How In-Store Technology Empowers Retail Operations Teams
Much of the in-store technology currently spreading throughout the brick-and-mortar space is highly visible to customers. But what about the innovations that aren’t so obvious? Sure, apps and in-store pickup make life easier for consumers and draw in new ones. But some of the most exciting developments around in-store technology are almost unseen by the […]
Gamification in Retail: Delighting Shoppers & Store Teams Alike
Video games, shopping, and mobile phones are three of the most ubiquitous elements of contemporary society. So really, it was only a matter of time before the three intersected. A wave of gamification in retail has breached the mainstream. Video games have been around for decades. However, it wasn’t until the rise of the smartphone […]
How One Retailer’s Productivity Point System Failed Employees
Not Busy This statement was for customers. It was written on the back of every employee uniform and worn throughout the bookstore corporation’s 34 locations. No issues or confusion had been reported. As the store manager of the company’s first American brick-and-mortar, I was asked for feedback. Was it clear? I respectfully suggested that American […]
4 Retail Inventory Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Whether you’re a manager at a major department store, or you own your own boutique, inventory is a business necessity that most of us dread. Between planning, executing, and completion there are a number of things that tend to always go wrong during inventory, but tackling your first (or your 50th) inventory doesn’t have to […]
What is Boring Retail? And How to Avoid It in Your Stores
Retail is in a state of flux right now. Stores are shuttered and long-established brands like Toys R Us are disappearing. Nine West, Bon Ton, and Claire’s are among the newest retailers filing for bankruptcy in 2018, and they may not be the last. Consumers think that retail is dying because of the threat posed […]
Tracking Promotions Across Your Retail Chain
Promotions are one of the biggest drivers of sales and traffic in the retail world. While it can be easy to measure success rate and track your promotions’ effectiveness for one store, it can be more complicated to do the same for multiple stores in a chain. There are multiple variables that may affect a […]
How to Improve Same-Store Sales Using Promotions
Same-store sales are a significant part of retail data as they let a business know how their stores are performing. Each year, businesses are able to look at their historical sales data and measure performance over time (whether this figure is the end-all-be-all is another discussion). Having such a benchmark enables retailers to understand trends, […]
The Challenge of Solving Operational Issues in C-Stores
We’ve all had this experience: we’ve walked into a store intending to buy something, and walked out empty-handed. For simplicity, I’ll call this the empty-handed-exit experience. The reasons for the experience are many. Perhaps we change our mind in the store, because the product just didn’t meet our expectations once we saw it, or we […]
