When retail managers face labor shortages, they cannot simply ask fewer employees to work harder; they must fundamentally rethink their store operating model. This means streamlining low-value tasks that don't directly serve customers and leveraging technology to improve employee efficiency.
Automate the Boring Stuff
Your employees probably spend hours each week on things that don't actually make the customer experience better. Changing price tags takes a lot of time. Walking to the back to check what's in stock wastes time. Counting products by hand for inventory takes people away from helping customers buy things.
With electronic shelf labels, you don't have to change prices manually anymore. When you update a price in your system, all the displays change automatically at every store. What used to take hours now takes seconds. Your team can then focus on helping customers, making the store look nice, and increasing sales.
The time savings really add up when you have sales. Usually, retailers have to schedule extra staff just to put up signs for weekend sales. But with automated systems, you can run sales without needing more people. You can start flash sales, change prices based on how much stuff you have, and react to what competitors are doing without taking staff away from other jobs.
Make Your Store Layout Work for You
How you set up your store directly impacts how much work your employees have to do. Old-fashioned layouts often mean staff walk way too much during their shifts. When products aren't organized well, employees spend a lot of time answering the same questions over and over. Messy stockrooms also make it harder to get inventory.
Figure out how your staff moves around during a typical shift. See where they're walking more than they should and fix that with layout changes. Put popular items in easy-to-reach spots. Organize products into clear sections so customers can find what they need on their own. Use signs to point people in the right direction and answer basic questions without needing staff help.
Put up digital displays around the store with directions, what type of products are in each area, and any special deals. This allows customers to find the products they need more quickly and also saves employees' time.
Add Self-Service Choices
More and more, customers like to take care of easy stuff on their own. Self-checkout tech has gotten way better. Now, these systems can handle hard payments, take different payment methods, and point out problems that need a worker's help.
This way, you don't need as many checkout workers but still keep service good. Workers can walk around the self-checkout areas, helping people when they need it and watching for problems. One worker can watch over four to six checkout spots, which used to need their own cashiers.
Self-service is good for more than just checkout. Touch screen displays let people look up product details, compare choices, and see more stock without hunting down a worker. Phone apps let people scan items for info, reviews, and if they're in stock at other stores. Every time someone helps themselves, it means less work for your staff.
Better Task Assignment and Schedules
You can't have too many people when it's slow or not enough when it's busy. Data programs can track how many people are in the store, how many payments are happening, and how long tasks take to make the best schedules.
Match worker skills to what they're doing. Your best sales people should spend more time with customers. People with less training can do easier stuff while they learn how to do harder jobs.
Job management systems send out work during the day based on what's important and how many workers are free. When things are calm, workers can do stocktaking, update displays, and keep the store clean. When more customers come in, the system changes priorities to helping customers.
Move Tasks Away From Stores
A lot of jobs usually done at each store can be handled by a central team. Things like deciding prices, planning sales, ordering stock, and making staff schedules don't need to happen in the store itself.
Regional or head office teams can manage pricing and send changes using computers. Store managers can get ready-made schedules instead of creating them themselves. Also, computer systems can order stock automatically based on sales and how much is on hand.
Doing things this way means you don't need as many highly skilled people in each store. If the main decisions are made centrally and the store just follows simple plans, you won't need as many experienced managers.
Put Money into Tools That Help Employees Work Better
Mobile devices really change how well employees do their jobs. People with tablets or smartphones can get to stock info, handle sales, talk to coworkers, and fill out forms right on the spot.
Someone helping a customer can easily see if something's in stock, set up home shipping, and finish the sale without going to a computer. Customers get better service, and employees get more done each day.
Mobile apps for managing tasks show employees what to do, ranked by importance and due date. Workers can get through their work without waiting for instructions or wondering what to do next.
Keep Track and Keep Improving
Looking at how well people work helps you make things better. Keep an eye on sales per hour, tasks done per shift, and customer chats per employee. Find out where things are slow or not working well by using data, not just guessing.
Try out changes in a few stores before rolling them out everywhere. See how they affect productivity, customer happiness, and sales. Keep what works and ditch what doesn't.
Create a Way of Working That Lasts
Stores need to figure out how to run things well even with fewer people. Tech investments that seemed optional are now a way to get ahead. Stores that are set up to use labor well do better than those still using old ways.
Modern store tech, like electronic shelf labels and digital displays, is a base for running things with less labor. These things make routine tasks automatic, help the staff that's left do better, and keep service good even with fewer people. Store managers should be thinking about how soon they can put in systems to keep their stores running smoothly, no matter how many people are working.
