Retail Operations _ Key to Success ( Part III)

In continuation with the earlier posts , wherein ,had bought out the importance of people management, customer service ,visual merchandising and the criticality of tight control.Plus also made it clear that the success of any retailer has a great degree of reliance on the retail operations piece ,here we go again , with certain more critical elements on what makes retail operations tick.

Range vs Depth :: In retail operations its a Must to know what are customers buying and not buying and why ? its important that either thru data or thru floor presence the floor /section head is able to understand what is going into the shopping bags and not going into the same , most of the times MIS DATA alone cant help , as many a instance the merchandise that gets classified as not selling , might have no fault of its own , could have been placed in some corner of the floor and not catching the customer eye !

A good seasoned floor manager ,also has an eye on the regular customer base , its important that some interaction happens with them to check the state of affairs on various merchandise front ,service levels and so on , regulars are a good touch point .The front end sales team who interact regularly with customers are another source of information . Getting your act right in knowing what to stock and what not to stock is very very important , it cant be always a gut feeling , sometimes the decision boils to whether we need to have more range or more depth on the floor , basically deciding whether we have more assortments ( range ) or lesser assortment but say more sizes and colors ( depth ) , it will ideally depend on the customer profile visiting your store ,getting your merchandise act is extremely critical as customers don't have time and don't give stores a second chance ! ideal situation is to have what this blog describes as mind 1 shelf 1 situation ,as too much of mind 1 shelf0 might be soon mind 0 shelf 0, for the store .

So getting the right mix on the floor is important and easier said than done , there is one more element of retail operations that is a key to success ,ie retaining and getting the right people on the floor , again easier said than done factor !

The Great Right people Crunch ! this is going to be the key as retail is all about People People and people , and with the retailers always looking out for someone ,the retail operation task of getting people and retaining people at the front end is a HUGE challenge , as mentioned in the earlier post , its next to impossible to keep everyone in the good books , as the job is not the easiest one , the front end has to do a standing 8-10 hrs job and is draining , try it you will realise ! , so how does one motivate staff at the front end ,well at the retail operations end tools with the floor manager are , late coming allowance , extra rest , weekly off adjustments , Indian retailers are under constant pressure for people at the front end and the blog believes that this shortage plus attrition are things which are Big and hitting retail operations across retailers .

Each time you go to a retailer these days there are new faces trying to help you , some of you with the trainee badge on their chest ....sometimes you wonder how long will they last ! retail operations has more areas to be focused on , more later on this key to success piece !