Better Store Communications in 7 Easy Steps

Lion tamers, divorce attorneys, and air traffic controllers know it, and now you do, too: communication is the key to keeping everything running smoothly. With so many changes across the retail landscape, a consistent message, delivered well, has never been more important. Here are seven easy steps you can take today to improve store communications.

Retail store communications: what is it?

Retail store communications connect all retail locations with the company’s headquarters (and vice versa). It’s the lifeline that ensures all processes are running smoothly between:

• Employees in the store
• Employees in the field
• Individual stores (management and administrators)
• Third-party vendors just as assemblers, distributors and DSDs
• Regional offices
• Corporate headquarters
• International outposts

Retail store communications are more than announcing price changes or new inventory. They are also key factors for:

• Team building
• Retail execution
• Retail collaboration
• Field service management

Why retail communications matter

Let’s start with the bottom line and this simple example: a company receives one million units for each store, all priced to sell at $1.99. Because store communications are less than stellar (or non-existent), one store prices their million units at $1.95. Just four cents off, an easy mistake…right? 

That easy mistake costs that store — and the company — $40,000. 

Other ways that excellent retail store communications matter include:

• Better coordination of third-party vendors
• Clear direction for associates on both long- and short-term projects
• Rock-solid retail execution
• The ability to put data to work with real-time optimization

Companies with well-executed store communications see their employee productivity increase by up to 25%. Why? Simple. They don’t have to spend hours looking for the tools they need to do their job.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with these seven steps

Better store communications doesn't have to feel like a slog. Implementing these seven simple steps will yield immediate results with better retail communications across locations for a variety of different stakeholders. 

Step 1: Make sure you’re all on the same page

No more juggling platforms or worrying if the apps you already use and love will integrate with store communications software. Movista offers integrations with hundreds of tools your and your employees already use to deliver one central place for all of your messaging. 

Starting with a central message across those integrations is the key to successful communications, both in-store and company-wide. With Movista’s best-in-class messaging tools, it has never been easier to communicate, collaborate, and innovate.

Step 2: Target your message

It's just a fact: not everyone needs the same information on a day-to-day basis. Segment your message to the people who actually need it — no scattershot push notifications or emails.

Movista’s coordinated messaging tools means that companies can direct information to specific employees.

Think:

• Project managers receiving edits to deliver to teams
• Planograms sent directly to associates
• Expense-reporting procedures messaged to employees in the field

Don’t send employees communications they don’t need. Target messages and workflow notifications to emphasize their importance to the people who are impacted.

Step 3: Mind the time

With 16% of global companies working remotely and 92% of workers in the US shifting to work at least one day per week from home, time has become its own commodity. Even when companies are back in person, retail and HQ may operate on sometimes-opposing schedules. More than one location in different time zones? That just complicates the matter. With Movista’s platform, schedule retail communications to arrive when they are needed — not when everyone has already gone home.

Step 4: Get to the point

Pro tip: skip the clutter and get right to the point. Employees from the C-suite to the field don’t need to wade through unnecessary detail. Clear the clutter and streamline the message so that everyone can get back to work.

Step 5: Make it interesting

Clarity doesn't have to be boring. You’ve already whittled down the text wall to its essential points — go one further by adding graphics, videos, and photographic instructions.  

Make it more engaging with tools to:

• Send live analytics dashboards
• Build retail audit checklists
• Share perfect planograms

Better than text, visuals are a great way to ensure compliance and keep everyone informed on changes to retail merchandising plans, instantly.

And communication is a two-way street. Movista gives employees everything they need to snap photos and shoot video and send it right back. 

Step 6: Track the message

Ever get the feeling the important points are missed? That the email you spent hours crafting languishes, unread, in company-wide in-boxes?

You're probably not wrong. Email fatigue is real, and up to 30% of employees admit that they never open work emails. Another 38% are so distressed by messaging from all directions that they plan to quit their job.

Since you’ve taken the steps above to target messages appropriately, streamline what’s in them, and deliver them in useful and interesting ways, Movista can help you track who's reading (and who's missing out).

This ensures that employees are literally getting the message and taking action when they need to. It’s another layer of support that, at its best, distributes work and helps everyone perform at their best.

Step 7. Encourage back-talk

Who’s on the front lines with customers, working day after day to meet their needs? Your employees in the store and in the field. They know what’s working and what customers want and need. When in-store communications are effective, employees are more engaged. 

Employees in the field need to know they are being heard, too. Encourage local involvement on company-wide issues by encouraging employees to respond and contribute to creatively solve problems. This encourages collegiality among employees while still ensuring consistent communications across the locations.

Top-down store communications is so ten years ago. With everyone running at top speed to give customers the best experience possible and to deliver on your company's promise, sometimes employees feel caught in the middle. Movista can give employees the space they need to ask questions, make suggestions, and build better systems for the company from the ground up.

Take the first step

When you’re ready to take store communications to the next level, go with the pros. Start with Movista’s solution sheet for retail, or get in touch to schedule a demo.