Retail has always been a people business, and face-to-face interactions between customers and employees take center stage. Right now, in-store shopping is coming back strong, but retail businesses are facing a historically tight labor market. This challenge is inspiring retailers to reimagine the shopping experience by elevating customer service while supporting frontline workers.
Customers visit stores because they’re looking for an experience, and they hope to come home with a product they love. When retail associates can connect with and inform customers, they can deliver on both those goals. That’s why an investment in frontline workers has a valuable impact on customers. By empowering store employees with the right tools, leaders can improve conversion rates and customer satisfaction at the same time.
Retaining talent amid the retail reshuffle
The retail reshuffle has added urgency to the need for employee engagement. With the labor market in unfamiliar territory, competition for associates has never been hotter. This creates an opportunity for retail innovators to differentiate themselves.
I recently had the opportunity to grab a few minutes with Ron Thurston, the host of the Retail in America tour and podcast. He’s been traveling the United States to speak with retailers and their associates, and he has some inspiring ideas about the future of the sector.
“There is this emotion that’s so innately human in retail, which I love, but it doesn’t work well without great technology,” says Thurston.
To retain talent, retailers are rethinking the demands they place on their employees and retooling the resources they deliver. According to a study by Axonify, issues of access and turnover can mean frontline training takes a back seat. Over one-third of employees say they only receive training during big job changes like transfers and promotions, and about 20 percent rarely or never get additional training. Imagine trying to deliver a great customer experience and make sales without training.
Although technology will never fully replace a trainer, it can help narrow the training gap by empowering associates with the information they need. Blum, a manufacturer of furniture fittings based in Austria, addressed this challenge by implementing a unified employee experience solution. Blum’s new offering makes it easy for its teams to message one another, request time off, read up on new processes, and keep up with company announcements, all in one place. By equipping them with modern resources, Blum has engaged and energized its employees.
Unlocking organizational knowledge using data
Retail employees see up close the supply chain pressures and changes in consumer behavior that are challenging the retail industry. But without unified data, their knowledge often doesn’t reach strategic planners. The variety of operations in each store further complicates matters.
In one moment, associates must run outside to fulfill curbside pickup orders, but in the next moment, they must find a way to stock shelves despite low inventory. Tracking all these activities is not simple. Customers, meanwhile, expect employees to offer clear answers to their questions about items and orders. These challenges add up fast, and to confidently tackle them, frontline workers need a solution that gives them insight into day-to-day activities in their store.
The REI Co-op has responded to the retail reshuffle by equipping its employees with modern communication tools that make it easy for them to engage in both one-on-one conversations and group meetings. REI workers in 10 US regions can now communicate securely with colleagues and managers using Microsoft technology. And managers can host up to 1,000 people—compared to 125 previously—on conference calls to deliver updates and announcements at scale.
Using technology to transform retail
Like Microsoft, Thurston is a big believer in innovation. He spoke to me about a future in which frontline workers could be deployed on demand to support stores on especially busy days. If retailers continue to innovate, the industry is set to become far more flexible than ever before. After speaking with him, I’m excited to see how the sector will transform in the years to come.
Check out this video to see Thurston share some of the big lessons he has learned on his Retail in America tour.
To learn more about how you can elevate both employee and customer experiences with a unified data platform, check out Microsoft Cloud for Retail.
Jose Luis Ortiz
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