This week, VoCoVo is attending NRF 2022: Retail’s Big Show. The Big Show is an annual extravaganza that brings together industry leaders from around the world for a three day meeting of the minds in New York City.
As well as being a chance to connect with potential customers, the conference is also a great learning opportunity. NRF is leading a number of sessions, with expert speakers sharing advice on dealing with the biggest challenges of 2022. These sessions are based around five key themes, and one of these caught our attention in particular.
“Operations Overdrive” is a phrase that will resonate with retailers on both sides of the Atlantic. NRF says that these sessions will focus on “How to work smarter, not harder.” This is something that chimes with our own mission statement. We’re sure we’ll learn a great deal from the conference but, in the meantime, here are our own tips for tackling Operations Overdrive.
Less walking, more working
Shop floor colleagues spend a lot of time on their feet, either looking for other colleagues or searching for stock in other departments. This is extremely time consuming, not to mention frustrating. Over a quarter of colleagues say that searching for information is the biggest cause of inefficiency.
What other frustrations do colleagues have? Read our report here:
Our headsets allow colleagues to share information from anywhere in store. Distance is no object, making unnecessary walking a thing of the past:
- Colleagues can find information for customers without leaving their side
- Headsets allow you to contact the stockroom directly to check on orders
- One to one calling lets you speak to a specific colleague without having to search for them
VoCoVo reduces walking distance for each colleague by an average of 1.4km a day. This has a huge effect on efficiency, saving stores up to £442 a week.
Put colleagues where they’re needed most
Customer service desks are important, but manning them at all times is a poor use of resources. Our call points can be placed on these desks instead, allowing colleagues to get on with other jobs between customers. If a customer needs help, they can press the call point to speak to the nearest colleague. Unmanning a single counter in this way can save you almost £600 a week.
Talk and work at the same time
Working on the shop floor often means juggling several tasks at once. Colleagues are effectively “on call” at all times to answer customer questions. This is a vital part of the job, but these interruptions can make it difficult to get anything else done.
VoCoVo solves this problem by allowing colleagues to multitask:
- Hands-free headsets allow you to answer customer queries while continuing to work
- Talk-lock feature means that you can keep a conversation going while performing manual tasks
- Headsets can be linked to your phone system, enabling colleagues to take external calls without leaving the shop floor
This approach can increase task efficiency by 105 minutes a day, saving your store £111 a week. Hopefully we’ll come back from New York with even more tips on working smart in 2022. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to give us a call if you’re struggling with your workload.