How leading brands execute programs with inspections, corrective action plans and tasks
Guess what’s costlier than diamonds these days? Acquiring customers in the retail industry. That’s right. The customer acquisition cost in retail has skyrocketed in the last eight years, recording a whopping 222% increase. How did we get here? Among other things, stricter regulations around consumer privacy, the imminent demise of third-party cookies, and the launch … Continue reading 5 Store Operations Best Practices Every Manager Must Implement
Retailers and consumers alike have been facing the brunt of inflation of late. You don’t have to be an expert in economics to see how dramatically the prices of everything — from gas to household essentials — have been rising since the past year. June 2022 recorded an inflation rate of 9.1%, the highest we’ve … Continue reading How to Run a Thriving Retail Business Amidst Economic Uncertainty
Not long ago, I met a regional director. To improve his bottom line, he was considering cutting down district managers to a single individual to oversee 50 franchisees. My suggestion to him was not to bother managing the stores at all at that point. When will retail networks understand that district management is not a … Continue reading The Dangers of Treating District Managers as a Cost Center
This article lays out the business case and return on investment for Bindy retail execution across the customer experience, merchandising, time and cost savings, health and safety, loss prevention and communication.
The retail sector is facing a turbulent period. With persistent supply chain issues, labor shortages, and fears of a recession, retailers must ensure that the various components of their business—including inventory, staff, and operations—are in top shape. This is particularly true for footwear and apparel retailers. Research cited by RetailDive indicates that consumer spending on … Continue reading 6 Areas you Need to Get Right in Your Footwear and Apparel Stores
The furniture store industry has grown 1.7% per year on average since 2017 and currently stands at a market size of $75.7 billion. The market is extremely competitive, and one of the ways you can ring up more sales is by making your furniture showroom easy to navigate. If you can help customers find what … Continue reading How to Make Your Furniture Store Easier to Navigate
Ever since the pandemic, there has been a notable increase in the number of households with pets. Most pet owners consider their pets to be a part of their family and care deeply about their needs. It’s hardly surprising, therefore, that the pet care market size in the US is expected to reach $22.5 billion … Continue reading How to Make Your Pet Store Easy to Navigate
Your pet shop’s adherence to safety and compliance standards is crucial to improving the customer experience, employee safety, and perhaps most importantly, the health and safety of the animals you sell. You’ll need to run regular partial or full audits of your store to catch issues as they arise. The best audit strategy is typically … Continue reading Running a Pet Store? Audit These 5 Things to Ensure Safety and Compliance
As consumer demand for sustainability and minimalism continues to grow, secondhand products are back in vogue. The market is expected to grow 11X faster than the retail clothing sector and may reach $77 billion by 2025. Indeed, with 16-18% of Americans shopping at thrift stores in a year, the secondhand market is gaining a lot … Continue reading How to Run a Successful Thrift Store
Brand standards span broad areas of the operations of a franchise network, including customer service, product preparation, merchandising, cleanliness, human resources, security, loss prevention and fire prevention. They govern how specific tasks should be completed and what a successful implementation outcome entails. Most customer-facing franchise-based groups, especially in industries such as hospitality, food service and … Continue reading What Are Brand Standards?
Values related to sustainability, community, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have become front and center for consumers, which is why many brands have ramped up their CSR efforts over the last few years. However, it’s worth pointing out that some retailers have long been prioritizing these values. We’re referring to co-op stores. Also known as … Continue reading 7 Tips to Successfully Manage a Retail Co-op
It’s no secret that site visits are incredibly important to your retail operations. Store audits and inspections enable you to evaluate programs and initiatives, ensure compliance, and even connect with teams on the ground. However, they can also take time. Between audit preparations, travel time, inspecting stores, and following up, site visits can take anywhere … Continue reading 6 Ways to Save Time During Site Visits and Inspections
This animal care checklist for pet stores is based on the Pet Retail Store Best Management Practices of the Pet Industry Advisory council. The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC) has developed the following Best Management Practices (BMPs) as a guide for retail pet stores in developing excellent husbandry and care standards for the animals … Continue reading Animal Care Checklist For Pet Stores
Use this checklist to ensure the restrooms at your hotel, restaurant or commercial facility remain clean and healthy for customers and staff. To ensure your restrooms function properly and are not unpleasant for customers, also refer to the Washrooms Inspection Checklist. Pre-cleaning Protective equipment worn, including gloves and goggles where spraying is involved. Wet Floor … Continue reading Commercial Restroom Cleaning Checklist
Creating a strong, recognizable brand takes a ton of work. You need to ideate, craft the right messaging, and ensure that it resonates with your target market. Equally important is maintaining brand consistency, especially if you’re running multiple stores. To build trust and loyalty, you must provide the same brand experience across all customer touchpoints. … Continue reading How To Protect The Brand With Site Visits
Having high standards and a strong plan of action is great, but even the best strategies will fall flat if they aren’t carried out properly. As Larry Bossidy, former AlliedSignal CEO wrote in the bestselling book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, “Strategies most often fail because they aren’t well executed.” This lesson rings … Continue reading 6 Store Inspection Mistakes District Managers Make When Auditing Retail Stores
Retail audits, also called Store Visits or Store Inspections, drive higher compliance with brand standards at store level. They increase sales and profit margins, boost customer satisfaction and cut business risks. Maybe you are starting a retail audit program from scratch. Maybe you have an existing program and are looking to improve or automate your … Continue reading How to Build a Retail Audit Checklist
Use a store operations checklist and regularly inspect your locations to ensure brand standards are upheld and stores are running optimally. Use this sample Store Operations Checklist to create or update store standards or operations programs across your locations. First impressions On a scale of one to ten; how presentable is the store? Are carts … Continue reading Store Operations Checklist
Eighty-six percent of retailers report there is a correlation between well-executed visual merchandising and conversion rates. Using a Visual Merchandising Checklist in-store helps ensure your programs are executed on time and across all locations. Use this sample Visual Merchandising Checklist to create or update your visual merchandising program across your locations. STORE EXTERIOR The store … Continue reading Visual Merchandising Checklist
The director of operations is crucial to the success of national retail chains. Anyone who takes on this role is tasked with managing high-ranking staff such as district and general managers. In some cases, they’re also in charge of overseeing the high-level operations of multiple locations, as well as defining the operational strategy of the … Continue reading What Does It Take to Be a Successful Director of Operations?