Doing More on the Store Floor

Last week, The Dadson Diaries featured an excerpt from an article discussing how you can put your store design and layout to work for you, creating an environment that practically sells itself. This week, I'd like to switch things up and take a look at the operational side of the store floor.

In this connected world we live in, the store floor has become a hub of activity. First, it must serve those traditional customers who come into your store, find a product they want, and make a purchase. But with more and more retailers going cross-channel with online storefronts, store floors are also becoming order takers, inventory managers, distribution centers and so on. There are so many options available for purchasing these days: order online/pick-up in store, research online/reserve in store, order online/return to store, buy in store/ship it home, etc. Without the right IT systems and employee training in place, cross-channel retailers risk losing the sale and the customer.

In this white paper prepared for Stores.org by Manhattan Associates, the implications of a poorly-functioning store floor are made apparent as well as what cross-channel retailers can do to build and support their internal operations and help them become a "fully functional supply chain 'node,' capable of managing both the in-flow of merchandise as well as the out-flow of goods to customers and other store locations."

Multi-channel customers represent a sizable sales opportunity and as consumers become more and more connected, one can only expect this opportunity to continue to grow. One of the most important things for any cross-channel retailer is to create a consistent, quality experience for its customers across all the channels it operates in. A big part of that is having the merchandise available when the customer wants it and being able to deliver it in the manner that she prefers. The retailers that are able to do this as efficiently as possible are the ones that will win in the long run.

-- Larry Myer (Hook up with Larry on LinkedIn.)