CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Some of the largest U.S. and U.K. retailers are slow to adapt their store operations to changing consumer buying habits, according to a new study unveiled by SD Retail Consulting, a leading strategic retail advisory firm and unit of Hilco Trading, LLC. Surprisingly, the study found that 80% of retailers surveyed are not effectively training their in-store staff to accommodate the complex needs of the new multi-channel shopper.
The study surveyed Retail Operations Leaders from 35 leading retailers including Department Store, Specialty Retail, Big Box, Grocery and Convenience Store chains, mostly with revenues of over $1 billion (50% of which are publicly traded).
“The seamless customer experience and speed of change led by pure play e-retailers such as Amazon is setting a high bar for retailers operating both bricks and mortar and e-commerce channels. The pace of change to meet this high bar needs to accelerate as the pressure from these new competitors continues to grow,” said Antony Karabus, President of SD Retail Consulting.” The largest retailers must examine every customer touch point and how they play their part in creating that seamless customer experience. For the minority of retailers who are successfully transforming their store environments, the rewards will be substantial.”
Significant findings of the report include:
- U.S. trails U.K. for in-store pick-up of web-based orders: Only 29% of U.S. retailers surveyed have implemented in-store pick-up options, and a mere 24% are planning to unveil a pilot program by late 2013. These figures represent a stark contrast to U.K. retailers, where 78% of retailers surveyed have deployed in-store pick-ups. U.K. retailers continue to improve on the convenience of in-store pick-up programs, testing additional benefits such as free parking for customers who pick-up during morning business hours
- Mobile POS Is Rare: Only 18% of U.S. retailers have implemented mobile POS systems across a significant portion of their stores, and in most of those cases, retailers have only rolled it out to select groups of stores, rather than entire chains. Further, mobile POS is still typically utilized for only one or two specific uses (i.e. line busting or search/assistance within specific departments), rather than leveraging the full extent of its capabilities (CRM, labor scheduling, traffic counters, etc.)
- Store Staff are not getting effective cross-channel training: – 80% of U.S. and U.K. retailers surveyed said they have not invested sufficiently in training their store staff on how to handle multi-channel customers in-store, whether on how to handle “show rooming,” competitive price-matching, in-store pick-up requests, or addressing specific product knowledge customers may have gained from the web. Additionally, fewer than 25% of retailers surveyed indicated that their field management was providing the leadership necessary to drive improved productivity through their physical stores in this new multi-channel environment
- No store associate incentive and recognition for cross-channel selling: Less than 10% of retailers surveyed are currently compensating their associates in some way that recognizes their contribution to cross-channel sales. Retailers with cross-channel customers acknowledge that while the store may not ring the sale, their associates play a critical part in driving company top-line sales, yet methods for compensating employees for contributing to the sale by servicing the shopper in-store (before they actually transact on-line) have yet to be formalized
Joe Madigan, Vice President, Store Operations, SD Retail Consulting commented that “multi-channel is disrupting Store Operations across real estate footprint, inventory “location”, customer service and selling and is the most significant challenge to store operations that I have seen in the last 25 years.”
Notes on Survey Methodology and Analysis
SD Retail Consulting conducted detailed survey interviews with executives from February, 2013 to April, 2013. The survey included 35 retail respondents including Specialty Apparel, Specialty Non-Apparel, Department Store, Discount, Dollar/Variety, Health & Beauty/Rx, Big Box, Grocery and Convenience stores. Participating criteria included annual revenues of that range from innovative multi-channel smaller retailers to multi-billion $$ retail chains. At least 50% of the companies surveyed are publicly traded.
About SD Retail Consulting
SD Retail Consulting is a leading strategic retail advisory firm that helps retailers unlock value across key operating functions: including merchandising, planning and allocation, store operations including in-store customer experience, supply chain, inventory management and helping retailers develop cost-effective support office cost infrastructures. The company is a unit of The Hilco Organization and operates in New York as well as at Hilco’s headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois. For more information on SD Retail Consulting, visit http://www.sdretail.com.