in the UK according to Statistica and TotalJobs has the average salary for retail at £29,000 per annum, four grand more than the £25,000 the average hospitality workers are paid per annum. As a result, adopting a new platform to interact with may take some coaxing as, in my experience, most staff just want to get out of there as quickly as possible. According to Holcroft, one of the many benefits of adopting a management platform is that interactions through personal channels like email and WhatsApp are reduced. “The main use cases for staff operations we see are onboarding, training, and task management but the biggest piece is often compliance. “As an example, our client The White Company told us the platform gives them structure and consistency to monitor health and safety compliance and daily, weekly, and monthly checks. The head office can see from their dashboard who has done what and when and this reduces the need to chase stores to update their compliance information because it’s built into their daily activity through the platform. “Technology can also highlight if managers are overwhelming their staff by sending too many emails. Using Cegid, emails to staff were reduced by 40%.” Supporting Sales As we have discovered over the past few years, the welfare of the employee dramatically affects the service they provide. This is another area where management platforms can provide value. Particularly when managing inventory and problems that
may arise outside of the shop floor. “The best retail operations platforms aren’t just for managing staff but also include other tools that help support customer service,” said Holcroft. “This includes having product information at your fingertips, real-time inventory management, product ordering, clienteling, CRM and supporting loyalty programmes. “With services that offer product delivery from the web to store and store to home becoming the norm, retail operations platforms that support this need create a better customer experience.” Profiting from a better experience All of these features combined create a platform that has the ability to make staff happier, satisfy customers, and give management visibility across the store. In turn, the smooth running of a business ensures profits can flow, as Holcroft demonstrates with a former client, PVH Group. “Using technology to streamline operations can have a phenomenal impact on the profitability of stores,” said Holcrpft. “Our client PVH Group, spoke about how Cegid Retail Store Excellence helped its stores save four hours a week which is equivalent to £300,000 in labour costs. “Another customer told us how they saved £80,000 a year in paper and printing costs through going digital. “But it’s also about improving efficiency to give staff more time on the shop floor to serve customers. Delivering an excellent customer experience is a real differentiator in retail and is proven to positively impact profits.”
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Head office can see from their dashboard who has done what and when and this reduces the need to chase stores...
Adopting a new platform to interact with may take some coaxing as, in my experience, most staff just want to get out of there as quickly as possible.
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