Tech Bytes: Want to succeed this holiday season? Build up the ‘team’

Clearly, Cyber Week’s promotions helped to produce record-breaking sales — but discounts alone won’t drive success this holiday season.



Let’s face it — even the best deals won’t matter if a retailer doesn’t have those highly-coveted Hatchimals or wireless Dr. Dre Beats in-stock and ready to be shipped in record-time. This battle will be won with a focused staff that is trained and ready to handle an onslaught of incoming orders; respond to customer questions and efficiently fulfill orders.



With only 20 shopping days until Christmas, retailers need to make sure their associates are wearing their holiday game-faces — whether they are in front of the customer at store-level, or behind the scenes in call centers or warehouses. Need some help boosting employee strategies? Here’s a few suggestions:



• Merge the human element with automation. Companies like Amazon and Hudson’s Bay Co. are leveraging automation and robots to optimize logistics this holiday season. However, associates must still remain on their game, ready to scan items, and place robot-managed merchandise into their correct fulfillment totes or respective trailers for shipment out of the warehouse.



No matter how automated a distribution center becomes, there needs to be a “relationship” between robots and associates to ensure tasks stay on point, slash processing time, and improve productivity.



• Arm associates with “updated” smart devices. The National Retail Federation reported that 40% of Thanksgiving weekend shoppers visited physical stores — a fact that proves the store experience is more important than ever. While many chains are arming customer-facing employees with smart devices, a means of empowering associates to complete the shopper’s transaction anywhere in the store, device functionality needs to be just as easy.



For T-Mobile, that meant “millennializing” applications, Scott Doppke, the company’s senior manager, workforce management sales operations said at the KronosWorks 2016 User Conference. One area of focus was its workforce management app. Besides transitioning its app to support HTML5 and Flash, the platform also features a social media “feel” to streamline productivity.



• Consider a “new crew.” Today’s omnichannel shoppers are comprised of a cross-section of millennials, Generation X’ers and Boomers. If retailers want to best serve these shoppers, their employee teams should be equally diverse, and reflect the population of their shoppers. This is especially important during the holidays when retailers are ramping up seasonal hiring efforts by the thousands across all positions, including store-level, distribution and digital fulfillment centers, as well as call centers.



With plenty of time left to drive holiday sales, retailers are eager to connect with as many shoppers as possible. Instead of focusing on the next big discount, invest more time in employee strategies. Trust me, this will help the winners rise to the top.