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My retail therapy


I am not one who usually enjoys shopping.  When I need to buy something I like to do it with a quick surgical strike
1. Know what you want before entering store | 2. Locate item once inside store | 3. Purchase item | 4. Exit store.  No browsing, no chit chat with shop staff, no impulse purchases.

Spending time in shops that aren’t selling food or drink for on-site consumption isn’t really my thing.  Professionally as well, despite working in many industries, retail has not featured strongly in my CV.  However, recently I was fortunate to get involved in a change project with a very large retail organisation with thousands of stores across the United States.

As well as learning about some of the key processes in retail and meeting a variety of great people working in stores across the US, I got a first hand exposure to some of the forces currently impacting retailers.  There are new technologies are being introduced principally to increase efficiency and improve customer experience.  Items like headset comms links, tablets for floor staff to deal with customer queries, better systems to manage store shelf replenishment and then of course till-less check-out.  There is also the threat from on-line retail which for a store chain committed to being convenient and available in communities across the US requires a smart response.  The response I saw was to make better use of store space by simplifying the range of goods available and adding services, often in partnership with a 3rd party, that would draw customers into the stores, as well as providing higher income.  Parcel sending and pick-up is a good example of one such service that takes advantage of the growth of on line but will bring people into a community based store.

What this means for stores is that a lot of change is coming their way.  The challenge for retailers is how to get a workforce of mostly hourly paid store staff engaged and ready to make these changes successful.   What do leaders need to do with their teams to get them to view their time at work in the store not as a punch-card prison, where their real life is on hold until they can punch out, but as a place where they can make a positive difference to the lives of their customers and colleagues? How can that be achieved in a way that is authentic and grounded in the reality of the store’s day to day challenges?  How do you overcome cynicism and avoid a program being viewed as some kind of hand-holding group therapy? Meeting these challenges was a large part of my recent project in which I had to spend a lot of time in stores working with some great people. 

Whilst shopping still isn’t my favourite activity, the retail therapy this recent project provided me was a greater appreciation of the art and science that goes into running a store and probably most importantly a dose of empathy with store staff who I no longer curtly dismiss when they offer me assistance.

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