Retail retailer administration isn’t easy, and whenever you broaden right into a multi location enterprise, issues can get much more sophisticated.
Any enterprise that wishes to develop and scale must have some stable processes for ensuring day-to-day operations run easily. On this article, we’re going to discover some ideas that will help you handle a number of retail retailer places. You’ll hear retailers and consultants speak about:
Tips on how to survive and thrive as a multi-location retailer
Learn this information to get the 5 methods profitable multi location companies are utilizing to function effectively and scale their companies.
1. Standardize your operations
One method to efficiently handle a number of retail retailer places is to make use of the identical commonplace working process throughout all of your shops, suggests Olivia Tan, Co-Founding father of Singapore-based CocoFax, an internet fax answer supplier.
“Ensure that your whole retailer operations are working easily, although you’re unable to be straight current to observe every retailer on the similar time,” mentioned Tan.
The procedures utilized at every of your shops may cowl actions reminiscent of:
Buyer criticism dealing with
Discounting and promotions
Workers rosters and schedules
The product returns system
Buyer communication
Buyer expertise.
Consider us, the extra places you might have, the extra grateful you’ll be for having these commonplace working processes in place.
2. Rent nice retailer staff
Skilled and dependable employees are one other must-have.
“Rent individuals you possibly can belief to signify you managing your retail shops. Ensure that all of your staff are competent and capable of work professionally. Periodic coaching is necessary to enhance your staff’ expertise, particularly for many who deal with prospects straight day-after-day,” mentioned Tan.
Give choice to staff with a capability to be skilled and well mannered beneath any circumstances. Competence is a trait you need to at all times search for too.
Present your staff with the correct coaching too, as you can not handle a number of shops directly. Your staff want to know your objectives and in return that you must preserve them comfortable.“I consider that in the event that they’re feeling good in regards to the firm, then they’re going to stick with me a very long time,” says Janet Wright, proprietor of FloorPlay Socks. “I’ve been in enterprise ten years, and I’ve employees who’ve been with me eight years. In order that’s actually necessary to me, as a result of then they construct up a clientele as nicely.”
Take note of your staff’ welfare too. Make sure that they at all times obtain good salaries, incentives and advantages.
The underside line is that it’s unattainable to run a profitable multi-store retail enterprise with out having the correct individuals working alongside you.
3. Talk nicely, talk typically
Operating a number of shops calls for a great method to communication throughout the enterprise too.
Tricia Gustin, Senior Advertising and marketing Director at The Parker Avery Group, mentioned retailers would keep away from frequent approaches like a collection of emails or the ‘weekly bundle’ to your retailer supervisor, who’s then anticipated to distribute data to the employees.
“We’ve seen these strategies in lots of retailers, they usually find yourself as a firehose and extra noise than is manageable. In the end, in these eventualities key messaging will get misplaced, which ends up in downstream impacts to stock, customer support, and staffing,” mentioned Gustin.
As a substitute, Gustin suggests, retailers ought to talk throughout a number of channels with a constant method and cadence. “Individuals soak up data otherwise, and particularly with the quick tempo of retailer operations, counting on a single channel or particular person won’t be as efficient correctly,” she mentioned.
“There are instruments that may assist handle communications and knowledge distribution, reminiscent of Retail Zip Line, that bundle communications into duties, calendaring, assets, surveys, discussions and extra. Outdoors of utilizing a selected device, the hot button is to have a stable plan in place that’s constantly used, employs a number of channels and encourages suggestions,” she mentioned.
4. Use the correct software program and know-how
Sensible know-how and software program proceed to be enormous property for modern-day retailers. Sure, there’s a mind-boggling variety of options and choices on the market, however listed below are just some which may be useful to managing a number of retail shops.
Ecommerce software program
Many retailers struggled to discover a method to create an ecommerce presence, when prospects first couldn’t go to shops at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s by no means too late to arrange a great on-line retailer to help a retail enterprise with a number of places. Whereas there are standalone ecommerce platform suppliers, if you wish to run a really environment friendly enterprise, search for POS techniques that provide ecommerce performance. This lets you sync on-line and in-store exercise throughout your whole places with one platform.
Advertising and marketing software program
You already know that you must construct a powerful relationship with prospects throughout your whole shops. So once they’re not in considered one of your shops, they’re nonetheless listening to from you. Advertising and marketing automation software program can assist you do that. And you should utilize advertising and marketing automation for far more than promoting to your prospects. Why do you have to keep up a correspondence? Properly, the following time they’re prepared to purchase, you need your retailer to be prime of thoughts. The fitting software program may even enable you monitor what content material and gives your prospects are keen on, so you possibly can attain them with the correct message on the proper time.
POS software program
The extra you develop, the extra you’re going to want the correct know-how and software program to remain on prime of key retail metrics and actions throughout each single location. Modernizing your POS setup is the neatest first step. Firms like Lightspeed can assist you discover the correct point-of-sale setup for a lot of various kinds of multiple-location retail companies. Whether or not you’re working in retail franchise enterprise, a series division retailer, or a small-town retailer trying to experiment with pop-ups or out of doors markets. With counter and cell POS terminals that sync to your accounting software program, your gross sales assistants can settle for a variety of fee strategies throughout each location.
As you look extra deeply into POS techniques to help your varied places, different issues to contemplate embrace:
Migrating to the cloud. “Not solely will you lower your expenses from the necessity to obtain apps to your laptop {hardware}, it makes plenty of processes seamless,” mentioned Ian Sells, Co-Founder and CEO of Rebate Key. “In case your retail shops are branches of the identical model, it’s finest to have a cloud that comprises essential recordsdata, stock, and processes. This permits everybody easy accessibility to necessary information. This additionally permits straightforward information-sharing,” he mentioned.
Automating your stock. “Having varied shops implies that it may be difficult to maintain monitor of stock manually, mentioned Stephen Mills, the co-owner and CMO of Nolah Mattress. “It’s attainable, however it’s too labor-intensive. The standard approach is to rent a devoted employees to maintain monitor of all the pieces, however doing so shouldn’t be cost-efficient and is vulnerable to human error.” Investing in a list administration system, like a POS system, solves all of those points. The most effective half is that this software program helps companies keep ample inventory ranges throughout all shops. When sure objects fall beneath the brink, it informs the employees that they should replenish them, making certain that they’re at all times in inventory.
5. Get severe about retailer safety
Safety has at all times been necessary for retail retailer homeowners.
The pandemic has led many retailers to enhance their safety administration, as thieves appeared to benefit from shuttered places and quieter cities and cities. A latest report confirmed a 3rd of companies wish to improve their safety administration.
Sensible know-how and safety integrations can assist retailers handle a number of places whereas bettering their shops’ efficiency. Think about the next on your shops:
Sensible safety cameras: Video cameras are vital for surveillance they usually can be used for reside look-ins, entry management, and out-of-hours deliveries.
Retailer entry management: Cameras can be utilized alongside different good know-how like entry management. Retail retailer homeowners can use cameras to determine acquainted individuals like supply personnel or staff to unlock doorways remotely. Keycards and swipes also can enhance safety throughout your shops.
Distant supply monitoring: Use good cameras to trace deliveries and guarantee anticipated deliveries arrive safely and on time.
Sensible lighting and vitality: With good thermostats and lighting, homeowners can handle vitality utilization at a number of places. For instance, your retailer managers can set your lighting and thermostat to match open and shut hours and decrease the usage of vitality from these units whereas the shop is empty.
“Video surveillance now contains superior enterprise analytics that may assist small companies monitor issues like queue monitoring to make sure prospects will not be saved ready for service, people-counting to find out the variety of prospects who buy, foot site visitors to assist employees appropriately for key gross sales peaks, and even warmth maps for alternatives to enhance merchandising,” mentioned Ohad Zeira, Vice President of Small Enterprise for safety supplier ADT.
6. Unite your enterprise, however don’t confuse it
In a multi-location retail enterprise, that you must strike a stability between transparency and visibility, and performance. Making an attempt to silo places away from one another means sacrificing the large image of what’s occurring, however completely open entry causes its open issues.
“We had conditions the place anyone in San Francisco would unintentionally be messing with the stock in Chicago,” says Wendell Ray, International Retail Supervisor at Lighthouse Immersive. “After which we’re coping with the extra headache and staffing expenses of getting to have two completely different companies now do full scale stock counts.”
For Lighthouse Immersive, the reply was to modify to Lightspeed and make use of tiered entry permissions. Which means HQ can see all the pieces, however staff assigned to 1 retailer can’t unintentionally mess with different places.
To get visibility with out opening your enterprise as much as chaos, implement centralized platforms that consolidate information from all places whereas providing you with the flexibleness to outline who can see and modify that information.
7. Conduct common high quality management audits
Common audits and inspections function important parts in making certain constant high quality management throughout a number of retail places. Use a commerce platform that tracks occasion logs so you possibly can sustain with each location with out including additional work to your managers’ plates.
“My favourite, favourite, favourite factor with Lightspeed is the occasion logs,” says Wendell for Lighthouse Immersive. “When you get the dangle of it, it’s so great as a result of I can at all times inform if one thing goes incorrect, the place we went incorrect. I can see [if] this worker’s title is arising fairly steadily, or I can see that that is an space of alternative for this retailer. So then we hop on a name with that location. I’m a agency believer that numbers don’t lie.”
Conducting routine audits and inspections isn’t solely about discovering faults; it’s a proactive measure to make sure ongoing enchancment and consistency in operations.
“I can have a look at if each workflow has a time stamp on it. So I can use that to find out our firm common for the way lengthy a course of takes, whether or not or not it’s a list depend, whether or not or not it’s our common transaction time from begin to end on the register, all the pieces has a time stamp,” explains Wendell.
Overview occasion logs and different information on a quarterly foundation to find out a benchmark of efficiency for your complete firm, and to pinpoint places which may want additional steerage for high quality assurance.
8. Observe key efficiency indicators (KPIs) to evaluate and enhance every location’s efficiency
Monitoring efficiency as a complete will cowl up blind spots in your enterprise. Monitoring efficiency metrics by location helps reveal if any shops are doing higher or worse than others, and alerts you to variations in regional markets.
“One thing that we’ve realized is, particularly within the US, each metropolis would possibly as nicely be its personal nation. The developments we see in several cities are stunning,” says Wendell of Lighthouse Immersive. You realize, even Texas, we had three completely different cities. We had Houston, Dallas and San Antonio opened there, and the merchandise developments and the shopper developments, polar opposites in each single considered one of them.”
Slightly than relying solely on subjective assessments, choices concerning advertising and marketing methods, staffing and stock administration needs to be based mostly on concrete efficiency information. Metrics tracked per location can embrace gross sales figures, foot site visitors, conversion charges, common transaction worth, buyer satisfaction scores, stock turnover, gross sales by sub-category and extra.
However you don’t wish to lose hours to gathering that information—you’re higher off spending that point on technique. To make monitoring information straightforward, use an built-in reporting system like Lightspeed Superior Reporting.
“It’s actually nice to have such intuitive reporting, as a result of it makes it really easy for us to in a short time see these developments and get forward of them. You realize, moderately than spending hours and hours and hours on spreadsheets making an attempt to determine all of it out for ourselves,” add Wendell.
Staying on prime of a number of retail places
Including a number of places to your retail enterprise is one thing you will be very pleased with. It means your enterprise is rising, opening itself as much as larger foot site visitors, and reaching extra alternatives to bolster your gross sales and income.
Searching for software program that will help you streamline in-store purchases throughout each considered one of your places? Discuss to considered one of our retail consultants to see how Lightspeed can assist to ignite the potential of your multi-location retail enterprise.
