Case Study
How Journeys Boosted Conversion and Productivity with Real-Time Retail Insights
We spoke with Derek Clark, Sales Analytics Coordinator at Journeys, about how improved labor planning, productivity tracking, and real-time conversion visibility help the brand strengthen in-store execution and support stores during peak seasons like back to school and holiday.
About Journeys
Journeys is a footwear and accessories retailer known for its trend-driven assortment and youth-focused customer experience. With fast-moving traffic patterns and seasonal peaks, strong labor allocation and real-time performance visibility are essential to maintaining service levels and supporting store revenue goals.
1. Improving conversion with real-time visibility
For Journeys, conversion is a key performance indicator that drives revenue.
Derek explained:
“Conversion is the big one for me. That’s something we’re always chasing. Greeting our customers, converting our customers, it’s the lifeblood for any retailer.”
With real-time insights, store teams can monitor performance instantly rather than waiting until the next day, allowing managers to act quickly and optimize results.
“Being able to have that measurement captured, see it go up, and then find efficiencies and make it even go higher, capturing more revenue and volume.”
2. Optimizing labor and productivity with retail metrics
Journeys uses metrics like sales per hour, productivity ratios, and associate-to-customer ratios to drive operational efficiency.
Derek highlighted:
“Being able to analyze things like productivity, STAR, those things that help us analyze what our ratio is for associates in the store versus our customers that are coming in.”
“Sales per hour and productivity paired together help us see the selling hours return and the productivity, which is the non-selling. Being able to analyze those two and go back to our payroll rates to figure out where our productivity has been lowered and how we can raise it back up.”
This allows teams to align labor with peak traffic, identify areas for improvement, and maintain efficiency without impacting customer service.
3. Benchmarking and developing store leaders
Derek emphasized how real-time insights help the brand identify high performers and support future leaders.
“It has been an awesome addition to our activity standards. We have been able to put more emphasis on the sales floor leader with segment success and instant feedback.”
By comparing conversion rates and performance between leaders and associates across stores, districts, and regions, Journeys can:
– Identify talent quickly
– Recognize top performers
– Support leadership development
– Drive friendly competition among stores
The team also built complementary programs like Sales Leaders of the Week and Sales Leaders of the Month, tied to internal recognition initiatives.
Why retail insights matter for Journeys
For Journeys, real-time data has transformed how leaders manage performance and labor. Benefits include:
– Aligning staffing with peak traffic and conversion opportunities
– Monitoring KPIs in the moment for immediate course correction
– Optimizing productivity and sales per hour without hurting customer experience
– Supporting manager development and accountability across regions
By combining data, labor insights, and performance tracking, Journeys empowers store teams to maximize results while maintaining operational efficiency.
See how Journeys improved performance
Watch the full interview with Derek to hear more about how Journeys leveraged real-time metrics to transform store performance.
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