Dive Brief:
- In the fight to maintain brick-and-mortar stores, Bloomingdale's has retooled its employee training program to give staffers more time to work with customers, FierceRetail reports.
- A six-year partnership with e-learning provider Axonify has led the retailer to reshape specific training into short segments. "By taking this approach, we could see the reduction in accidents in stores and quickly determined that stores with a higher percentage of participation had better performance," Chad McIntosh, Bloomingdale's VP and associate of protection and risk management told FierceRetail.
- In 2017, retailers spent over $700 per employee on training —about $130 billion — but the results aren’t being felt by consumers, FierceRetail says.
Dive Insight:
As online shopping continues to pressure traditional stores, driving staff reductions and store closures, traditional retailers have had to double down on providing value-added services, like product knowledge, assistance and customer care via their brick-and-mortar store employees.
Retailers are also feeling the stress of competition for talent as unemployment hits record lows and turnover hits highs. To attract and retain competent staff, employers are offering more benefits and higher wages than ever, but employees expect more. A majority expect training and guidance will be part and parcel of their employment, and retailers are taking heed. Studies show decreased staffing levels increase the risk of losing customers and sales.
