15 Tips for Retail Success
There’s no denying it:
Retail has changed dramatically in recent years. Customers expect seamless experiences, immediate service, and knowledgeable associates. Meanwhile, Retailers must balance rising labor costs, evolving compliance regulations, and shifting consumer traffic patterns.
The Retailers that win in this landscape are those that take a strategic approach to workforce management. That means:
– Scheduling with precision. Getting the right people on the floor at the right time.
– Measuring the right metrics. Tracking KPIs that impact revenue and performance.
– Investing in technology. Using real-time data to make smarter decisions.
To help retailers navigate this evolving landscape, we’ve compiled 15 must-know tips for Retail success. These strategies, based on industry insights and real-world results, help Retailers optimize labor, boost productivity, and drive stronger sales.
Tip #1 Schedule To Peak
50% of your sales happen in only 20 hours. We call these your peak hours. These are critical windows that can make or break your sales targets. We analyzed 4500 stores over 13 weeks and discovered that Retailers who schedule to peak hours, see a sales lift of lift of 4-6%, assuming 90% coverage.
Tip #2: Measure What Matters
Let’s talk about Sales Per Hour (SPH). [March blog #3] SPH is a key indicator of store productivity. If it’s too low, it indicates the store was overstaffed leading to inefficiencies. And if it’s too high, it means the store was understaffed and your team might be stretched too thin, risking sales opportunities. Look at your SPH metric and keep digging to uncover the root cause of why the store is potentially understaffed/overstaffed. Could it be availability, recruitment needs, insufficient scheduling? By asking the right questions and looking at your data, you can balance your labor allocation and maximize results.
Tip#3: One Size Doesn’t Fit All
If no two stores are the same, and no two malls are alike, [Changing role of mall] why do many Retailers treat them as if they are? Each store format has its own unique traffic patterns, customer behaviors, and labor needs. Applying a one-size-fits-all strategy risks:
– misaligned labor,
– unbalanced workloads,
– a poor customer experience
The solution? Tailored labor planning that takes into account the nuances of each store and mall. Because the right strategy for one location might be completely wrong for another.
Tip #4 Celebrate Wins Daily
Have you stopped to pause and celebrate wins of the past week? Recognition fuels engagement and builds a culture of success. Take a moment at the end of each day to highlight wins – big and small. Whether it’s hitting a sales goal, or solving a customer problem, these moments build morale and keeps teams motivated.
Tip #5: Schedule to Your Customers, Not to Gut Feel
Copying last week’s schedule might feel efficient, but it ignores the ever-changing patterns of your customers, and ultimately, that leaves money on the table. Instead, schedule your team to match customer traffic. By creating schedules based on data, you can:
– Ensure peak times are covered with the right people
– Build sales targets steadily throughout the day
– Keep each store on track to meet and exceed goals
Start the week by making data-backed decisions.
Tip #6: Tech Is Top
Say yes to technology. At StoreForce, we’ve had front row seats to witness how the industry is embracing technology innovation, and, according to the Gartner Annual CIO survey, the message is loud and clear: technology investment is at the top of Retailers’ priority lists. We don’t expect that to change anytime soon. In fact, 69% of Retailers plan to increase their technology investments, relative to their digital spend. This number highlights an important point. Success in Retail is driven by technological advancements. At StoreForce, we believe that real success comes from striking the right balance between people and technology. We’re all about innovation that is designed to support, not replace Retail employees. Explore the future of Retail innovation and download our State of Retail report here: State of Retail
Tip #7: Run It Like You Own It
Imagine the impact on your sales if your store managers ran their stores [Run it like you own it] like they were their own business. Build business acumen and turn your managers into leaders with the right tools, training, and approaches. When your store owners act like business owners:
– better decisions get made,
– course corrections make a tangible impact to sales every day,
– higher employee engagement reduces turnover.
Tip #8: Split Your Sell and Non-Sell Hours
Don’t overspend to underserve. Are you splitting your sell and non-sell hours accurately? With the growing importance of additional non-sell activities such as BOPIS, pick and pack, and virtual appointments, non-sell tasks are taking a larger piece of the labor pie. There’s no better time than now to:
– Review your sell and non-sell hours
– Update you scheduling profiles to reflect the current back-of-house demands
– Identify if you have available capacity within your existing schedules. Most stores will have available capacity that can be used for non-tell activities.
Visibility into your labor allocation allows you to strike the right balance to meet both operational needs and customer expectations.
Tip #9: It’s All About Balance
There is a misconception that peak hours are more important in high volume stores. The truth? Adding a single shift in a low volume store will have a much higher impact than at a high-volume store. KPIs like Traffic Per Labor Hour (TPLH) provide critical insights into service standards and labor effectiveness. TPLH helps Retailers identify where their resources can make the biggest difference. Data like this enables Retailers to optimize their staffing levels and deliver a superior customer experience.
Want to learn more, download our Scheduling Guide.
Tip #10: Real-Time Data = Real-Time Impact
Having visibility to real-time data means that you can see what’s happening when it happens. Not hours later when it’s too late to adjust. With real-time insights, you can:
– Track if you’re hitting your sales goals as the day unfolds
– Monitor team performance in the moment
– Make adjustments to staffing or priorities, throughout the day, to win the day.
Retail moves fast, especially on the weekend. If you have to wait for end-of-day reports, you will constantly be playing catch up. But with real-time data, if you can see it now, you can fix it now!
See how Fabletics uses real-time data to stay ahead.
Tip #11: KPIs That Count
Are you tracking too many metrics? Or not the right ones? There are specific KPIs that provide valuable insights into effective labor allotment, the health of your schedules, and the well-being of your team. They also provide valuable insights on your expected service standards and labor compliance, which play a major role in overall performance. Make sure you’re focusing on the KPIs that matter most: SPH, TPLH, and Conversion Rates.
Tip #12: 20 Hours Can Make Or Break Your Week
In Tip #1,we told that you that 50% of your sales happen in 20 Hours, which we call peak hours. Let’s dig a bit deeper. It’s likely that each store within your retail chain will have unique peak hours, which change overtime. And that can be difficult to keep up with when you’re scheduling manually. Being equipped to constantly analyze when you’re at your busiest will give you the ability to forecast and staff your labor budget to ensure you’re not over- or under-budgeting. It sounds complicated but it’s not. This infographic explains it easily: Good Peak Gone Bad
Tip #13: Target Smarter, Not Harder
Lucky number 13? In Retail, success isn’t about luck. It’s about clear, actionable targets. Break down top-level goals into actionable, store-level targets that empower your teams to make a tangible impact every day. Real-time visibility into sales vs targets – whether it’s daily, hourly, by store, or by district, allows your store managers to course-correct on the fly, ensuring no opportunity slips through the cracks.
Tip #14: Target Smarter, Not Harder
When it comes to improving Retail operations, there’s no better endorsement that hearing it directly from other Retailers. Peer insights aren’t just reassuring, they’re invaluable for making informed decisions and driving success. Take it from Billy Bennett: How Journeys Leverages StoreForce
Tip #15 – Retail Never Stops Evolving
Not so much a tip, but more a thought. StoreForce recently celebrate 15 years of partnering with top global Retailers. And the past 15 years have shown us just how much Retail continues to evolve. Flexibility, adaptability, and data will be your greatest allies. Build resilient teams who are empowered to make smart decisions, invest in meaningful technology that drives growth, and never stop challenging the status quo.
The Future of Specialty Retail:
In the 15 Tips for Retail Success we’ve shared tips designed to help Retailers, mainly:
– Maximize every labor dollar
– Optimize your scheduling and staffing strategies
– Use real-time data for immediate impact
– Set better targets and measure the correct KPIs
– Stay ahead by embracing continuous improvement
Ready to see StoreForce in action?