STORES Magazine - March 2009 - (Page 89)

CONSIDER THIS / POINT OF VIEW Stores Adopting Warehouse Best Practices BY NOEL GOGGIN In today’s difficult economic environment, retailers might not consider the warehouse to be a source of inspiration for the sales floor. But store owners are looking at myriad options to improve customer satisfaction, operational efficiency and the bottom line. Here are four ways that retailers are borrowing from the warehouse to improve the storefront-stockroom relationship: Noel Goggin is vice president of store execution management for RedPrairie. Voice technology Sales associates at several Gap, Williams-Sonoma and Best Buy stores have adopted voice systems to maximize the touch points with customers and increase up-sell opportunities. Employees in these stores now use software and equipment similar to that used in the warehouse to quickly and easily assist customers and management. Some of the retail-tailored uses for voice recognition include: • Instantly informing associates of the location of merchandise on the floor • Tallying and reporting on-hand inventory in both the front and back rooms • Improving data integrity and real-time capabilities The system directly addresses the concerns retailers have in attempting to forecast consumer demand. Instead of halfblindly predicting the needs of the future, voice technology allows for immediate customer response. Labor Standards It’s common knowledge among retailers that running an efficient distribution center relies on informed logistical methods and goals. It now seems that managers are beginning to utilize similar tactics among workers in their stores, mandating everyday use of more specific and uniform procedures to increase workforce efficiency. Examples include, but are not limited to, specific instructions and timelines for: • Organizing merchandise on display • Checking out a customer at the counter • Stocking a shelf • Executing a new promotion Store managers track how long it takes employees to fold a sweater, hang a jacket or return a pair of jeans from the dressing room; many companies are now analyzing these remedial tasks in the same way warehouse management tends to review loading and logistical procedures. This also helps headquarters evaluate labor costs for a promotion while calculating ROI goals. WWW.STORES.ORG Architecture Store architecture is beginning to resemble the distribution center. Home improvement centers and large discount superstores may come to mind when you think of “warehouse style,” but retailers with much smaller store footprints also are adopting some stocking and storing techniques from warehouses. By creating store-specific formats and offering direct-tostore delivery from manufacturers, these companies have made a number of improvements for customers, including: • Lowering the cost of goods • Improving shopping efficiency • Keeping shelves stocked at all hours The introduction of product-locator technologies also makes it easier for consumers from different regions to locate products on their own, quickly and easily, simply because the store’s environment is better planned. Shipping In the past, store managers typically limited the number of floor resets to twice- or thrice-yearly efforts. However, as SKU proliferation continues to expand the number and volume of products owners deal with each day, smaller resets have become increasingly commonplace, occurring as often as once every month. To deal with this increasing volume of new-product flow and floor congestion, retailers are moving labor to the warehouse by creating more store-friendly shipping. They accomplished this by packaging shipments with the store in mind. Examples include: • Pre-hanging or pre-arranging new merchandise • Organizing products on the pallet consistent with the order they need to be picked up and put on the shelf • Assembling signs and fixtures and packing those point-ofpurchase materials in the same box with the merchandise • Sizing boxes or containers to be unpacked and staged in a half-hour time period Consolidating warehouse and retail operations helps leading retailers increase store efficiency, but the real rewards come from supply chain advancements, and a tighter bond between the stockroom and the sales floor. STORES / MARCH 2009 89 http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - March 2009

STORES Magazine - March 2009 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Movers and Spenders What Shoppers Think Take Your Laundry Online 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Luxury for Less Q & A CONCEPT2WATCH Checkout Management Online Entrepreneurs Sustainability POS Online Strategy Online Scheduling SaaS Online Marketing Merchandise Security PCI Compliance LPinformation Supplier Directory Exception Reporting Industry Perspective Theft Research LOEB Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar End Cap

STORES Magazine - March 2009

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