

The surge of online brands into offline channels means retailers need to create a smooth and engaging customer experience across all channels. The retail winners are those which balance growth strategies with tactics to prioritize a unique, seamless and tech-enabled customer experience – whether it be purchasing in-store or from the couch.

. Here are three trends that will differentiate retailers in 2023:

Hands-off tech: Shoppers are becoming less hands on, and more tech-enabled, says Shopify. As a result, more stores are turning to mobile or automated solutions. Technologies such as contactless checkout, in-store mobile robotics, handheld POS devices, and even smart shopping carts are gaining traction with major retailers.
Pricing automation: E-commerce companies should consider automating their pricing process if they have not already. Retail automation can quickly generate live competitor pricing data points, and negate the risk of costly pricing errors.
Better employee experiences: To retain the best retail employees, a Compucom survey found, employers should focus on improving the overall employee experience, especially their interactions with technology. In fact, almost 90% of respondents suggested that satisfaction and retention would increase if companies invested more in their tech and support. So, it’s important to set workers up for success with better training in tech advancements like virtual shopping, live chat, and curbside pickup. But it also is important to measure and improve that experience where you can. That means working with a partner to define and measure eXperience Level Indicators (XLIs). After all, a better employee experience translates to a better customer experience.

IT services and vendors are critical to the success of any retail business. In the post-pandemic economy, technology and services are at the heart of the customer experience. Instead of working with multiple vendors, each with its own success metrics, contracts, technicians, and areas of expertise, a retailer should consider working with an end-to-end IT solutions and services provider. More than a vendor, an end-to-end IT service provider can become a strategic partner, aligning XLIs to business outcomes, providing industry expertise and thought leadership to help a retailer build the best experience for its customers.

The State of the Retail Industry 2023

JAN 2023

07/05/2024 15:52:32

Are Checked Out Workers Hurting your Retail Business? Data can make all the Difference.

By John Mellor

Chief Executive Officer, Domo

John Mellor, CEO of Domo

John is a proven SaaS leader with deep experience scaling companies. He brings more than 25 years of technology industry expertise to Domo where, since 2019, he has been responsible for shaping its corporate strategy, positioning, and marketing. Prior to Domo, John was vice president of strategy and business operations for Adobe's Digital Marketing Business unit, during which the business grew from $300 million to nearly $3 billion in annual revenue. He joined Adobe through its acquisition of Omniture, the industry's largest standalone web analytics business where he served as executive vice president of strategy and business development. John holds both a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA from Brigham Young University.

Data is power. Yet if you are like many retailers, that power is only bestowed on a handful of executives who spend most of their time in the back office. That’s hardly a recipe for success, especially when most of your employees are serving customers on the frontlines and their actions can make or break your business.

The good news is that we are seeing a shift beginning to happen across retail as the power of data is being extended from small groups of executive decision makers to everyone at all levels, in all departments.

Take, for example, Harmons Grocery, a regional supermarket company that moved its database for 4,000 of its top-selling products to the fingertips of its inventory managers and suppliers through a mobile app. With the app, Harmons saw their out-of-stock problems plunge by 60 percent — even during the height of the pandemic.

Putting your data to work for everyone from the executive suite to the frontlines can be one of the smartest moves you make this year.

How it starts

A giant auto parts retailer moved data access from ethernet-tethered laptops to a smartphone app that its district managers could easily access in real-time as they walked the aisles of their stores. This data helped focus specific store activity on the top actions for the biggest business impact. As a result, the company saw a surge in store productivity.

And a Fortune 50 apparel retailer gave its stockroom associates access to real-time inventory data in the form of an app that turned the restocking of shelves into a game. The workers could win prizes, while making it more likely that customers could find the merchandise they wanted and not walk out of the store without making a purchase.

Real-time insights must reach the hands of the people doing the work if data is going to inspire the in-the-field, up-to-the-minute decisions and actions that translate into business success. Tech tools need to be able to work for your non-desk workers, whether it be your sales associates, store operations team, warehouse workers or even those who drive your trucks.

It’s what an increasingly digital-native workforce is demanding — the same ease of use, and actionable data and insights that they already take for granted in the everyday consumer apps and technology they use in their non-work lives.

Giving them access to data through modern data tools such as user-friendly apps that simplify and automate their work, while also giving them insights they need to make smarter decisions and take more informed actions, can make their work more enjoyable and engaging. As importantly, this access to data has the power to multiply the impact of your employees’ individual contributions in a very meaningful way.

It’s no secret that retailers will continue to face complex challenges in the years ahead. As the industry is faced with ongoing talent shortages, lingering supply chain issues and unpredictable consumer preferences, putting your data to work for everyone from the executive suite to the frontlines can be one of the smartest moves you make this year.

The State of the Retail Industry 2023

JAN 2023

07/05/2024 15:52:32