Christmas is when shoppers tend to spend that little bit more – many will plan their Christmas food shopping expedition down to the last nibble and although stores generally close for only one day, you would think they were closing for a month or more if you stood and watched some of the trolleys of food roll through the checkouts.
It is an exciting yet nervy time for retailers – they cannot relax as the marketplace continues to fight for every hard-earned penny. The opportunities to get things wrong are many yet get everything right and the rewards are significant – it’s not referred to as ‘the golden quarter’ for nothing. The next few days and weeks can make or break even the most established retailer.
Retailers will constantly be asking “Do we have enough stock, have I got too much, have I got my staffing levels right, have we merchandised the shelves effectively, have we got the right promotional material?
With many retailers continuing to launch flash sales, implementing mark-downs and getting the New Year Sale ready before they lock the doors on Xmas Eve, all of this activity needs careful planning, communication, coordinating and execution – Metro is the only solution that offers retailers a complete end-to-end toolset designed by retailers to support this kind of frenetic activity.
Unified Comms replaces ‘out of control’ email with targeted and concise tasks, instructions and information where each message is personalised and delivered in context, accompanied with all the necessary information and knowledge to ensure ‘right-first-time’ compliance.
During Christmas trading, the pace of business demands that no message goes unread or left unactioned. Combine this functionality with our Process toolset and you introduce the ability to add digital checklists for enhanced due diligence with a comprehensive KPI dashboard ensuring your management team can visually see how they are performing across a complete range of performance indicators. Of course, retail is a people business so in order for any of the above to be read, actioned and confirmed we have to consider who is going to do what, where and when.
Our Workforce Management module enables simple and effective control of labour resource to ensure the right service levels are delivered at the right time, in-store. Effective labour management is even more critical than ever in this competitive environment where bricks and mortar operations need to deliver great customer service as a key differentiator.
Planning the perfect Christmas for retailers happens many months before and often involves collaborating with many different departments across the business – thankfully, Metro’s Activity Planner module makes all of this easy. In a competitive retail marketplace, the successful launch of activities into store is essential to ensure a successful shopping experience is maintained for the consumer.
Successful launch of Campaigns, Promotions, Range Reviews and Seasonal changes are critical to the profitability, brand loyalty and image of a retailer. Traditional tools such as email, intranets and spreadsheets are proven inadequate. Using Critical Paths, Activity Planning, Capacity Calculations and Dynamic To-Do Lists enable ‘right first time’ delivery into stores for all retail projects.
With shoppers wanting to spend that little bit extra, make no mistake this is not the time to get the basics wrong. This is especially true when it comes to the shelf edge. Sure, great packaging and merchandising help but it’s the shelf edge ticket and POS signage that do the final selling and this is where Print Controller comes into play.
With the capability to automate the creation and distribution of all sizes of shelf edge material across your stores, the ability to update, change, and replace shelf-advertising material is essential if flash sales, price reductions and special offers are to be effectively communicated. Add the ability to show product imagery, with rich descriptive text that includes ‘reasons to buy’ as well as promoting how your price compares with your competitors, you have at your disposal thousands of ‘silent salesmen’ delivering consistently each compelling offer, sure to delight Christmas shoppers.
If it feels like any of the above is missing from your business, then put RMS on your Christmas list and get in touch by calling 02380 816000 or drop us a line here
Merry Christmas!
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