The Retailer Winter Edition 2023

THE RE TA I L ER

8

WHY A TECH-ENABLED FRONTLINE IS THE RECIPE FOR STANDOUT SERVICE IN 2023

Olaf Akkerman Managing Director, Retail and Consumer Goods Industry Microsoft UK

U nlocking a positive cus tomer experience with an engaged and empowered frontline workforce

‘‘

Well equipped? To remain competitive in 2023, retail leaders should prioritise their employees’ wellbeing and engagement to unlock the positive customer experience that will differentiate them from the pack. That’s no small feat in a cost-con strained environment, but technology can help. Microsoft recently carried out research as part of our ongoing Work Trend Index, sur veying thousands of frontline employees and managers in eight industries across five conti nents – including a specific focus on retail. The results shed light on the role for technology in enabling your frontline staff to deliver standout service in 2023. Just over a third of retail workers told us that they are not equipped with the digital tools, tech or solutions they need. Far from fearing the encroachment of technology, three fifths (60%) of retail workers are excited about the job opportunities that technology can create. Areas where frontline workers told us they feel that tech can help with most includes team scheduling, onboarding new teammates, automating repetitive tasks, providing real-time task updates, and managing appointments. Automate to liberate Retail staff are particularly interested in tools that save time and energy by working more efficiently and automating or accelerating lower-value tasks. By streamlining mundane, repetitive work, staff can be freed up to pro vide a more imaginative and personal service to customers – or simply to make their days a little easier. For example, the Shifts app inMicrosoftTeams helps retail managers quickly create, update and manage store associate shift schedules, and message people individually or together, while also making it easy for staff to see rotas and make requests. Meanwhile the Bookings feature can automate customer appointment scheduling and management while the Planner feature can help organise teamworkwith visual task management.

To remain competitive in 2023, retail leaders should prioritise their employees’ wellbeing and engagement to unlock the positive cus tomer experience that will differentiate them.”

Many retailers will be pleased with 2022’s Christmas performance, which saw sales rise 3.1% compared to the festive period of 2021, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG. As Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive of the BRC has said: “After an exceptionally challenging year which saw inflation climb and consumer con fidence plummet, the uptick in spending over Christmas gave many retailers cause for cheer.” However, with growth remaining below infla tion, retail leaders would be forgiven for eyeing with caution a challenging year ahead. To pro tect margins this year, cost management will be an essential ingredient for success. And with expectations of a personalised customer service continuing to grow, retail leaders will need to innovate and transform how they engage cus tomers to deliver quality experiences for less. At the heart of this is people. A physical retail experience is only as good as the people who are delivering it – the store associates. Retailers should ask themselves if their frontline work force is supported, engaged and equippedwith the tools and flexibility needed to deliver the service that customers expect.

Culture connection Most frontline retail workers told us they feel that leadership does not prioritise building workplace culture. 2020 brought many frontline retail workers closer together as they valiantly kept local services and commerce running through the pandemic, but it’s vital to help people feel connected to thewider organisation too. Especially as ‘head office’ staff are now likely to be dispersed in a hybridworking model. An integrated employee experience plat form can help centralise key information and resources. It gives associates a bridge into your organisation’s caring culture, direct access to daily support, and a place to be publicly rec ognised by leadership. One organisation utilising technology to better connect management and frontline workers is British retailer Marks and Spencer , which has provided store managers with a Surface Go – a portable touchscreen 2-in-1 PC – so they have all the information they need at their finger tips, including sales reports and back-of-store inventories, giving them more time to spend supporting store associates and responding to customer demand.

‘‘

Don’t ask, ‘What hap pens if I train them and they leave?’, ask ‘What if I don’t train them and they stay?”