Sometimes it is the simplest tools that can have the most positive effective on sales, satisfaction and bottom line, according to retail communications specialist, Tom Downes
Sometimes it is the simplest tools that can have the most positive effective on sales, satisfaction and bottom line, according to retail communications specialist, Tom Downes
“As stores struggle for more and more creative ideas to bring in customers and encourage loyalty, it is easy to overlook the basics like the efficiency of communications between staff which is proven to reduce stock loss by a quarter, speed up queues and improve customer service. All this drives up sales and gives you happier customers,” said Tom Downes chief executive of Quail Digital, a specialist manufacturer of headset communications systems for retailers.
Reduce stock loss by 25%
Retail theft is an issue for the majority of retail environments and is also a problem for consumers because it adds around £180 to every family’s annual shopping bill. According to a recent report from the Centre for Retail Research, an average of over £12-million worth of stock is lost each day amounting to £4.4 billion annually in the UK.
Quail Digital undertook a ‘before and after’ audit of 120 stores that had installed a wireless headset system linking staff and enabling them to communicate instantly. Figures revealed that stock loss was reduced by 25%, staff felt more secure and 73% of store managers believed store security had improved.
“Employees felt that the headsets acted as a visual deterrent to would-be thieves and gave them greater peace of mind, particularly for those working in quieter periods like late at night. In addition, security guards monitoring CCTV cameras can communicate instantaneously with the shop floor and if a known thief is seen to enter the store, all staff can be made aware at the same time and act accordingly,” Downes contended.
“There is no doubt that having a visible system in use on the sales floor and at the checkout, signifying swift communication between staff, gives a significant boost to store security.”
Improve customer service
But good communications can also measurably improve the way retailers deal with their customers, Downes added.
He said effective communications can save retail stores 36 hours every week at the checkouts by speeding up responses to customer queries and supervisor requests: “An impressive 85% of store managers where an effective communications system had been installed believed that customer service had been improved and the scan and throughput of customers at the tills had increased.
“It is easy for the checkouts to become a bottleneck. Price queries, age related authorisations even requests for more baskets and change can significantly slow down service at the till as operators regularly have to wait for a supervisor response or holler at colleagues across the shop floor to grab their attention and ask for help which looks unprofessional and holds up the queue,” Downes said.
He explained, a push-button messaging system that instantly sends specific requests direct to a team of supervisors who can then respond immediately, reduces the response time from an average of two minutes down to just 40 seconds the audit revealed.
A recent survey from Barclays Bank and Barclaycard revealed that store staff had less than a minute to answer queries on the shop floor before customers were ready to leave and 51% of customers would not even enter a shop if they saw the queues were long.
“Often customers are left hanging around whilst staff try to find someone to deal with a query or they have to wander around aimlessly trying to find someone to speak to. These days it does not take long for customers to get frustrated and leave and stores cannot afford to lose custom in this way,” he added.
“Every penny of investment has to deliver measurable benefits so it makes sense to consider how your staff are communicating because you could easily be losing customers and stock if you don’t get it right,” Downes concluded.
