Problems in managing always tend to increase with an increase in what is there to be managed. Minimalism is not the answer when it comes to overcoming the challenges of management with more business volume or more business units. Shutting down stores or keeping businesses dwarfed does not constitute an appropriate approach. New challenges are bound to emerge with an increase in the scale of business. The right approach is to prepare or respond back with the right set of solutions. And in this journey, having access to the experience and expertise of those who have been there and done that is of significant value. This blog highlights eight strategies for better managing a multi-store retail chain in a plain and comprehensive manner for easy adaptation.
#1 One Brand Identity, One Brand Tone and One Brand Voice
One of the topmost prerogatives in managing a multi-store retail chain is to maintain consistency in brand identity, brand tone, and brand voice across all stores. This helps customers distinguish and identify a brand as different from others. This lets them know what values they are likely to get in terms of products, services, experience, prices, support, etc. Eventually, this aids in developing customer allegiance and confidence. If consistency in branding is not maintained, it can lead to many discrepancies at multiple levels. By default, human nature seeks consistency. Every time a customer visits a store of a brand, they expect the same quality of experience and a similar set of value propositions. Any deviation here can cause disappointment and psychologically disturb their association with that brand. For example, if your brand tone is warm and friendly, it must essentially reflect in staff behaviour. If customers find deviations from this standard in any store, it is bound to upset them and create uncertainty about what to expect the next time. The same is true for brand voice which is personification of a brand. Consistency in maintaining brand identity must be brought through a conscious and planned set of efforts. This includes (but not confined to) –
· Establishing brand identity, brand tonality and voice
· Building robust communication systems
· Providing necessary training to employees
· Incorporating the requirements of brand identity in operations/SOPs
· Making the necessary adaptations in technologies
#2 Maintain Consistency in Core Value Propositions across Stores
When you are a multi-store brand, you must ensure that the essential values associated with your brand are consistently delivered across all stores. This helps retain the trust of customers irrespective of which store they visit. It gives them an assurance that the core or essential values with which they associate and identify your brand will be delivered. For example, renowned restaurant brands like KFC or Burger King focus intensely on maintaining the same standards of taste and quality of food across all their stores. The stores may vary in size, layout or volume of business but their systems do not leave room for compromises on the standards of taste and quality of their food. Localisation may necessitate some alterations in value propositions but it should not mess with the core or essential value propositions. This point holds special emphasis in franchising. Even if food menus are customised as per regional or local tastes and preferences, the established standards of quality must be met. Not maintaining consistency in the delivery of core value propositions adversely affects customer experience and brand image. It is common to see that even within a city some stores of brands do well while others do not. If the mistakes are not corrected on time, the ultimate fate of such stores is closure.
#3 Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Managing the operations of a multi-store retail brand is challenging for many reasons. For one, you are already a big brand and you must deliver on your promises. The scope of errors or mistakes is slim to none. Two, you must maintain consistency in operations across all stores to maintain consistency in branding and value delivery. Last but not least, your operational performance must be of superior quality. Addressing these challenges or achieving the desired operational outcomes cannot come on its own. Operations planning must make room for the same and the answer lies in developing and implementing SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). With the help of SOPs, even the most complex of processes can be defined with precision and the most intricate of operational standards be incorporated into the workflow definitions or roadmaps. Customer support operations could be used as an example here. As a brand, you cannot have different processes and standards for customer service in your stores, especially within one common geography or demographic setup. Inconsistency in customer service systems across stores can lead to customers flagging you as an unreliable and untrustworthy brand and make them reconsider sticking to it. By having the same set of SOPs, you can ensure that your stores are following a uniform set of policies and practices for customer service and support operations.
#4 Leverage the Power of Technology
Business without technology has become a little unthinkable in today’s times. Whether it is marketing, operations, finance, or any other business function, the role of technology is undeniable. When it comes to managing multiple stores, leveraging the power of technology can no longer be regarded as an option. Think of inventory management. When you are reordering, you would want to optimize the time and cost of procurement. For this, you will need inventory updates from your warehouses and network of stores. This will help you determine the right order quantity. Inventory management software will further help you in demand forecasting and calculating lead times to ensure that there is no overstocking or understocking. The ability to track the real-time status of your inventory levels or the status of your orders is a big relief and helps you better plan the utilisation of your other resources like space and logistics. Go a step further and you have ARS (Automated Replenishment Systems). We can also use the example of POS systems. These machines are not just for billing purposes. They can also collect, store, and share sales data with designated centralised systems to facilitate analytics of various sorts aiding in the formulation of better planning and strategies. For example, if certain product lines are not performing well in certain stores, it gives the management a chance to reconsider their merchandising decisions in those stores and come up with solutions that better reflect the localised market demand and customer expectations.
#5 Centralize Inventory Management
Inventory management is one of the bulkiest and most complex business functions. Without proper management, things often spiral out of control resulting in stockouts, overstocking, quality issues, trapped liquidity, lower margins, damage to goods, longer turnover cycles, and sometimes even accidents. Before trying to control the physical aspects of inventory management, it is important to first control the data and digital systems governing inventory management. Once decision-making is accurate, managing the physical aspects becomes easier. This specifically applies to multi-store retail brands with a network of warehouses and stores spread over a wider geography. By centralizing inventory management with the help of digital and other technological solutions, businesses can become significantly better at purchase scheduling, reordering timing and quantities, demand forecasting, assessing storing requirements, securing availability of logistical resources, and manpower allocation. If the inventory management system is not centralized and integrated into one digital platform, data collection becomes a nightmare. Real-time monitoring would be a distant ask. Imagine a scenario where data sharing by stores with headquarters is manual via say email. The team at headquarters will have to wait till the end of the day or till they receive the inventory reports from the stores. This will delay the decision-making process and reduce the chances of timely arrival of inventory. They can start the process a day early but with the available technologies, such redundancies could be avoided.
#6 Implement Omnichannel Systems
Omnichannel is good for customers. However, omnichannel has also many internal benefits to businesses.
Since omnichannel brings many digital capabilities it leads to the generation of tons of business data. This data serves as input for carrying out analytics. For example, it becomes easier to ascertain the social media channels from which most of the customers are coming. Businesses can then emphasise those channels. This makes their marketing and promotional efforts more concerted and increases the chances of improving CAC and ROI. It also gives the opportunity to improve the performance of social handles that are not yielding the desired outcomes. Then there is aid in making personalisation more effective. The scope of cross-selling and upselling also improves with a better understanding of customer journeys and consumer behaviour derived from data analytics.
Omnichannel capabilities also help streamline operations. In omnichannel systems, customers can interact from multiple touchpoints. This means information reaches quicker than it does in any non-omnichannel system and there is more time to work on that information. The pattern of information flow could then also be used to improve business processes and operational strategies. For example, if certain product categories are mostly ordered online for home delivery, considering proportionately having fewer of such product categories on the shelves might not be a bad idea. On the flip side, it will help to make room for products that are mostly bought physically from stores.
#7 Redesign HR
Multi-store retail brands must redesign their staffing policies and management to meet the people-oriented specifications of such organisations. This must begin with making changes in their organisational design and structure. The organisational framework and functioning must support the staffing requirements of a multi-store enterprise. A store manager for and in each store reporting to an operations manager in HQ serves as a good example here. Similarly, each store must have the necessary positions and all positions connected via a hierarchical network of authority, responsibility, reporting, and communications. The second most important requirement comes in the form of consistency in the standards of duties and responsibilities defined in operational terms using Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). This consistency is critical to maintain uniformity in the execution of business processes and operations leading to uniformity in services to customers. The third requirement is providing standard training to employees. To ensure that this happens, training design and delivery should be delivered by the same team (internal or external). An associated requirement is providing cross-training to employees. This enables them to adapt to different roles and responsibilities to meet any emergency or planned situation.
The next set of requirements concerns more with long-term and qualitative aspects of human resource management. The first point of consideration here is providing opportunities for career growth and development. As you become a bigger brand and enterprise, your HRM must keep levelling up. You would want to obliterate the chances of attrition becoming a problem. For this, you must improve the quality of your workspace both physically and in a qualitative sense. Employees must have strong reasons to stick to your organisation in the long run. Good HR and organisational qualities always help attract the best talents. Recognition, promotions, transfers, and a positive work culture are just the tip of the iceberg.
#8 Conduct Periodical Audits
Audits are essential for retail chain brands for a multitude of reasons.
Audits can help reveal the quality of adherence in maintaining consistency in brand identity across all stores and business functions. Maintaining uniformity in branding is easier said than done. It takes a conscious set of efforts and cannot be merely achieved because stores and teams are communicated to do so. A simple example would be staff behaviour which has an immediate bearing on brand voice and tone. Audits combined with analytics could help identify gaps in skills and competencies to align behavioural aspects with brand identity.
Customer experience is the next big reason to be conducting audits. Customers must not have drastically different experiences in different stores. What is perplexing here is gauging customer experience. There are no standard factors and benchmarks for this. It takes a planned and methodical approach executed along the lines of auditing. Ratings and reviews are temporary and get stale with time. Since audits are planned and carried out for relatively longer periods with factors and benchmarks established in advance, they provide a more reliable and accurate picture.
Other areas where audits can help bring improvisations are streamlining operations, cost reduction, risk management, and compliance.
About Your Retail Coach
YRC is a retail and eCommerce consulting undertaking specialising in solutions for business setup, better management, and transformation. With more than a decade of experience in consulting for retail brands and businesses, YRC has worked with over five hundred clients in more than 25 verticals with an accomplishment ratio of over 94%. YRC is also an undertaking with a scaling international footprint.
To learn more about how we can help your retail brand with better management solutions, feel free to drop us a message and one of our retail consultants will shortly reach out to you. We engaged qualified and experienced professionals in service design and delivery.