Retail Blog

What's so Special about Leap Day?

Do you need to mark Leap Day as a special day in your workforce system?

Trickle Down Effect

Scheduling implications are far reaching, and the fall out from a negative customer experience can take on a viral quality via different social media outlets. But, it's easily overcome with an effective scheduling strategy and system.

My First Workforce Management Discovery: Conversion Rate Modelling

Andrew Gates talks about his UK based retail experiences and how high-end fashion retailers benefited from his conversion modelling approach.

Get The Facts On How Your Workforce Affects Your Customer Experience

Bob Clements shares a preview of Axsium and Empathica's latest consumer based research being released at the NRF 101st Annual Convention & Expo, January 16th in New York.

Analytics and Work Measurement

Using work measurement as a true gauge of productivity.

Today’s Retail Workforce Management: How to Knockout Your Problem with One Punch

Overcoming missed punches.

What does Black Friday represent?

A little history about black friday and what it means for retailers today.

Saturday Morning Labor Standards Lessons

How weekend chores reminded me of some of the common pitfalls that retailers fall into with labor standards.

Paper or Plastic?

We have all heard this question before. While a simple, everyday question, its answer can have a significant impact on labor in your stores.

Today’s Retail Workforce Management: Putting the Sexy Back in WFM

So, how can I help put sexy back in WFM, allow me to explain. In recent weeks I’ve had the luxury of spending time with a number of retailers in an effort to better understand their highest priority strategic goals.

You Want Me To Be More Productive? How Do I work Faster?

How to deal with the "increase productivity" dilemma.

Today’s Retail Workforce Management: It’s Less About the Solution, It’s About How You Use It

A great customer experience is a highly orchestrated journey of actions the retailer makes and reactions the customer has with the goal of maximizing its impact at the time the customer is about to make their decision…the moment of truth. This journey isn’t linear.

Eight Questions to Ask Yourself about Your Labor Model

Axsium workforce modeling practice lead, Kevin Donnelly, discusses the eight key things that every organization should be considering as it relates to their labor model.

Today’s Retail Workforce Management: Beyond Automation and Cost Savings

Recent hire, Andi Needham, Axsium's new global retail practice lead discusses the significant advantages of workforce management and how it directly impacts the customer experience.

How to Use Special Days to Improve Forecast Accuracy

Managing special days in light of forecasting.

Facebook and the WorkPlace

Facebook and workforce management in retail.

DOL Releases Timesheet App for iPhones

The US Department of labor releases an new app for the iPhone enabling employees to track their own time.

Understanding Reporting and Analytics in WFM

This blog post explores the concept of reporting and how different systems address it.

Retail’s Last Mile: The In-Store Customer Experience

Understanding your customer is often the first step to providing the right level of service in the store.

California Meal and Rest Penalties to Cost More

A discussion about a recent California ruling, in early 2011.

Seven Reasons Why WFM Vendor Selection Requirements Can’t Replace Implementation Requirements

Guest blogger, Tayiba Garcia shares insights from large project implementations and the critical importance of requirements in advance of a project.

The Top 5 Reasons Retailers are Not Integrating Task Management with Workforce Management

Guest blogger, Christian Walker, discusses why many retailers have not integrated their workforce management systems with task management.

NRF 2011: The Top Three Workforce Management Trends

Just back from New York, retail blogger Bob Clements shares some interesting insights from this year's Big Show.

Five Steps to Improve Forecast Accuracy

In this latest retail forecasting playbook post, Bob Clements discusses how to improve forecast accuracy in five steps.

Great Scott, Marty! Tomorrow’s Labor Solution will be Integrated!

Guest blogger, Christian Walker, shares some important insights about today's task management solutions.

‘Tis the Season for Workforce Management User Conferences

Bob Clements gives a recap of the fall workforce management user conferences.

KronosWorks Post Conference Thoughts

Just back from the annual KronosWorks user conference, Healthcare Practice Lead, Chris Flanders shares some interesting observations from the show.

Three Rules for Comparing Forecast Accuracy

Latest post from the Retail Forecasting Playbook.

Hard Facts on Workforce Management’s Benefits

Bob Clements discusses Axsium's release of the Workforce Managment Benefits and Satisfaction Survey.

The Absolute Best Way to Measure Forecast Accuracy

Why Finance’s Forecast is Inadequate for Workforce Management

What are Retailers doing with Mobile Workforce Management?

Developing a Solid Forecasting Strategy

On Football and Workforce Management

The Retail Forecasting Playbook

Bob Clements introduces The Retail Labor Forecasting Playbook, to be followed by a series of posts discussing different elements of labor forecasting.

One Metric that Can Justify the Cost of Your Entire WFM Project

Guaranteeing Successful (and Interesting) Scripted Vendor Demonstrations

Last week, I visited a retail client who Axsium is helping with a workforce management vendor selection. They asked me to sit in on the scripted demonstrations with their three finalists.

For some, scripted demos can be as exciting as watching grass grow. However, I love them. Even if I am watching a product that I’m very familiar with, I always enjoy learning more about it’s capabilities and benefits in the context of a particular retailer or retail segment.

Over the years, I’ve learned the one thing that can guarantee a good scripted demo is open communication between participants. This doesn’t guarantee a good fit between the vendor’s capabilities and the retailer’s requirements. Rather, it ensures that both parties get to best conclusion in the fastest time possible, and this is very important.

Scripted demos represent a significant investment for both the retailer and the vendor. Both parties spend considerable time preparing for the scripted demos, and invest considerable dollars assembling their teams (Last week, each vendor brought between 7-9 people and the retailer brought 15-20). Getting to the best conclusion in the fastest time possible helps keep these investments down.

I know that saying “communication is the key” sounds basic. Everybody knows this, right?

You’d be surprised at how frequently I see both sides keep their cards close to the vest. Discussion is discouraged from the retailer’s team to avoid providing one vendor a competitive advantage over its competitors, or because it may hurt future negotiations. Vendors clam-up to avoid saying something that might loose the deal. Unfortunately such constraints hurt everybody.

In a typical scripted demonstration, there is a lot of material to cover. The retailer wants to see a specific set of scenarios that meet critical requirements and/or represent areas of risk. The vendor wants to demonstrate its ability to meet the client’s requirements and differentiate itself from the competition. It is often hard to get through the script in the allotted time.

Open communication helps all around. Tactically, it helps manage the tempo of the demo. It assures that the entire script is covered with emphasis on what’s really important to the retailer.

It also allows the retailer to clarify their requirements and put those requirements in the context of their business. It can be as simple as defining a term that has a unique meaning at the retailer or describing a unique process which may have not translated particularly well into the demo script. In my experience, clarifying remarks are absolutely critical to help vendors focus in on the right functionality or find the right solution to meet a retailer’s need.

Finally, open communication allows the vendor to discuss best practices as it relates to their product, tell stories about how other retailers are using the product, and describe innovative features that not just meet the retailer’s requirements but provide benefit that the retailer could not imagine today.

Good communication helped make last week successful.

The client and the three finalists came in well-prepared. As the demos started, the client started asking questions. These questions focused the vendors on requirements that were particularly important to the client and requirements that the client believed could help distinguish the vendors from each other.

The vendors were quick to answer questions and ask questions of their own in an effort to help better understand the retailer’s environment and unique needs. I would have liked to have heard more client stores and best practices – all the vendors were a little short in this area – but that was a function of a tight agenda than lack of communication.

How do you create this kind of communication? It’s surprisingly easy. If you have a question, ask it. If you need to clarify a requirement, do so.

The biggest roadblock to communication from either the retailer or the vendor is a fear of looking dumb. But as they say, there are no dumb questions. This is especially true for a vendor selection.

So, speak up. It really is that easy.

What does “Flexibility” mean for UK Retailers in an Employers’ Market?

Five Reasons Why Retailers Don’t Use Traffic to Drive Labor

Discussion on the overall impact that traffic has on a workforce management system.

Why You Should Use Traffic as a Labor Driver

Bob Clements comments on the role that traffic plays as a driver for labor.

Practical Retail Workforce Management Help has Arrived

Axsium launches the retail workforce management blog, featuring Bob Clements as the lead contributor.