Putting Your People First This Peak Season with Smarter Retail Tech…
Whether it’s freight & potential wage increases, the shortage of HGV drivers or simply the challenges of recruiting & upskilling enough people to staff warehouses & stores, supply chains have never been more topical or talked about than they are right now today.
With retailers gearing up for their busiest period of trading & already battling a number of external headwinds (more so than simply the effects of the pandemic), this year’s peak season feels like it will likely be more stressed, for more brands, than ever before.
Beyond the material challenges being spoken about, however, there is also a welcome shift underway in softer messaging about the increasing value of managing employee well-being & engagement through periods of extended (& often excessive) stress like peak season.
The reality of the situation many retailers find themselves in is this. At a time when many have only just managed to weather the storm presented by the pandemic (successfully pivoting to new processes, methods of customer communications & fulfilment strategies to cope with shifting consumer demands), they now face the rude reality that many of their workforces are mentally & physically exhausted by a ‘peak season’ environment that has essentially lasted 18 months, especially in warehouse operations.
If yearly sales targets are to be met then it’s not just supply chain processes that need to be effective, it’s the people who make the processes work that need to be considered far more too. Whether it’s warehouse employees or front of house store associates, much of the pressure of peak season 2021 (& ultimately the annual success of retailers) rests on the shoulders of these individuals.
Without wanting to continually look back, there are two key learnings we should take from the pandemic: first, the need for scalable & agile technology is the key to navigating fast-paced, changeable industry landscapes. And, secondly, for all the smart technology you might have in place within your supply chain network, it is ultimately, people, that power businesses & commerce.
Employee engagement in warehouse settings has received well-deserved media attention in recent months. The challenges faced during the pandemic have shown the importance of empathy & understanding the worries & anxieties of individual workers. They also highlighted the risks warehouse workers continue to take every day in order to make sure we, the consumer, still get what we want to be delivered to our door when we want it.
This surge in ecommerce over the last 18 months (& indeed its continued popularity) quickly highlighted the importance of productivity & an engaged, committed & healthy workforce. Having a loyal & engaged workforce is key to business success, but also crucially it’s key to employee well-being too.
Achieving a happier, more engaged workforce requires more than simply reviewing performance data & rewarding high-performers. Increased expectations for fulfilment speed & volume are driving organisations to better understand & engage their workforce to differentiate & excel.
Manhattan Active WM uses gamification theory & behavioural sciences to revolutionise warehouse labour management, with a focus on providing a more individual & rewarding work experience.
The result. A warehouse environment that helps promote employee productivity, satisfaction, well-being & reduces turnover too.
Managing a work-life tech balance is going to be critically important during this peak season too. Advances in consumer technology are bleeding into the business world, meaning enterprises are under increasing pressure to keep pace with the consumer market when it comes to user experience & innovation. Using outdated, archaic technology is a sure-fire way to exasperate your workforce & cause them unnecessary stress.
Warehouse employees & front of house store associates expect to be able to use the technology they are accustomed to in their personal lives, in their working space too.
This means having instant access to accurate information (such as in-store & online inventory, customer records or even social media purchasing & browsing trends), using technology that can connect them to other team members & having user-friendly operating systems that are intuitive & easy to get to grips with.
To switch from the back-end (warehouses) to front of house (stores) for a moment; ensuring a store Point of Sale (POS) solution is capable of handling orders & sales, managing inventory & customer-facing functionality (including loyalty, promotions or clienteling) will help retail associates both at the sales desks & in-flight on the shop floor stay ahead of trends, regardless of what might happen in future to shape them.
However, it will also arm the in-store associates with the information they need to provide a seamless customer experience for shoppers. And, as anyone who has ever worked in a high-street store over Christmas will know, being able to have accurate, real-time, information on hand to deal with customer requests makes life 100% less stressful!
The pandemic has provided individuals & organisations with an opportunity to rethink priorities & in many cases it has also afforded them the chance to reset what is truly important to them: whether it’s a greater emphasis on sustainability or a newfound appreciation of the true value & importance of people to organisations, there have been silver linings to the clouds of the last 18 months.
It is clear that options such as pick & ship from store, Click & Collect & micro-fulfilment are no longer nice to have options, they are critical areas of a brand’s ability to meet peak (& regular) seasonal challenges & people are key to the success of these capabilities.
As retailers continue to focus on remodelling the store, decentralising fulfilment & managing direct-to-consumer requests, having an omnichannel proposition capable of managing an effective decentralised fulfilment network is now critical like never before.
Let us hope that with the use of smarter supply chain & retail technology (tempered in the heat of the pandemic), that peak season 2021 will see more emphasis placed on enabling, empowering & looking after the well-being of those people in warehouses & stores around the globe who continue to keep life & commerce running for us all.
