It’s Tough Out There
Retailers have always been resilient. But today’s climate is testing even the most seasoned operators with rising operational costs, shifting customer traffic, and tariff-driven pressures are all squeezing margins. And yet, expectations haven’t eased. Sales targets are rising while labor budgets are not. The message is clear, do more with less.
While retailers can’t control the market, they can control what happens inside their stores, and at the center of that control is labor. Labor isn’t just a cost to manage, it’s a lever to grow revenue. When deployed intentionally, in other words, by time, role, and associate, it becomes one of the most powerful tools to drive conversion, increase average basket size, and improve customer experience.
The goal, when looking at your labor budget, shouldn’t simply be about coverage. It should be treated as a profitability lever. And we can all agree that this, now more than ever, is exactly what retailers need in their toolbox. The best way to get there is through data. For example, think of the manager who reallocates their team mid-shift to respond to an unexpected traffic spike; or the associate who turns a hesitant browser into a multi-item sale. These moments don’t happen by chance. They happen when labor decisions are guided by real-time data and insight. When data is used in the moment, success stops being accidental and t becomes repeatable.
Retailers have long known that data matters. But today, it’s no longer enough to look back. It’s time to use data that acts in real time telling you what’s happening now, and what to do next.
Why Real-Time Matters
If you wait until the end of the week to discover that conversion dropped during peak hours, it’s already too late. So, if you’re building schedules based on past averages, or gut feel, you’re misaligned every single day. If your top sellers aren’t on the floor when high-value customers walk in, you’re leaving money on the table. Therefore, when retailers schedule for coverage, they’re playing defense. Change that perspective and schedule for performance by aligning labor to the moments that matter, when you do that, you’re actively generating profits.
We know from our clients, that his isn’t hypothetical. Conversion lifts when your strongest sellers are on the floor at peak. ATV increases when teams have the time and energy to upsell. And Visit Value climbs when associates aren’t rushed, distracted, or stretched too thin. These aren’t soft benefits, they’re revenue drivers. And they compound. By tying labor strategy to key metrics like SPSH (Sales Per Selling Hour), ATV, and UPT, retailers turn scheduling into a bottom-line growth engine. Not a sunk cost.
Redefining Retail Resilience
Resilience isn’t about running leaner, it’s about adaptability. True retail resilience is the ability to flex your resources, quickly and in the moment, without compromising brand standards or customer experience. When labor is aligned to performance and moments instead of generic time slots, you can meet demand as it happens. You serve better, sell more, and weather volatility with confidence.
3 Ways to Build Resilience and Profitability
1. Build schedules that drive revenue, not just coverage
Too many schedules are still built around outdated models covering tasks, hours, or gut feel.
Start by matching your best people to your highest-impact hours. Plan shifts around shopper behavior, not headcount formulas. Every hour worked should contribute to revenue, not just presence.
2. Use data to catch what you’re missing, in the moment while you can still fix it
Summaries are great for understanding the past. But if you want to change the future, you need visibility now.
Real-time data lets you spot, and act, on missed opportunities before they become losses. Maybe conversion is lagging mid-shift. Maybe your strongest sellers are misaligned. Maybe traffic is up, but basket size isn’t moving. These aren’t problems to analyze next week, they’re opportunities to capture today.
3. Build business acumen into every store
Smart retailers are empowering their field teams with real-time data and insights, along with the autonomy to respond. When store leaders know how to flex labor, shift priorities, and coach performance hour by hour, the whole organization becomes faster, smarter, and more stable.
Leadership Alignment Matters
This is important. For this approach to work, it has to be championed from the top. Aligning labor to performance requires a leadership mindset that views stores as profit engines. It means rethinking KPIs, empowering field leaders with real authority, and holding the organization accountable to daily execution and not just quarterly results. This is a growth strategy that starts at the executive table.
The First Test: Back-to-School
The retail calendar doesn’t pause. Back-to-School season is just around the corner, and with it, a critical window to capture momentum ahead of Q4. For mall-based Specialty Retailers, Back-to-School is the second highest in-store traffic period of the year, just behind holiday. But while the holiday season follows a consistent calendar with predictable peak days, Back-to-School is far more fragmented, varying significantly by region, product category, and even school district. This makes staffing and planning far more complex. A store might experience comparable traffic volumes to December, but without the benefit of uniform shopping patterns. The stakes are especially high for footwear, where the shopping experience is hands-on, time-intensive, and driven by service expectations. Retailers who have aligned their labor strategy by then will be positioned to win early, driving traffic, conversion, and team performance before the holidays even begin. The truth is, margin lost in September is tough to recoup in November.
One Final Thought
Retail always finds a way forward. Even in times that feel complicated, the fundamentals remain the same: focus on what you can, build strength from within, and stay closer to the customer than anyone else. Managing your labor properly will help you survive market shifts. Turn every day, associate, and customer interaction into an opportunity to strengthen performance.