Labor is Tight, Make Resets Easy
By Cary Child, Software Sales Engineer, MerchLogix
Labor is Tight, Let Planogram Software Do the Heavy Lifting
With a tight labor market, made even tighter by the pandemic and the resulting Great Resignation, retailers are forced to hire workers with little to no retail experience. These individuals can’t be expected to know the basics of retail space planning, such as what a set or reset is, let alone how to complete one quickly and correctly.
But the right planogram software can do the heavy lifting by delivering simple planograms that new associates can learn to read easily and execute quickly.
Let’s explore the situation. Retail has lost millions of employees during the past few years, with 686,000 quitting their retail jobs in November 2021 alone. As a result, retailers must do more with less staff, including fewer in-store associates. When resets are required, these associates must have the inventory, fixtures, and planograms in sync. Then tracking down vital resources is minimized and allows for the focus to be on completing the resets in a fraction of the time.
The key to ensuring associate success (and yours, too!) is foolproof planograms showing how every inch of every store aisle should look. But unlike in the past, when one size fits all, today’s planograms skew toward “one size fits one” and must account for actual store layouts and non-merchandise inventory (e.g., fixtures), as well as shopper demographics.
No more inaccurate planogram assignments leading to jamming products onto shelves that are (and will always be!) too small or leaving products in the backroom because there’s not enough room on store shelves.
Instead, make resets easier and ensure your vision makes it to your store shelves with the help of MerchLogix Planogram. Space planning software for the 21st century gives you and your entire team accurate store-specific planograms that enable you to get a lot more granular—and profitable!
Here are five ways you, your associates, and your bottom line will benefit from modern planogram software:
- Better planograms enable faster and more effective employee training, saving both time and money and increasing compliance and employee productivity.
- Better planograms result in quick wins that create employee pride and set associates up for success. That success helps them feel empowered and drives employee retention.
- Better planograms create consistency, making it easier for employees to work in more than one store without any additional training.
- Better planograms foster two-way communication, ensuring store managers and associates feel seen, heard, and respected. This not only improves morale and drives productivity, but it also increases performance.
- Better planograms give merchandisers confidence that planograms have been executed correctly. No double-checking is necessary. Instead, they can turn their time and attention to other priorities by identifying new vendors, monitoring promotions, or troubleshooting an endcap that isn’t selling.
To learn more about how today’s modern planogram software can make the most of your limited store resources and turn your associates into reset superheroes, contact MerchLogix today.