The top goal of every retail store is efficiency and profit. As usual, it is easier said than done. Here are some things to consider and measures you can implement to ensure your store is efficient and profitable.
Understanding the experiences and needs of the frontline employees is key to improving efficiency and an overall better store. Frontline employees make up 80% of the global workforce, and these workers are often overlooked by investments in human capital, which are allocated to office-based employees.
According to a YOOBIC survey of frontline workers in the US, UK and Canada, 71% feel task management is unproductive and 40% feel they have insufficient training.
Cash management is a relatively simple way to connect frontline workers to corporate operations and goals. The majority of our cash counters offer a connectivity option, and our Touch cash counter, LiveSafe and LiveDrawer all increase visibility across the organisation. It connects the actions and cash data entered by the cashier to the real-time cashflow throughout the enterprise. In addition, it has measures to protect honest employees and recognise them for their efforts in protecting cash and eliminating loss.
The traditional labour pool is dwindling due to unstable employment and the reopening and return to pre-pandemic life varying across the world. Additionally, national living wage was increased to £ 8.91 /hour in the UK, which has some nervous. There seems to be an overall need to work smarter, not harder. With many workers wanting flexible schedules, or even to just take seasonal retail shifts, having uniformed and streamlined processes becomes all the more important.
When Tellermate worked with L.L. Bean to introduce cash counters, they were able to reduce the number of employees closing registers from three to one, allowing them to repurpose the two other employees for closing tasks on the floor. As a result, they were able to reduce the overall time it takes for a store to perform closing procedures, saving them nearly an hour each day.
Stores are also facing high expectations in customer service and there is demand for frontline staff to be highly trained to keep up with the digital and well-informed customer. More time with the customer has traditionally meant less time on back-office tasks or tasks that are essential to store operations. However, today’s stores are expected to offer a variety of omnichannel services, including in-store fulfilment and returns of online orders, bringing even more tasks to the consumer facing side.
Using scheduling software, introducing technology to ensure task management and efficiency and automating as much as possible allows stores to optimise staffing and make sure their employees can have quality interactions with customers.
We often notice how retail payment systems have evolved, especially over the last year. However, the advancements have leaned heavily in the area of cards and digital payments. Understandably so, but many retailers have forgotten to advance their cash handling as well. Although not the same as a digital payment, there are still opportunities for evolution with the way you process and handle cash. Automating your cash handling can make your cash work for you, not against you.
Certainly, some of the things to improve efficiencies are easiest done in a new build or redesign, but there are plenty of ways to optimise space, technology and processes without drastic changes to the physical space or layout.
Smart safes that fit below the point of sale allow for a more open floor plan or multiple small kiosks over using an entire wall for guest checkout. The space issue is often just as much as a concern for the back office as it is for the front. We have seen stores want the functionality of a cash recycler, but they simply do not have the space. Cash recyclers are expensive, require intensive servicing, and often their functions can be performed by a combination of desktop and point-of-sale devices. Our Touch + LiveSafe completes the same tasks, all for less than the cost of shipping a recycler.