By Peter Pishko
VP Operations, One Step Retail Solutions
Consumer confidence is up once again, albeit a small increase attributed to the Cash for Clunkers program initiated by the Federal government.
We have gone through all of the hard decisions during the past 12 months, cutting to the bare bones of our organizations, jettisoning some staff and operations that should have been cut from our organization long ago, but also letting go of some talent and expensive endeavors or plans for expansion that in these economic times are not cost effective; all very smart moves for survival, but now where do we go?
The decision to cut staffing levels at our executive levels have made for some grateful employees who are 1) very happy to be employed, 2) loyal employees because the loyalty thing goes both ways, 3) over worked because they are picking up tasks and functions their former colleagues, bosses, underlings used to perform.
Our store level employees have been cut to bare bones, staffing is at a minimum, affecting customer service and loss prevention. One employee reported to me that they have no security in their building on a regular basis, maybe two or three times a week for 6 hours.
The decision to terminate employees is not an easy one; it has been shown that it is often more stressful to let staff go than to actually be the one being let go. Yet our employees carry on and they are asking the same questions we do: where do we go from here?
The defensive moves have been made, but the game is not won on defense alone. Time to return to our playbooks and take a look at the offense and who to put into the game, evaluate the whole playing field. We have survived but the game is not over.
The indication is that it will be years before we see the unprecedented growth we have experienced in the past. Now is the time to revisit the expansion plans we had prior to October 2008, dust them off and review how can we do this now and what changes can I make to this plan to make in work now?
Luxury retailers like Nordstrom's took a strong hit, but their off price stores experienced an increase in sales. Not too soon after this information was broadcast, Macy's announced an initiative to open outlet stores, a great offensive move that will take advantage of the vast real estate holdings left over from the May company merger.
Dillard's is taking similar steps in creating clearance centers to sell off merchandise. There are tremendous short term leasing opportunities that will help expand your brand exposure and sell off merchandise.
Holiday hiring is reported to be at lower level this year in some reports, while others are reporting that seasonal hires will be higher than last year. Whether it is lower or higher, a determination has to be made to make the seasonal hire the best employee we have, and providing this staff with the best product knowledge will result in sales.
"An educated consumer is our best customer" is the catch phrase for Syms, the men's retailer, and our customer is more educated than ever. A customer can walk into your store with an iPhone and get more information on your product offerings and competitive stores from the fitting room. Your holiday hires need to be "Sales People" not just ringing sales.
Basics like units per transaction and average ticket increase are driven by sales peoples not some one simply ringing a sale. Take the offensive and invest in your staff; the returns are immense.
The cuts have been made and made successfully for we are staying alive, but we have to look toward growth, not mere survival, by investing in our staff and our brand.
The questions to ask yourself now are, how can I get more exposure for my brand? How can I sell off clearance? How can I better my employees to meet the coming season? How can I reasonably expand my presence in the marketplace with reasonable expectations on return?
The basic idea that we will return to the heydays of the past needs to be struck from our mind set; we have to move forward and persevere. Using last year's sales as a guideline for this year's sales needs to be set aside for now, with a focus on growing in smaller increments, but growing still.
Take the resources that you have and use them wisely and invest in your current staff and grow them along with your business.
