Retail Trends

Retailers Invest in Tech Training to Boost Sales

2 min read

Have you ever walked into a store knowing more about the product than the store associate? Or worse, you asked a question and the associate was fumbling with the POS terminal.

Staff training is still a big challenge for retailers. Technologies have evolved quickly and staff turnover is high, which means it is more important than ever to have a POS solution that is capable of delivering the omnichannel experience customers now expect in the modern retail – and ensure their staff know how to use these tools flawlessly.

Why tech-savvy associates make more sales

It used to be that sales associates were set up at a counter and buyers would come up to make their purchase, and that was it. But in today’s retail store, that role is changing. The store associate is no longer so static and now has the power to advise and influence purchases, which ultimately has a direct impact on the rate of sales.

Unfortunately, the 2019 State of Frontline Workplace Training Study suggests that up to a third of retail employees receive no training, vastly undermining their potential.

Tech to Leverage Your Greatest Asset

In principle, the front-end benefits of an omnichannel retail platform like Openbravo mean that many sales associates will spend less time doing administrative tasks and more time with customers. Those associates will get at least an additional hour or two a day facing customers – a golden opportunity to close more sales.Retailers can measure the rate of sales in a more granular way now – not just in terms of m2, region, or store, but also by individual store associate.

A well-trained sales associate who knows is comfortable using the omnichannel capabilities offered in a POS solution will be able to close even more sales in a day and increase KPIs such as customer loyalty, number of transactions, and average ticket size.

At the NRF2020, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella envisioned a future of the retail industry in which data plays an increasingly crucial role. Nadella believes the use of technology to support employees will be one of the key factors for retailers’ success in the next decade. Tech-driven initiatives in this field can help retailers achieve 15% increase in conversion rate and 10% increase in customer satisfaction, he said.

And the overwhelming majority of the Millenials and Gen Xers surveyed said their opinion of employers goes up with training, and that training makes them feel more engaged. Moreover, 81 percent said frequent training would make them feel even more engaged! I think this is a strong indication that young people in retail really want to be better-trained in using the latest retail technologies and are likely to exhibit greater loyalty in exchange for that training.

So training employees to develop their technological skills will lead to happier, more empowered employees and more sales. So are retailers doing enough to leverage their greatest asset? To fully realize the potential of their sales associates, retailers need a POS system that simplifies employee on-boarding and skills development. Luckily, retailers don’t need to do it alone if they adopt a retail solution that includes support for staff training and education services.

Want to learn more? Read about Openbravo’s Professional Support and Success Services.

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