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

Toward the Final Frontier of Retail Automation

By Michael Spataro, Chief Customer Officer, Legion Technologies

Michael Spataro, Chief Customer Officer at Legion Technologies

Michael is the Chief Customer Officer at Legion. He has 30+ years of retail WFM, store operations, and technology experience. He spent 16 years leading the Retail and Hospitality Services Practice Group at Kronos. His passion for Retail WFM is rooted in the ten years he was Director of Store Technologies at Gap Inc. Previously, Michael led the Kronos Services Group at Axium. After being a customer, vendor, and consultant, he has a unique vantage point, which makes him a trusted partner when showing retailers how they can use Legion WFM to optimize labor efficiencies and empower frontline employees.

Introduction

The pandemic and its socioeconomic aftershocks have impacted few industries more intensely than the retail sector. The industry has experienced a fluttering of closures and reopenings that shattered long-held best practices for how retail businesses should operate. From the explosion of e-commerce, to a turbulent economy to mass unionization efforts, retail is witnessing a functional reckoning that will carry into 2023 and beyond, laying the groundwork for a fundamental transformation of the industry.

Prediction #1: Adoption of retail automation will explode in 2023.

For years, the retail industry has followed a slow but steady arc toward automation. Organizations have embraced self-checkout lines, automated inventory management solutions, and even service robots with the goal of optimizing productivity and efficiency within their operations.

In 2023, we will approach the final frontier of retail automation: labor processes. We’ll see more companies using intelligent automation, enabled by a new generation of AI-driven enterprise applications, to streamline their labor operations and deploying workforce management solutions that predict sales and labor demand across all customer touchpoints and locations and instantly create optimized employee schedules. By automating these processes, retailers will enable their managers to shift their focus to the human aspects of their work: driving better sales and improving employee engagement.

From the explosion of e-commerce, to a turbulent economy to mass unionization efforts, retail is witnessing a functional reckoning that will carry into 2023 and beyond, laying the groundwork for a fundamental transformation of the industry.

Prediction #2: The labor shortage will continue. Retailers must be agile and ready to adapt.

Retail managers should keep one phrase in mind when recruiting new team members in 2023: there’s always another job. As the current labor shortage persists in the New Year, hourly employees will prioritize positions that offer more schedule control / flexibility and higher wages. In fact, research shows scheduling autonomy and flexibility are the most important deciding factors for hourly employees when choosing a job, beyond pay.

If retailers want to attract and retain their frontline employees in 2023 and beyond, they’ll need to provide workers with the work/life flexibility they expect from their employer, as well as expanded benefits such as early access to earned wages, continued learning, and career growth opportunities. Otherwise, as these benefits become increasingly non-negotiable, retailers who fail to adapt will put their operations in jeopardy.

Prediction #3: The hourly employee experience will be critical to labor optimization efforts.

Benefits and flexibility won’t be the only make-or-break factor when it comes to reducing turnover in 2023 as the overall employee experience, and the value beyond wages that employees gain from their jobs, plays an increasingly crucial role in labor optimization.

And with 90% of CEOs bracing for a recession, employee retention will be critical. In the next year, more retailers will come to understand that labor costs also include the cost of replacing workers, resulting in more modern employee experience practices such as gig-like flexibility and modern communication tools. The past two years have emboldened workers to make these long overdue demands, and now, retailers must implement the processes and technologies to meet them.

The retail industry has come a long way, and we can expect even bigger strides next year. Should these predictions come to fruition, frontline workers have much to look forward to in 2023: they’ll finally arrive at the “future of work.”

The State of the Retail Industry 2023

JAN 2023

07/05/2024 15:52:32

The Turning Point in 2023: When Labor is No Longer a Challenge, it Becomes a Competitive Advantage

By Shamus Hines

Chief Executive Officer, Upshop

“No one is talking enough about how we improve the store experience for our people. People are who make it happen every day for our shoppers.”

This quote is from an Upshop client who is responsible for continuous improvement at one of the country’s leading grocery retailers. Their message is clear: 2023 needs to be the year we go from process improvement to people empowerment.

2023 needs to be the year we go from process improvement to people empowerment. Investing in employee-first systems isn’t just an if anymore: it’s an imperative competitive edge.

Shamus Hines is the CEO of Upshop and has spent his career structuring financial acquisitions, building smarter enterprise technology, and pioneering product development. He has spoken widely in the industry on topics such as associate empowerment, the evolving complexity of omnichannel, and the critical nature of synchronizing total store operations through a singular platform. Hines leads Upshop with a customer-first mindset, elevating teams and encouraging workplace collaboration. His deep commitment to tackling the retail food waste challenge has fostered collaboration across the retail industry.

Retailers will continue to feel the pain point of labor; hiring is difficult and retaining even harder. Technology innovation has carried grocery operations into a modern technology ecosystem—but this also means the landscape has become infinitely more complicated. The average store has 44+ point solutions running the shopping experience; disconnected solutions are guaranteed to make an associate's job harder. Overworked, unhappy labor leads to customer experiences that shape up to be less-than-ideal.

Associates must become the hero for every retail technology partner.

How does technology empower associates? Technology has to give back time to the associate, freeing them up for shopper-driven tasks. UI must be so accessible anyone can use it—no matter age, experience level, or drive. Systems must facilitate smart use of skill by empowering every associate to be an invaluable resource. They need a singular, unifying operations platform that enables a simplified, smarter, more connected associate experience...making employees the competitive advantage, not the challenge.

The good news is this: strengthening associates with the correct tools and automation to fuel total store efficiency unlocks retailer and shopper benefits.

Take, for example, the case of eCommerce in-store fulfillment substitutions.

EVERYONE HATES SUBSTITUTIONS. Shoppers and associates.

The 60-120 seconds it takes associates to manage substitutions can conservatively add up to $1.75 to $3.50+ per order, or between 1 and 2 FTE additional labor resources per store.

Apply this logic at scale and it becomes clear that addressing the fundamental problem of inventory and replenishment ordering is one of the most impactful steps towards eCommerce profitability a retailer can take.

Putting associate efficiencies into practice means addressing the most urgent retail roadblocks—like eCommerce substitutions—at the source: investing in technology that accounts for and rectifies foundational challenges like inventory and ordering.

When your associates are equipped with the right technology, your customer experience is elevated, daily tasks are improved, team collaboration is amplified, and your operations go from good to great.

Investing in employee-first systems isn’t just an if anymore: it’s an imperative competitive edge. Make labor as simple and engaging as you can—and watch your employees do the same for the customer experience.

2023 is the year we hero the associate. I believe retailers are ready to step up.

The State of the Retail Industry 2023

JAN 2023

07/05/2024 15:52:32