Facilities Management Trends
Downsized facilities management departments. Projects that reduce maintenance and operating costs. Store refreshes as opposed to costly remodels. Mandy Rennehan of Freshco Retail Maintenance spoke with Chain Store Age about how changes in retail facilities management are impacting retailers.
What trends are you seeing with regard to store retrofits and remodels?
One trend we are seeing is improvements designed to reduce maintenance and operating costs, such as more energy-efficient lighting and lower-cost flooring solutions, such as synthetic flooring versus hardwood and polished concrete versus epoxy installation.
Another trend is the rise of quick, under-$250,000 projects that create an improved in-store experience. This can be as simple as paint and refreshes of the cash area and fitting rooms to larger full bathroom and breakroom remodels. It is apparent that investing money in the staff areas has shown a positive ROI, as these improvements funnel down to the customer experience, ensuring a higher quality of customer service.
How can retailers get the biggest bang for their buck in updating the look of their stores?
Have the facilities management team work closely with store design and construction management throughout the planning process. Facility management teams (internal or external) track the performance of all fixed assets — and they know the performance of products and the impact of installation processes. They are invaluable in that discussion on cost/benefit trade-offs for both the short- and long-term for a lower total cost of ownership.
How does Freshco help retailers spruce up their stores?
Freshco has a strong team of project managers that take the worry out of execution. They work directly with store management to plan the execution and are on-site every evening from the time the store closes, supervising the work, dealing with unforeseen issues, and making sure everything is clean and back in place for store opening.
Are retailers downsizing their facilities departments?
This continues to be the case due to advances in technology and companies looking for more streamlined organizational structures. The industry is becoming so specialized that outsourcing trade-specific expertise makes more financial sense compared with having an in-house expert for every trade that is required to maintain a store.
What’s been the impact of reduced in-house resources on retail facility managers?
The biggest impact has been felt by smaller retail brands. The workload on these facility managers has grown immensely, resulting in slower turnaround times on store requests and fewer on-site visits. To maintain a high level of service, these facility managers are turning to a proactive facilities management partner to be their eyes and ears. These brands have built processes and controls so that their facility management partner can act quickly to address work in a timely, cost-effective manner.
What questions should retailers ask when judging their facilities vendors?
In addition to price, the retailer should make five key inquiries:
• Does the vendor have the bandwidth and financial resources to meet your brand’s needs?
• What is the firm’s reputation throughout the industry — what do others say?
• How many clients has the company won and lost in the past five years?
• Does the company have experience with your work order management and AP system?
• What do sub-contractors say about this vendor?
What services does Freshco offer in facilities management?
We offer a customized management model based on the needs of the retailer. We use specialized trade coordinators for on-demand maintenance and our own in-house project managers for remodels and retrofits. All our front-line employees report to seasoned account managers who have oversight to each account, which includes live audits and insurance of delivery on each retailer’s scorecard requirements.
How do you keep tabs on your sub-contractors?
We run the same processes for our in-house technicians and our sub-contractors. We constantly compare the performance between the two groups and up-train to best practices. All onsite work is tracked via a daily report with before and after picture of the jobs being worked, a virtual sign-off sheet following a final walk with the store managers, random telephone audits to store managers and random site visits by account managers.