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For the past several years, the holiday gifting season has been creeping to earlier and earlier dates in the calendar, but I cannot remember ever thinking about Christmas prior to Halloween.  Of course, I never have had sooo much time at home to think about these things – thanks Covid. Halloween launched earlier than last year (with far less inventory) and it seems like holiday paraphernalia is already on the shelves at the local grocery stores. We can’t help but then think, slightly aghast,  how are we thinking about the holidays already? In between trying to figure out how I can give my 3 young children a fun and safe halloween experience, and stressing about getting my Christmas decorations up, I’ve also been talking to our team at RetailNext about their expectations for the busiest shopping days this year. In the year of COVID-19, how will shoppers turn out to physical stores? Like the presidential race, there is a lot of room for surprise but we still expect the histori...

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown much of what we thought we knew about consumers’ shopping habits into somewhat of a whirlwind. The high street is still suffering from the fallout of a three-month hiatus and now the hospitality industry has experienced a further blow in the past week following the Prime Minister’s announcement to implement a 10pm curfew for closing time. With fears of a second lockdown hanging in the balance, the big question on retailers’ lips is: “Does this mean Christmas is cancelled?” The UK has now officially been declared in a recession for the first time in 11 years, and with the end of the furlough scheme set to bring a further wave of job losses across many industries by the end of October, the short- and long-term effects of the virus are likely to continue for at least another six months. With an air of uncertainty still prevailing across the world of retail, the new shopping habits retailers reacted and adapted to during lockdown , thanks to a boom in on...

Like many others, when the realities of Covid-19 started to hit, I had no idea what was about to happen. RetailNext is singularly focused on retail, with many of our customers being in the new “non-essential” category – so that was a real concern. I was planning to get married on June 27, and that was up in the air. My then 2nd grader was suddenly without a daily routine, wandering aimlessly around the house asking for more screen time. It was terrifying. Fast forward 6 months and a lot has changed. Spoiler alert: I did get married. In a much different way than planned, but somehow perfect in it’s own simplicity. My son has also found his groove with his new and improved distance learning plan (although we are all getting our heads around the fact that it’s extended at least until December).  And guess what!? Brick and Mortar retail is still alive and the innovation that has been creeping along for years is accelerating at a breakneck pace. New applications for customer experience...

Conversion rate is extremely important in the retail industry, and is a metric that drives store sales, margin, and survival of the overall business. This is especially the case for specialty stores with high unit prices. Conversion is influenced by multiple factors, from location to product type, visuals, and your people.  So how do we optimize for conversion? The essence is to maximize efficiency while scheduling the employees with the right skills at the right time. In this blog, I cover the main aspects to consider, including optimizing schedules with data, customer service approaches and in-store workflows. Scheduling and Cost Sense A key aspect of scheduling is to optimize floor coverage while minimizing cost and preventing over/under coverages. To achieve this balance, tools such as GaiaDigits Intelligent Scheduling can help. For example, having granularity to schedule by job title, skill sets, certifications, pay rate, batches, and other aspects allow for more efficient...

The MLB and NBA are back in action, PGA tournaments have resumed…. Finally, there are sports to watch on TV. Almost felt a little normal, right? Let’s be honest, not really.  With news of people having “Corona parties” where cases are now spiking across the nation, why couldn’t everyone follow directions, stay home and wear their masks? Now the reality of kitchens becoming classrooms and parents juggling the roles of their own jobs in addition to teachers and short order cooks are coming to life. Drink your Corona (at home), stop spreading the corona(virus)!   There has been a lot of chatter around the topic of kids going back to school. Do we really think these kids are going to go back to school in person or will it be “Back to Learning” and online? Usually, to us working in the retail industry, Back to School means an extremely busy time both in stores and online with a ton of sales pressure on this period. Even in spite of the uncertainty around schools reopening in ...

As we move forward into this new normal of continuing social distancing, wearing masks, and washing our hands, the million dollar question is, when will we return to life as we once knew it? Retailers are opening back up with important restrictions in place to keep their staff and consumers safe, but when will retail traffic trends go back to the way they were pre-COVID-19? Not any time soon is the short answer. TRAFFIC SLOW, SLOW, SLOWING DOWN When the shelter in place restrictions started to be lifted, we initially saw traffic improvements week over week, however, improvements have slowed down in the past few weeks.  The traffic trend for July Week 1 was -46% to LY, in line with June Week 5, but declined from June Week 4, -42% to LY.  Fourth of July traffic was -49% to LY, impacted by many states reclosing areas or re-imposing curfews and the anxiety of a second wave of coronavirus cases keeping shoppers out of stores. In spite of slow-to-recover traffic metrics, other...

For years retailers have been talking about the store of the future, how to compete with Amazon, and how to best serve today’s digitally driven customer. The pace has been maddeningly slow – both as an executive in retail technology and as a consumer. Yes, some of the lowest hanging fruit has been picked – you can now return online purchases in-store (remember when that was a thing, having to return online purchases through the mail?), and pricing disparities have largely been solved. Beyond the obvious, however, retailers have largely resisted, overanalyzed, and underinvested in the very technologies that are necessary to thrive in today’s environment and as a result, much of retail has still been siloed into disconnected channels. Until now. Enter COVID-19. Suddenly, “nice to haves” like strong digital platforms, better customer pickup options and virtual engagement tools are the price of entry. Shiny objects like digital screens which, honestly, are rarely used in most retail stor...

Occupancy, the must-have data in the time of COVID-19 The worldwide economy has been seeing a glimmer of hope over the last few weeks, and the light is coming from the neon “Open!” signs from retailers scattered all over the globe. However as both shoppers and shopkeepers venture outside, questions over safety and transparency loom. One of the crucial questions focuses on how to manage social distancing inside stores, and to properly know that, one must know a store’s occupancy at any given time. As I’ve seen far too many stores already with an associate posted at the door like a bouncer, which obviously has its own implications for the health and safety of that poor person, I feel the need to weigh in. In this time where so much inexpensive technology is available at our fingertips, there is no excuse to be manually counting occupancy, nor trying to repurpose antiquated hardware to handle something so important. It Doesn’t Make Financial Sense Associates are the most expensive a...

Managing finances in your business should be seamless if you have some tips or guidelines to get you through the process. When you have total control, you can make critical decisions regarding your brand and company. It is also a roadmap to show whether your venture is on the right track or needs improvement. Here are essential strategies you should employ in your new retail company. Open a Business Account For starters, you need to open a banking account that is separate from your personal accounts. This way, you will receive a comprehensive bank statement enabling you to differentiate the cash flows from your business and your savings from other sources. Typically, you will also ensure the money in your business account is only meant only for your enterprise.  Additionally, you can do bookkeeping with sheer simplicity using banking data. As a business owner, there are critical elements to consider when opening the account. For instance, it should have mobile banking services...

The latest edition of the RetailNext Retail Performance Pulse has been published and is available for download, providing an overview of brick-and-mortar store performance for the retail month of February 2020 (February 2-29 on the industry’s 4-5-4 calendar). Download the Retail Performance Pulse for February 2020 store results. Retail stores started off the month of February slowly, and Coronavirus fears never allowed it to recover. For the month, brick-and-mortar stores reported an overall drop of 4.5 percent in sales on a 6.3 percent decline in foot traffic, as measured for the same time period one year previous. Shopper traffic declined 9.7 percent in the first week of the month and then rallied as shoppers geared up for both Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day. However, the rally was severely tempered as Coronavirus stories dominated the national media. The shoppers who did venture to physical stores demonstrated their intent to purchase, as conversion, average transaction va...

As a retail store owner or manager, one skill you need to develop is closing a sale. After all, making sales is the whole point of your retail business. Without sales, your business would not thrive. Even when you have the best products at the most competitive prices, if you do not have the ability to convince the shopper to buy, your products will remain on shelves – collecting dust. The reality is that in many segments of retail, shoppers often require an extra push before make their decisions. Even as a business owner, you also need to be a great salesperson, as understanding sales closing strategies is key to running a successful retail business . And, the good news is there are several proven techniques you can use to close a retail sale. Let’s review eight techniques you can implement in your business to help you close a sale quickly. 1 – Create a welcoming environment How your store looks goes a long way in determining whether a shopper will buy from you or not. It is very...