Seventy-one percent of best in class retailers cite in-store initiatives as contributors to their success, according to a new report from the analyst and research group Aberdeen.
“The Empowered Store Benchmark Report” found that retailers are acutely feeling pressure to differentiate the in-store experience in ways other than low-prices. Companies that consider the delight of their customers and the empowerment of their store employees to be core tenets of their mission statement will reap the greatest rewards, the study found.
To improve the in-store experience, Aberdeen recommends:
- Move to customer-centricity; create store performance metrics that confirm and reward progress made in that direction; and review performance against those metrics frequently.
- Do not simply replace employees with technology; empower employees with selling tools and the knowledge to improve average transaction value.
- Use improved workforce management, task management and better customer service tools.
- Be prepared for the changing infrastructure requirements that will come as a result of growth, and plan for these exponential changes.
- Incorporate the lessons learned by other innovative retailers in different regions of the world.
For more information, visit www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/EmpoweredStore_092904.asp.
