Of Gigabyte Spreadsheets and More - II

Continuing with the details of the seminar on 3 Pillars of Store Operations Planning, Marianne Gregory of Retail Benchmarks shared some of the best practices linked with the 2nd pillar - Payroll Planning. Payroll expenses are one of the biggest source of expenditure for a store. Not just that but the right staffing of store personnel helps in maintaining the level of customer service. An interesting finding from the benchmark study showed that leading retail companies had HR involve in owning the payroll plan in addition to corporate ops and finance. Now as more and more speciality stores are opened, a store associate is not just a person who helps out the customers to locate a box of cereal in an aisle. Well trained service staff can be an asset and establishing customer relationship and improving the level of customer service. Another interesting finding was that the leaders planned the payroll and staffing not just by forecasted sales but also considered the anticipated traffic. When selling items on special promotions, this becomes critical as more then expected number of people will show up needing not just customer service on front end but also increased replenishment to avoid promotional item stock outs on the shelf. From the above 2 results, its very clear that leaders dont look at their payroll as an expense line item only. They look at it as an investment that if planned well can be leveraged to provide greater customer service.