The Future of Retail Workforce Management

Whether you’re riding a wave of successful retail expansion or nursing a difficult location back to health in a tough economic climate, you need tools that help right now — and many years from now. The future of retail workforce management is agile, and it balances the needs of workers, managers, and business owners through all kinds of challenges.

What is retail workforce management?

Retail workforce management has more than one function. It’s more than just setting a schedule and coordinating vacation time or days off. 

It’s also:

• Forecasting
• Managing skills
• Keeping attendance records
• Tracking time at locations and on tasks
• Managing day-to-day workflows
• Communicating across teams and externally
• Planning and executing projects
• Empowering employees
• Reviewing and verifying completed work

Retail is evolving in never-before-seen ways. The ability to adapt and pivot means being able to meet the ever-changing expectations of customers — no matter what the future brings.

And the future is happening right now. Cloud-based solutions, AI-enabled software, and 100% mobile apps are here now, and the most forward-thinking companies are taking advantage of all they have to offer.

How does retail workforce management software help?

A future-ready workforce:

• Is digitally fluent and capable of anything
• Maintains a cohesive purpose and vision
• Is productive on an individual, departmental, and company-wide level

A rock-solid retail workforce management software can help get you there. So what does this look like?

With Movista’s retail workforce management software:

• A global beverage company used scheduling and optimization to radically reduce labor costs in three months
• The InStore group increased associate productivity and cut project planning time to 3% of what it was previously
• Nintendo reached 100% visibility in their launch of 6,500 in-store kiosks, all from a hand-held device

Retail workforce management software is intuitive, allowing you to track what’s happening, on location and on the road, from the palm of your hand.

Managing the backend of business seamlessly with a fully integrated mobile retail workforce management app means happier, more productive employees.  And happy employees provide a better customer experience.

It’s a win-win.

Nine things to look for in retail workforce management software

Your retail workforce management software needs to be on the bleeding edge of technology, with built-in integrations of the tools you already use fluently.

Movista has that easy integration, and so much more. Here’s what you’ll get with the best retail workforce software.

1. Ease of use

Problem-solve and plan when you zoom in — and when you pan out. Movista’s retail workforce software provides solutions to view the tiniest details and take the biggest picture, including:

• Geofencing and other geolocation tools for expense tracking
• Prioritizing projects and red-flagging trouble spots
• Assigning specific tasks to specific people and locations
• Designing a timeline for retail execution strategies

 This robust functionality is all accessible from mobile as well as on a desktop space. No matter where you are, Movista delivers expansive features, all within an easy-to-use, and beautifully designed experience.

2. Visibility

So how do you keep track of who’s in your stores, on what day, and at what time? If you’re still paper scheduling third-party vendors, with no way of knowing if they’ve actually shown up, chances are good you’ve missed something.

Movista’s retail workforce management software provides 100% visibility into all store processes, no matter how many locations you have. It connects managers, store employees, vendors, suppliers and third-party labor groups.

3. Tracking in real time

Movista’s tracking in real time delivers optimization at the speed of retail. This means you can get the high-level low-down (or the low-level what’s up) of what’s actually happening right now. This real-time transparency means you’ll never miss an opportunity again.

4. Coordinated messaging

Now everyone is on the same page with coordinated messaging that reaches everyone on the team. When you plan a retail execution strategy, communication matters. That’s why Movista sends workflow notifications to everyone affected by that strategy. Further, mass communications and chat can flow between all teams. This includes third-party vendors and other stakeholders.

5. Mobile workforce management

You don’t need to be chained to your desk with Movista’s workforce management solutions, and neither do your employees.

From a device, Movista can help you:

• Assign/access tasks
• Ask managers to update status (with photos and video)
• Get updates on specific stores, specific projects, or specific employees

And all from a user-friendly, mobile native app that’s available wherever you need it.

6. Money-saving compliance tools

Are you wasting money on elaborate displays that aren’t completed on time, correctly, or at all? Getting fines for lack of compliance?

With built-in task-tracking, surveys, photo verification, and performance analytics, and file sharing, you know your displays are going to be executed flawlessly.

7. Right-sized staffing

Accurate staffing means hitting that Goldilocks sweet-spot of staffing: not too many employees, not too few employees — just right-sized staffing that you need.

This is hard to do if you’re still trying to coordinate a paper trail of employee requests for sick leave and vacation days coordinated with big retail shopping days. Thankfully, Movista can handle attendance and time tracking. Additionally, with connection capability between vendors, store teams, and labor partners, automatic labor optimizations can take into account all people resources to ensure the right amount of people are scheduled for the work planned.

8. Time-on-task tracking

Part of building a future-ready workforce means matching employees and their skill sets with the perfect projects. This means looking at time-on-task tracking numbers that help you improve efficiency and execution across teams.

Movista clients report successful on-time task completion rates of 98% and a 33% increase in productivity for all teams. Time-on-task tracking helps pair employees and projects to increase motivation and get results.

9. Comprehensive analytics

Put data to work for real-time optimizations with comprehensive analytics that can help you pivot when you need to (and double down when things are going well).

Get insights from up-to-the-minute visual dashboards that keep the team on track.

Build a future-ready retail workforce

If you’re part of the 64% of retailers exploring new technology solutions to build a future-ready retail workforce, here we are. 

Movista’s retail workforce management software is what you need to help you balance the needs of your workforce, your customers, and your bottom line.

We don’t have a crystal ball, but we don’t need a piece of glass to know that staying stuck in the old ways of doing retail just won’t work.

When you’re ready to move forward, get in touch with Movista to schedule a demo.