20 Hours That Make or Break Your week

In specialty retail, success doesn’t come from being busy, it comes from converting busy into profitability. And this happens during a narrow window which we refer to as your peak selling hours. Across hundreds of retailers, we’ve found the same pattern: just 20 hours a week drive over 50% of in-store sales. Miss those hours, and you’re not just missing traffic, you’re missing your best chance at lifting Conversion, ATV, and Visit Value. 

Yet many retailers still treat scheduling like a coverage exercise. If the floor is staffed, the job is done. But covering hours isn’t the same as owning your peak. And that’s the difference between a store that meets plan and one that outperforms it. 

Peak hours aren’t just busy, they’re profitable

Let’s be clear, not all traffic is created equal. Peak coverage isn’t about the total number of hours scheduled. It’s about which hours, who is working them, and how those hours impact the bottom line. If your top associates aren’t scheduled when shoppers are most ready to buy, you’re leaving dollars on the table, plain and simple. 

Consider this stat: A recent Business of Fashion x McKinsey study found that 20% of missed sales opportunities at a major U.S. retailer were directly tied to unengaged staff during high-traffic periods. 

Engagement and timing matters. And StoreForce brings both into alignment, so your most capable associates are on the floor when it counts most. 

What misaligned labor costs you

You don’t need a broken process to lose money. You just need an “almost right” one. Too often, retailers will schedule based on task checklists or gut feel, using blanket approaches across regions and stores. This can look like overstaffing in slow period which drains margins, and burnout from overworked associated covering too many gaps. These aren’t necessarily catastrophic failures, but they do compound quickly resulting in inconsistent service, high costs, and lost revenue.  

Win those 20 hours

Winning your 20 hours doesn’t require more labor.  Rather, it’s about extracting more value with more precision with the hours that matter the most. With StoreForce, retailers zero in on when their customers are most likely to buy, and which top associates are more likely to increase conversion. StoreForce also allows these retailers to adjust staffing between stores, optimize who’s working when, and building performance into the schedule, not as an afterthought. Shift your perspective and look at scheduling as an opportunity profit-plan. In a nutshell, with StoreForce you can protect your 20 peak hours by: 

– Identifying true peak selling hours with store-specific data, not gut feel 

– Auto-scheduling top performers into high-value windows 

– Shifting labor between over- and under-resourced locations to capture opportunity in real time 

– Layering performance, traffic, and forecast data into one intelligent tool 

What Happens When You Get It Right

When you start optimizing your labor to increase performance by scheduling around your true sales windows you’ll see results quickly.   

– Increased conversion rates 

– ATV and UPT grows 

– Labor cost decrease 

– Your people are more energized, not less 

And the best part? You’re not spending more, you’re just spending smarter. Ready to capture your 20 more valuable hours? Let StoreForce help you schedule smarter and sell more when it matters most.