Utilizing Management Tours in a Retail Setting
Within the volatile world of retail you will need a method to overcome potential business opportunities. By opportunities, I mean anything in which your customer base may use to choose your competition. An example of retail business opportunities are presentation of merchandise, price impression, cleanliness, and organization. These four components are designed to improve the overall customer experience within your store.
Now you are asking yourself how you focus on these critical four components.
The answer is management tours. Management tours are where you and/or your management team walk the sales floor and look for opportunities in accordance to the four critical components. Once you have identified a deviation from the four components, then you set up a plan of action. Your action planning should be extremely detailed. On the front of your mind during management tours will be enhancing the customer experience. Without the customer, every retail business, big or small will fail.
Detailed Management Tours
What are detailed management tours and how long will it take to complete? Detailed management tours are a four components review of every square inch of the sales floor where you sell goods. The length of time will vary, but should never be less than one hour per any given area. The reason I state any given area is your detailed management tours need to broken down. Imagine you are a retail manager and your business is 200,000 square feet. Let's take into account you have 185,000 items. You would have to utilize the four components in your detailed management tours to review 185,000. This task is possible, but you will not longer be performing detailed management tours, but rather high level overview management tours.
I will give you an example of detail management tours. You have a produce department. The first task is to review the presentation of merchandise by checking the freshness of your fruits and vegetables. At this point you need to touch every piece of fruit/vegetable. Pull or cull undesirable items from the produce area. Next you will check any relevant displays for visual appeal. Think from the eyes of your customer base. Ask yourself would you buy this particular item. If not, then this may be the wrong item out for sale.
Review the department's price impression. Are you being competitive with your competition? You should have sales papers or competition reports to display any variations. Do you have plans to adjust prices in the event your price is higher or lower? Is the department to the level of cleanliness your customers expect? In a produce department one thing is clear, everything must be spotless. There should be no room for interpretation on what is clean and what is not. The final aspect of management tours involves organization. Where are your supplies? Where are extra produce items in the event more customers than usual visit your business? Once the four components are complete, management tours will take you to another location.
High Level Overview Management Tours
The high level overview management tours will keep you aligned with the four components and keep well within the hour timeframe. When you are executing management tours at a high level overview, you are looking for major opportunities. You may notice detailed problems, but realize they will have to be moved to a different time.
Take your produce department as an example. During a high level overview management tours, you will look at the surface levels of presentation of merchandise. By this you look for damaged items readily available. Your price impression consists of image alone. Do you have a display of apples in one spot priced differently than the apples in another location?
Cleanliness, regardless of which type of management tours utilized, should never be overlooked. You will review signs of physical decay throughout the department. Organization being your last component will have you reviewing the placement of items. If all items are in their proper place, then you will be able to move on.
There will be times when detailed management tours will need to used and times when high level overview management tours are more appropriate. With the customer's best interest always on your mind, followed by the four components, you will have no other option but success with effective management tours.
Post courtesy of retail supply industry leader, Adazon USA.