FILL THOSE FLOORS, FILL THOSE FLOORS, FILL THOSE FLOORS!
Did I mention fill those floors? The most important key to winning in the last 2 weeks of holiday is to have full salesfloors. The customer will buy what you have if you just put it out for them to shop. The last 10 days before Christmas and the 4 or 5 days after Christmas demand a merchant headset on your leadership team. Driving sales can be as simple as having it on the floor in a shoppable way.
EVERY DAY must include a thorough walk through of your stockrooms and salesfloors. With either a team, paper in hand, and/or a walkie to communicate immediate action, take stock of what you do own and map out where to adjust your presentations as needed to get more, if not all, of your product on the salesfloor. DID I MENTION YOU SHOULD DO THIS EVERYDAY?
With the velocity of units flying out the doors now, constant adjustments are necessary to keep a great looking presentation for your customer to shop. Every retail company has some brilliant buyers and merchants; however, they will never purchase enough of all the right sizes, colors, styles and will clearly purchase too much of some items. Most of these items were purchased up to a year ago and they could only make educated guesses and forecasts on what would and would not sell at this time. In addition, clearly there are differences from store to store even just a mile away so one store could have plenty of an item that the store down the street is completely sold out of. Corporate presentation direction could never address all of these issues so all store leadership teams must OWN this everyday. Stores that wait for direction from their corporate visual teams or their District Managers will LOSE sales. Move, move, move! This is a call to action for you to make business happen by filling those floors in a thoughtful and fast way.
District Managers! I know you would love to be able to guide this process in all of your stores right now but clearly you can not be in all your locations everyday. With today’s technology, you do not have to be there to make a difference. Tap into Skype, pictures, and video to see what’s happening on the floors and make decisions with the leadership teams on how to maximize their salesfloors. Think outside of your normal routine to make an impact on your business.
FILL THE FLOORS PEOPLE! AND SEIZE HOLIDAY SHOPPER’S DOLLARS!
Here is my recovery strategy that I shared during Back to School. I thought it deserved repeating at this crazy time. If you have great ideas to share with our DVD community on filling the floor or recovery, hit comment at the end of the article and share!
SALESFLOOR RECOVERY STRATEGY
The following are the behaviors that need to happen throughout the day as part of the recovery strategy:
- “Own your zone” mentality. When checking in the staff, the MOD needs to give a detailed expectation of what they need to do in their zone when not selling to the customer. During the day the MOD should frequently ask, “are you proud of how your zone looks right now?” All staff must be checked out of their zone to reinforce this behavior.
- Headsets. Use the headset to communicate to the stock team in the backroom to pull merchandise for zones. Teach the staff to utilize teammates on the stock team so that they do not have to leave their zone to achieve replenishment.
- Managers. Part of being an effective MOD is to direct replenishment as needed while doing figure eights and holding the staff accountable for owning their zones. In addition, the opening manager should leave the store in good condition for the closing manager and the closing manager must leave the store in great condition for the next day’s business and opening manager. TEAMWORK!
- Reports. Utilize any reports available to help with efficient replenishment. Utilize these reports to prioritize the incoming shipment to replenish key items and product that is extremely low on the salesfloor FIRST! Work with your stock team to push key items and low stock items straight to the floor.
- Folding. Teach staff how and when to fast fold or improve the presentation to 90% instead of 100%. Sometimes the velocity is just so fast that having a folding board or perfect display of boxed items on the salesfloor is not recommended or practical until a lull in the business flow.
Here are the action steps to implement this ontime recovery strategy:
THE RECOVERY TEAM’S MISSION AND ACTION PLAN:
- The team must work as a unit, starting in the front of the store and making their way to the back of the store in a wave. The team will then work from the back of the store to the front on the other side. Once a horseshoe is completed, the team begins again. The team will decide who stocks and who straightens so that no details are missed.
- The team working from 1 to 4 pm will be directed to replenish and keep the sales floor clean and shoppable. Filling and fast folding is key.
- The team scheduled from 7 to 10 pm will fill the floor to perfection, rework fixtures, make substitutions and merchandising adjustments, and clean. They are the “CLOSE TO OPEN” SQUAD.
- The team must never be pulled for other duties for the mission to succeed. The only allowance to veer from this mission is a CUSTOMER! They absolutely can and should sell to someone in the zone they are working in.
- Each store will have to “own their business” with this program. Start the program with fewer people than you think you need. They will probably surprise you with their endurance and speed. You may have to adjust the time frames due to local business trends.
- The store manager must hire to these shifts. It can not be executed without availability in these time frames.
- The recovery team will report to the mid-shift or closing manager. The MOD runs the salesfloor and any additional managers on duty should lead the recovery team.
- The fitting rooms and cash wrap are part of the program. The recovery team is responsible for cleaning up go-backs and returns at the cash wrap. This should be done hourly starting at the beginning of the recovery shift.
- Pick up trash! Busy days create a lot of trash and paper stuff on the floors. The recovery team is responsible for cleaning up the floors in each zone as they work it.
- PACE is key to this strategy! This teams needs to move in high gear.
Here is a sample chart for scheduling. The recovery team’s hours should represent 8 to 12% of total hours scheduled. This chart should fall within most stores payroll guidelines.
|
Forecasted Volume |
Afternoon Team |
Evening Team |
Total Hrs Recovery |
|
$15,000 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
|
$20,000 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
|
$25,000 |
2 |
2 |
12 |
|
$30,000 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
|
$35,000 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
|
$40,000 |
3 |
3 |
18 |
|
$45,000 |
3 |
3 |
18 |
|
$50,000 |
4 |
3 |
21 |
|
$55,000 |
4 |
3 |
21 |
|
$60,000 |
4 |
4 |
24 |
|
$65,000 |
4 |
4 |
24 |
|
$70,000 |
4 |
4 |
24 |
|
$75,000 |
5 |
4 |
27 |
|
$80,000 |
5 |
4 |
27 |
|
$85,000 |
5 |
4 |
27 |
|
$90,000 |
5 |
5 |
30 |
|
$95,000 |
5 |
5 |
30 |
|
$100,000 |
6 |
5 |
33 |
This team IS NOT in lieu of your stock team. They will simply expedite some goods to the floor; however, your stock team should still be executing their plan. The recovery team goals are presentation, shoppability, cleanliness, and replenishment in that order unless you do not have a stock team on that day.
THE PROVEN BIG WINS FROM THIS STRATEGY ARE: Eliminates the need for staying really late after closing, planned late night and overnight recoveries. Protects your payroll and puts staff on the floor while the customers are in the store. Puts the goods back on the salesfloor and in a shoppable position quickly. This is a great use of payroll dollars and delivers big volume days.
Let me know how it works out for you. Seize the peak with great recovery!
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