From Amazon’s growing brick-and-mortar presence to the news that Michael Kors is planning to buy Versace, if there is any industry that’s experiencing shake-ups, it’s retail. Mergers and acquisitions. Right-sizing and restructuring to make a company more competitive. Relocating headquarters. Adapting to increased pressure on distribution centers. And on and on and on. They’re all part…
When you send a district manager or buyer through a retail training workshop, it’s an investment of time, money, and effort — and that’s not even taking into account the fact that they’ll be away from their daily responsibilities. It’s also a down payment on the results and impact you expect to see when they return….
We all know the power of being present. As a retail district manager or regional field leader, when you’re able to be present both mentally and physically, it magnifies the opportunity to influence and affect behavior. Of course, when you’re leading from a distance, the lion’s share of your communication doesn’t happen face to face. And that means…
When people talk about technology in retail, invariably they’re focused on things like omnichannel, mobile payments, robots and automation, product displays, and data analytics, among other digital tools and solutions. But there’s another way technology influences everything that happens in the retail environment, and that’s through internal communication. Particularly for multiunit retail managers like district…
Summer is officially here, and with it, summer retail sales and deals. But of course, store managers are already looking ahead to the next big seasons of retail: back-to-school and holiday. During these critical seasons for the business, your sales associates and store managers have to be prepared to step up their game, skillfully handle…
If you ever doubted that retail is its own breed, take a generic leadership development course. You’ll quickly discover that what applies in other types of organizations doesn’t necessarily translate. It’s not just the setting — although the environment certainly is a factor — it’s the nature of the challenges, the dynamics of the different people…
One of the biggest challenges of so-called “soft skills” behavior-based training is measuring return on investment. Did the time and money spent on the training deliver dividends back to the business? And how can we sustain and keep building on that value? This is a big concern for retailers when they take leaders away from…
Watching the Olympics on TV is a completely different experience from watching it in person. For one, when you’re watching on TV, you’re entirely focused on one specific event, and one particular heat or match. But in an Olympic track and field stadium, as an example, a number of track events might be taking place…
Whether it’s preparing for the holiday ramp-up or gearing up for peak demand seasons that affect your niche — like the busy spring season for home improvement stores — at various points in the year, retail managers will turn their attention to recruiting and interviewing to staff up. When there’s a tight labor market, this task can…
With the holiday season is in full swing, the new year will be here before you know it. For store leaders, getting people on board and committed to new initiatives will be critical to setting the stage for a successful year ahead. Now’s the time to be thinking about communicating new directives and making sure…
