Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations

Transcription

1 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations A Survey Sponsored by

2 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey 2 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations Survey Report Table of Contents Introduction.. 3 Employee Hiring/Retention...4 Budgeting for Store Operations...5 obile Technology 6 Cross-Channel Challenges. 8 Respondent Demographics...10 About Retail TouchPoints...11 About Sprint 11

3 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey 3 Exclusive Survey: Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations Store operators are faced with numerous challenges, from employee hiring to product merchandising. As competition continues to heat up, along with pressure to hold the line on expenses, store operations executives are faced with an uphill battle. Advances in mobile and tablet technology have created the opportunity to hire, train and retain employees more efficiently. But are retail companies making the investment in these technologies? In its inaugural Store Operations survey, Retail TouchPoints found out that retailers are getting smarter about their store operations investments. A significant number of retailers are increasing their investment in obile Technology (36.7%), Product erchandising (36.7%), and Employee Training (34.7%), although their overall store operations are decreasing in many cases (46.9%). The Retail TouchPoints Store Operations survey, titled: Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations, was designed to uncover the most pressing issues facing store operators, including questions around: Employee hiring, training and retention Product merchandising and inventory management The HQ-store connection Store operators can use the results from this survey to assess and reassess their current store operations strategies. We are pleased to share the results with you. Debbie Hauss Editor-in-Chief Retail TouchPoints

4 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey 4 Employee Hiring/Retention Garners Significant Attention The highest percentage of respondents (23.1%) ranked Employee Hiring/ Retention as the number-one challenge, although a majority (64.) say they have an effective employee training and retention program already in place. While an additional 14. state they plan to implement an employee training and retention program in the near future, 22. have no plans to implement. Generally, retailers are equally concerned with a variety of store operations challenges, from Employee Training, Hiring and Retention to Product erchandising and Communicating with HQ. Between 19.5% and 23.1% of respondents ranked Employee Training, Employee Hiring/ Retention, Communicating with HQ and the Overall Store Operations Budget as number-one challenges in Employee Retention is a much-discussed topic, with retail and other company executives weighing in on tactics and strategies. One retail company, Whole Foods arket, led by CEO John ackey, has been applauded for its employee programs and structure. What are your greatest store operations challenges in 2012? 4 35% 25% 15% 5% (Rank 1-5; 1 being the greatest challenge) ackey functions on the notion that people interact and flourish in smaller teams as part of a larger organization. This model allows individuals to combine talents and support one another, as reported in a Johnson & Wales case study. Each store is divided into small teams that make decisions about everything from what gets stocked on the shelves to who gets hired as a team member, and as far as the overall design of the store. Employee Training Employee Hiring/ Retention Overall Store Operations Budget Product erchandising/ Inventory anagement Communicating with HQ Communicating with HQ creates the least concern among 39.6% of respondents, while 20.8% ranked it as a number-one concern.

5 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey Budgeting For Store Operations anagement It appears that retailers are becoming smarter and more efficient with the store operations budgets. While survey respondents reported that they have increased budgets for obile Technology (36.7%), Product erchandising (36.7%) and Employee Training (34.7%), a Has your overall store operations budget increased, decreased or stayed the same in 2012, in each of the following categories? large majority note a decrease in the Overall Store Operations Budget (46.9%) for A majority of store operators have either increased or maintained 5 4 associates with mobile devices and delivering mobile applications and services to shoppers. ile gy olo hn Te c ag em en t ob an Inv en to r y er ch an dis ing dg et Tra in Em this area. 73.4% either increasing or maintaining their budgets in plo ye e retailers, with Em Product erchandising also continues to receive a strong focus from ing this capability in the near future. 16. are planning to add Bu respondents (42.) have not. Another ct associates with mobile technology, an equal number of survey Pr od u 42. of survey respondents already have armed their store Ov er all While Re te nti on growing importance of mobile strategies aimed at arming store plo ye e their investment in obile Technology (89.8% ), highlighting the 5

6 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey Benefits Of In-Store obile Technology Improving customer satisfaction is a top priority for retailers across all areas of the business. When it comes to mobile technology, Increasing Customer Satisfaction is the primary benefit of arming store associates How have you benefited from arming store associates with mobile technology? (check all that apply) with mobile devices (63.4%). Providing mobile devices for store associates also helps with employee retention, with 51.2% of respondents stating that it Improved Employee orale Improved Employee orale Increased Upsells and Cross-Sells Increased Average Dollar Sale Increased Customer Satisfaction 6

7 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey 7 Other bottom-line business benefits from providing mobile devices to store associates includes Increasing Average Dollar Sale (31.7%) and Increasing Upsells And Cross-Sells (29.3%) For the most part, at this time store associates are using mobile devices to provide Product Availability (69.2%) and other Product Information (65.4%) to shoppers. Associates also use mobile technology to Order Out-of-Stock items (42.3%) and complete a purchase with obile Payment (23.2%) What functions are store associates performing using mobile technology? Product Availability (check all that apply) Product Information Online Ordering Of Out-Of-Stock Products obile Payment

8 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey 8 Cross-Channel Challenges Recently, retailers have been struggling with creating and delivering consistent cross-channel strategies. One of the most sensitive topics with shoppers is pricing. Armed with their own mobile devices, consumers are not only comparing competitors prices, but they also are looking at a specific item price from one channel to another. Different pricing online versus in-store is confusing for consumers and may drive them to abandon the purchase and the brand altogether. Does the store offer consistent pricing with all other channels? No 15% No, but planning to implement 2% With that knowledge in hand, many retailers are working toward providing a consistent pricing experience across all channels. ore than half (56.1%) of survey respondents reported that they offer consistent pricing across all channels; and 26.8% noted that they offer consistent pricing across some channels; and 2.4% are planning to implement. Still, 14.6% of retailers surveyed still do not offer or plan to offer consistent pricing across channels. Yes, across some channels 27% Yes, across all channels 56%

9 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey Another difficult issue for cross-channel retailers is deciding how the credit for sales is aligned. The majority of retailers (58.5%) have not yet decided to give stores credit for online or other-channel purchases. Does the store get credit for other channel sales (check all that apply)? Other retailers have implemented some form of cross-channel credit: 6 give the store credit for online/ mobile sales picked up in store; give the stores credit for online/ mobile sales ordered in-store and mailed to customers; and give stores credit for online/mobile sales ordered in-store and picked up in-store by the customer. 5 4 Yes, for online/mobile sales picked up in-store Yes, for online/ mobile sales ordered in-store and mailed to customer Yes, for online/ mobile sales ordered in-store and picked up in-store by customer No, only get credit for items purchased in the physical store 9

10 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey Respondent Demographics Survey respondents hailed from a variety of retail segments. Breakdown is as follows: Annual company revenue also ran the gamut: 25% 15% 5% n$ 5B B $5 or et ha B$1 1B -$ 00 -$ 00 $1 $ $5 ss th an $5 0 Le Sp Sp ec ial ty So ftg ec oo ial ds ty Ha rd De go pa od rtm s en ts to re Co Bi gb nv en ox ien Su pe ce rm St or ar e ke t/g ro ce ry Ele ctr on ics Ot he r 18% 16% 14% 12% 8% 6% 4% 2% 10

11 Taking The Pulse Of Store Operations: A 2012 Retail TouchPoints Survey 11 About Retail TouchPoints 411 State Route 17 South, Suite 410 Hasbrouck Heights, NJ P: F: info@retailtouchpoints.com Retail TouchPoints is an online publishing network for retail executives, with content focused on optimizing the customer experience across all channels. The Retail TouchPoints network is comprised of a weekly newsletter, categoryspecific blogs, special reports, web seminars, exclusive benchmark research and a content-rich web site featuring daily news updates and multi-media interviews at The Retail TouchPoints team also interacts with social media communities via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. About Sprint Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 56 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2012 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin obile USA, Boost obile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at or and