The Christmas season was good for retailers in 2014: The National Retail Federation reported that holiday sales increased 4 percent last year. And more shoppers in stores mean more shoppers going out to eat, thus boosting the restaurant industry as well. For many retail businesses, the old holiday standard rings true—it is the most wonderful time of the year.
Maintaining or increasing productivity during the holiday season is important. Just because you have double the number of shoppers in your stores doesn’t mean sales will proportionally increase as well. Maximizing productivity is essential to truly take advantage of holiday season. Tablet training—on the iPad or Surfaces, for example—can provide a noticeable boost to productivity at the busiest time of the year. The combination of more shoppers and more productive employees carries powerful potential. Here are some ways that tablet training can enhance productivity during the holiday season:
Seasonal Employees
Nationwide, companies will hire hundreds of thousands of temporary workers to help during the holiday season. Because they aren’t permanent, devoting hours and other resources to training these employees is impractical. Yet, seasonal workers still must learn the skills required to be productive. Tablet training can bridge this gap. Content that can be accessed on the iPad is more cost-effective, frees up trainers and managers from organizing and conducting training sessions, and gets holiday employees on the floor faster. Moreover, seasonal workers could be given the opportunity to view training content on their own devices, before their first day on the job, so they are up to speed as soon as they put on their name tags.
Holiday Sales Events
Stores go to great lengths planning their holiday sales initiatives. Floor placement, displays, and marketing strategies are among the approaches carefully planned at corporate that must be executed locally. During the holiday rush, most stores simply can’t afford to pull key employees off the floor to learn how to set up a display, only to see them get bogged down because they weren’t able to fully digest the instructions set forth back in the warehouse. Tablet training greatly improves these processes by placing content directly on the iPad that can be taken anyplace in the store—anywhere the sales strategy will be implemented. The same key employees can watch a video detailing how a display should be assembled, pausing when needed, rewinding when helpful, and comparing the finished result on the floor to what’s pictured on the tablet’s screen.
Knowledgeable Staff
With the increased amount of shoppers in stores during the holiday season (especially on Black Friday), employees are under more pressure to answer questions and, ultimately, make the sales that boost productivity. Tablet training can ensure these workers are ready for whatever is thrown at them. Where can an item featured in the newspaper ad be found in the store? Covered. Is an item likely to stay in stock throughout December? Answered. What is the best brand of a product to put under the tree? Advised. Even if an employee doesn’t have an answer readily available, he or she can find the information quickly on the tablet; shoppers will be more impressed by a worker using technology to solve their problems rather than just getting an “um, I don’t know” reply.
What kind of boost in productivity does your company see during the holiday season?
