the guide to mastering multichannel retail · the guide to mastering multichannel retail 11 share...
TRANSCRIPT
SHARE1THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Share
By Henry Morland
SHARE2THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
You have a dream of running a retail business. You steel your nerve and take the plunge, source some fabulous
products and set up a store. And it turns out you are one of the lucky ones. Customers love what you have got to
offer and the orders roll in. It feels great. Money starts to flow and you are hiring your first few employees. Sure,
you’re busy but who isn’t when starting a business?
Then something strange happens. Your attention is increasingly pulled away from the products and relationships
that were your most important concerns when you were getting started. Mistakes start to creep in and you start
to experience a loss of control. Your time is spent juggling spreadsheets. You struggle to figure out how much
inventory you have sold on which channel and what your margins really are. All your hard work doesn’t seem to
be translating into profit. Indeed you aren’t even sure what profit you are making.
This guide aims to distil the combined experience of more than a thousand merchants currently running their
businesses on Brightpearl, to help you break this cycle. No matter whether you are in this situation right now or
whether you never ever want to get into it, this guide is for you.
Henry Morland
Chief Product Officer
Brightpearl
LET’S SET THE SCENEINTRODUCTION
SHARE3THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
With Brightpearl, you can safely offer the same inventory
across multiple selling channels, efficiently fulfil your
sales orders as they come in, manage your suppliers and
provide great customer service. On top of this, Brightpearl
automatically creates the relevant accounting entries
as you go about your day-to-day activities, meaning
real-time insight into the financial state of your business
without the need to re-key transactions.
Brightpearl is 100% in the cloud, so you can say goodbye
to costly servers and the need to maintain your own IT
systems. Instead, you and your team can access your
business from anywhere - the office, the warehouse, the
store, on the road or even at the beach - all you need is
an internet connection and a web browser.
WHAT IS BRIGHTPEARL? Brightpearl is the leading retail management software
designed specifically for ambitious, independent,
multichannel retailers and wholesalers.
INTRODUCTION
SHARE4THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
This advice falls broadly into three categories:
• Tips to help you to take control of your business
• Ideas for increasing efficiency across your operations
• Tricks to develop the insight you need to inform good decisions
We hope that this little manual can help you escape the hamster
wheel and re-discover the passion for that drove you to set up your
retail business in the first place and that got lost somewhere along
the journey because life got really exhausting.
This guide is designed to help you turn a busy retail or
wholesale operation into a successful, sustainable and
profitable business. It is packed with practical advice about
how to survive and thrive in the increasingly complex
multichannel retail environment.
Chapter 1 Using multichannel retail channels
Chapter 2 Using customer data to drive great service
Chapter 3 Running an efficient operation
Chapter 4 Merchandising for multichannel
Chapter 5 Building a wholesale business
Chapter 6 Focusing on profitability
Chapter 7 Getting your team building your business for you
WHAT’S IN THIS GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
THE SERIOUS MERCHANT’S GUIDE TO RETAIL
Share
C H A P T E R 1
USING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL CHANNELS
3 TA K E AWAY P O I N T S
Give your customers more opportunities to buy your products
Maximise your margins
Gain competitive advantage through great service
SHARE6THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Selling through more than one channel immediately
creates complexity. At very low volumes you can pick
up and process your orders on each individual platform
using spreadsheets, but this very quickly becomes
unmanageable as orders for the same products
accumulate in different places.
The most valuable thing you can do to take control is to
create a central location for all your orders, and a unified
workflow for managing them through to delivery.
1. Integrate your sales channels with your order management
system and automate order download.
2. Set up a simple workflow which reflects your business practice.
Ensure everyone follows the workflow and that orders are
clearly flagged with where they are in the process. e.g. quote,
new order, paid, inventory allocated, picked, packed and
shipped.
3. Allow everyone to access this order data, but maintain control
by restricting who can make particular changes.
4. Flag any exceptions that arise and focus your valuable
management time on these.
CHAPTER 1
MANAGE ORDERS FROM MULTIPLE CHANNELS IN A SINGLE PLACE
SHARE7THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Taking an order for an item you no longer have in stock
is expensive, both in terms of the missed opportunity
and the time and effort it takes to put it right. Equally it is
expensive to be carrying inventory that is not offered for
sale across all your selling channels.
1. Automate the updating of inventory levels so any change in the
current stock level is immediately reflected across all channels.
2. Ensure any bundle products reflect the inventory level of the
scarcest component part.
3. Allocate inventory to orders as they come in, and ensure that the
allocation triggers an update to all channels.
4. Make sure newly delivered inventory immediately triggers
updates to the channels to maximise the opportunity for sales.
KEEP YOUR INVENTORY LEVELS SYNCHRONIZED
CHAPTER 1
Finding products out of stock is the number one issue that has caused our polled consumers to have a negative shopping experience...
With a system that interlinks our website, eBay, Amazon, warehousing and accounts… there’s no
double selling, our inventory levels are always up-to-date, we even have the time to speak to our
customers just to see how they are doing.
Tweet this!
Lee Adams, Spy Camera CCTV
CHAPTER 1
SHARE9THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
CHAPTER 1
OPTIMIZE THE CHANNELS THAT WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESSMarketplaces are intensely competitive. Just being there
is not enough. Your products need to be visible and
attractive to buyers, and that takes work.
Online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have invested
massively in search technologies to promote the best
rated products and suppliers. You need to understand
how these mechanisms work and optimize what you do
in the light of this understanding.
1. Avoid stock outs. Cancelled sales kill your ranking.
2. Offer the right delivery options, keep your promises and keep the
customer informed – shipping is about managing expectations
more than it is about raw speed.
3. Build seller ratings with speedy communications and great
customer service.
4. Ask for reviews from your customers to bolster future demand. Download infographic
KNOW YOUR MARKETPLACEDOWNLOAD AN INFOGRAPHIC COMPARING THE AMAZON AND EBAY MARKETPLACES.
SHARE10THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
CHAPTER 1
Your customers don’t distinguish between your online
operation and your physical stores and nor should you.
Modern multichannel retailers are breaking down the
barriers between online and offline journeys.
1. Give store staff visibility of stock across the enterprise, and
allow them to take orders for delivery.
2. Allow your in-store staff to see the purchase history for all
customers, even those who purchased online.
3. Offer a click and collect service, so customers can pick up in
store goods purchased online.
4. Allow customers to return goods in store that they have
purchased online.
5. Wherever possible, identify your in store customers, so that their
on- and off-line activities are combined.
DON’T FORGET BRICK AND MORTAR
SHARE11THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
When business is spread across multiple channels, managing all
its elements --orders, inventory, shipments and more -- can be
risky and very time consuming.
Choosing an integrated multichannel retail system like
Brightpearl saves you time and prevents errors, ultimately
providing the control and confidence you need to thrive, no
matter how many channels you sell on.
A single view of all orders from multiple channels
View and manage all your data in real-time
Smooth-running, automated shipping process
THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO REACH MORE CUSTOMERS WITH BRIGHTPEARL
Save time and try Brightpearl free for 30 days
SHAMELESS PROM
O!
CHAPTER 1
THE SERIOUS MERCHANT’S GUIDE TO RETAIL
Share
C H A P T E R 2
USE RETAIL ANALYTICS TO DRIVE GREAT SERVICEMaking repeat sales to existing customers drives profitability by building revenue without the associated cost of acquisition.
3 TA K E AWAY P O I N T S
Maintain a trusted view of each customer’s activity
Segment your existing customer base
Target profitable prospects
SHARE13THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
BUILD A SINGLE VIEW OF THE CUSTOMER, AND LOG ACTIVITY AGAINST EACH RECORD
CHAPTER 2
Customers engage through different channels at different
times. The more you understand past behaviour the better
your chance of delivering great service and building a
profitable future.
1. Log every customer interaction, be it a marketing campaign, a
telephone conversation, an order placed or a product returned.
2. Help your team deliver great service by ensuring anyone dealing with
the customer can see the full history of your relationship with them.
3. Incentivize your team to up sell and they will look for opportunities to
do so.
4. Know your customers and time your communications for maximum
impact. If someone loves the latest thing, let them know when it’s
coming in.
SHARE14THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Customer relationships very often develop along
predictable lines, even if the actual stories are very
specific to your business. A jeweller, for instance, who
sells an engagement ring can reasonably expect that
there will be a wedding ring or two to follow and, with a
following wind, a predictable pattern of anniversaries to
follow.
Understanding where customers are in their
relationship with you will ensure you are making the
right overtures at the right time.
SEGMENT AND ANALYZE YOUR CUSTOMER BASE
CHAPTER 2
1. Use the data you log to segment your customer base. Analyze
order history, and build segments around lifecycle categories.
2. Analyze marketing responses. See which campaigns have
appealed to which segments in the past and try to replicate
best practice.
3. Target offers appropriately to maximize returns: offer discounts
to the price sensitive and new products to those who have
been attracted by similar things in the past.
4. Don’t be afraid to exclude customers from marketing campaigns
who have sky-high return rates, or who otherwise drain your
resources.
SHARE15THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
MAXIMIZE THE LIFETIME VALUE OF THE CUSTOMERS YOU ACQUIREUnderstand the cost of acquiring a new customer and
balance this against their lifetime value. Focus your
acquisition strategy on building lifetime value.
CHAPTER 2
1. Build a picture of the lifetime value of customers.
2. Analyze what your most valuable customers have in
common. Where were they acquired? What was their
first purchase?
3. Focus your acquisition efforts on replicating your best
existing customers.
4. Nurture your customers to build their lifetime value.
CRITICALPeople who used to be loyal customers but have long lapsed. Find out why they
have gone away. O�er them real Incentive to return.
LOSTThis your nurture bank. Stay in touch with them and try to identify which ones can
be brought back into the fold.
TOPRegular Customers who have shopped
recently. These are your best advocates. Understand what is driving them, reward
their loyalty and request recommendations
NEWNew customers testing your o�ering.
bring them back quickly to build familiarity and loyalty. Work to turn them
into loyal customers.
Download Customer Segmentation Example
EXAMPLE OF HOW CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION CAN DRIVE APPROPRIATE COMMUNICATIONS.
With over 2,000 customers it’s hard to keep track of them all, but Brightpearl stores all the customer data you need to know. I can see what my customers are buying and when, which makes it a lot easier to follow up with them after a
sale. Customer feedback and satisfaction is a big part of why I started Peachy Belts so having this functionality is really
powerful and essential to my business.
www.peachybelts.co.uk
Tweet this!
CHAPTER 2
THE SERIOUS MERCHANT’S GUIDE TO RETAIL
Share
C H A P T E R 3
RUNNING AN EFFICIENT OPERATIONOnce the orders start to roll in, the challenge becomes how to cope with the increased volume whilst maintaining levels of customer service and profit margins.
3 TA K E AWAY P O I N T S
Maintain a centralized view of all your inventory
Streamline your pick, pack, ship process
Minimize mistakes by managing by exception
Whether in stores, at the distribution centre, with the manufacturer or in returns, locating all the
inventory means you are better able to source the order from the most convenient, cost-effective
location for the customer.
CHAPTER 3
Andrew Starkey Head of e-logistics at IMRG
Tweet this!
SHARE19THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
When the orders start to roll in, you need to get the goods into the hands of your customers
with the minimum of fuss and effort. You cannot possibly build an efficient process if you do not
know what you are holding and/or where it is.
MAINTAIN A CENTRALIZED VIEW OF YOUR INVENTORY, WHAT YOU HAVE AND WHERE IT IS
CHAPTER 3
1. Simplify your workflows by specifying
which orders are filed from which
warehouse.
2. Don’t forget your physical stores.
Maximize your opportunity to sell by
ensuring store staff have visibility of stock
in the warehouse and vice versa.
3. When you send stock out for sale in a
pop-up shop, move this stock into a new
virtual warehouse. That way you track it in
the same way as all other locations.
SHARE20THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Most retail businesses over-stock. Reducing the value of
the goods you have in your warehouse puts more cash
in your bank account, but it increases the risk of stock
outs. The way to mitigate this risk is to know what is on
its way and when.
1. Take control of your supply chain by making use of purchase
orders.
2. Establish a single trusted source of the truth and keep it up to
date. Spreadsheets are brilliant tools, but a shared data store
mitigates the risk of basing important decisions on out of date
information.
3. Maintain an up-to-date picture of inventory, sales and product
on order. Use it to make intelligent decisions about what to
order and when.
4. Make sure new products are available for sale the moment they
arrive (if not before). If it’s in your warehouse, and not for sale it’s
costing you money.
LOOK INTO THE FUTURECHAPTER 3
SHARE21THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
As your business grows, so does your payroll.
Minimizing unnecessary labour costs can have a huge
impact on the bottom line of a business. A great place
to look for these efficiencies is in the warehouse, where
well thought out processes can maximize efficiency and
minimize human error and shrinkage.
1. Create warehouse locations and organize your warehouse for
optimum picking efficiency.
2. Use pick lists to collect batches of orders, then pack them at a
centralized packing station.
3. Integrate your order management system with your chosen
shippers and you will never have to rekey an address again.
But remember, shipping is a highly competitive market, rates
change and customer service levels vary between suppliers, so
be careful not to get locked in.
4. Don’t be afraid to outsource. Many mid-sized merchants
find it is more cost effective to outsource some or all of their
warehousing and ecommerce fulfilment to specialist third party
logistics suppliers.
STREAMLINE YOUR PRINT, PICK, PACK, SHIP PROCESS
CHAPTER 3
SHARE22THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Is your ability to analyze your business operations
confounded by endless listings and reports? Are you
letting customers down or missing out on new markets
because your operations are at full capacity? Smart and
savvy retailers are using software to get their operations
under control.
Drive cost efficient replenishment and administration
Provide exceptional customer service with the right processes in place
Easily scale operations and meet fluctuating operational requirements
across multiple channels
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES USE SOFTWARE LIKE BRIGHTPEARL TO MANAGE THEIR OPERATIONS
Try Brightpearl free for 30 days
SHAMELESS PROM
O!
CHAPTER 3
Having the multi-warehouse functionality has helped me immensely. Most of my stock is managed externally but some will also sit with me, my freelancers or with the manufacturer.
Being able to mark us as separate warehouse facilities means I can keep track of all of my stock all of the time.
www.evolvebeauty.co.uk
Tweet this!
CHAPTER 3
THE SERIOUS MERCHANT’S GUIDE TO RETAIL
Share
C H A P T E R 4
MERCHANDISING FOR MULTICHANNEL RETAILGood merchandising means emptying your shelves of slow moving stock and reinvesting the money in fast moving products with good margins.
3 TA K E AWAY P O I N T S
Build a product hierarchy and use it to analyze your sales
Set your pricing in the light of fully landed costs
Invest in stock that moves
SHARE25THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
You may know your individual products inside out, but
to put together a great range, you need to know what
categories sell. What brands? What styles? Say you
are running a bike shop, are you selling men’s bikes
or women’s? Road bikes or mountain bikes? The right
insight will allow you to spend your valuable cash on the
right products.
1. Build a product hierarchy and assign each and every product a
place in it.
2. Identify best sellers and worst sellers at each level, and don’t
forget to factor returns into these calculations.
3. Analyze your sales against this hierarchy. Use this analysis to
drive your merchandising decisions.
UNDERSTAND YOUR PRODUCT HIERARCHY
CHAPTER 4
5%25%
62%46%
86%
SHARE26THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
If you ask an accountant to assess two merchant
businesses, one key measure is the rate at which they
turn their inventory. Sure, there are huge variations
depending on the goods you sell, but the fact remains
that if you buy the right goods, you can sell them faster,
and release the cash more quickly to buy more.
1. Identify slow moving products and clear them out. Mark down
the price if you have to, just do what you can to release the cash
that is tied up in these products and reinvest it in fast moving
lines, categories and brands.
2. Where customer expectations permit, fill orders on demand by
placing back-to-back orders with your vendors.
3. Take this a step further by having your vendors drop-ship orders
directly to your customers.
FOCUS YOUR INVESTMENT IN PRODUCTS WHICH SELL THROUGH
CHAPTER 4
www.brightpearl.com
White paper
How Fashion Brands Can Optimize Inventory Season to Season
Download Whitepaper
CHECK OUT THE BRIGHTPEARL WHITE PAPER: “HOW FASHION BRANDS CAN OPTIMIZE
INVENTORY SEASON TO SEASON.”
SHARE27THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Pricing is hard. Drop your prices and you sell more
but make less margin. Raise your prices and often the
opposite happens. Striking the right balance is art as well
as science. But one thing is for sure, without data you
are in the dark. To optimize your prices you must know
your margins.
1. Ensure you understand the true margin associated with each
product by allocating full landed cost, including shipping costs,
taxes, insurance, storage, etc. You need to allocate all the costs
of the stock including: cost to ship, taxes, insurance, storage
costs, etc..
2. Attribute costs by channel, to ensure you are not robbing
Peter to pay Paul.
3. Know your marketplace. What do your competitors charge?
Does it differ online? On marketplaces or in store?
4. Understand the value proposition, what your customers are
buying and what they are willing to pay.
5. Track and analyze your markdown rate - are you giving too
much money away?
6. Tune your pricing to your audience.
GET YOUR PRICING RIGHTCHAPTER 4
$10.99
Previously we were using a mishmash of software… If an item sold on eBay we would have to manually go through
and change the inventory levels in store and on the website. We began to lose track very quickly, the administration was a
little bit overwhelming.
www.thetriathlonshop.co.uk
Tweet this!
CHAPTER 4
3 TA K E AWAY P O I N T S
Look at wholesale on its own terms
Manage your customer relationships
Land and expand
THE SERIOUS MERCHANT’S GUIDE TO RETAIL
Share
C H A P T E R 5
BUILD A WHOLESALE BUSINESSThe traditional separation between retail and wholesale is breaking down, with ambitious independent merchants increasingly combining the two. Success depends upon tracking and optimizing each according to its own criteria.
SHARE30THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Margins may be smaller on wholesale orders, but the
lifetime value of a customer is typically much higher.
This is just one of many respects in which the metrics you
use to manage a wholesale business differ from those
that are appropriate to a retail business. The fact is, to
effectively track and optimize your wholesale business,
you need to be able to look at it separately.
1. Flag your wholesale customers and orders so that you can
report against them.
2. Assign costs to the relevant business stream, and don’t forget to
include your internal costs: salaries, rent and so on.
3. Build separate P&Ls for each business stream.
4. Establish relevant performance indicators and report your
wholesale business against them.
SEPARATE YOUR DATACHAPTER 5
SHARE31THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Great customer service is, if anything, even more
important when you are dealing with the trade. If they are
to maximize the lifetime value of each and every account,
your account managers need to know your customers,
their needs, their history and their business cycles.
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERSCHAPTER 5
1. Log every interaction with each individual in your customer’s
organization and make this data available across your team.
2. Keep track of your customers’ business cycles, their goals and
their buying windows.
3. Understand your customer’s processes and make their lives
easy wherever you can.
4. Manage your customers’ expectations. They are themselves
making commitments so will value clarity and predictability in
their suppliers.
SHARE32THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Trade customers, like retail customers, will come to
you initially for a particular product. The challenge, as
you develop the relationship is to encourage them to
purchase across your range.
1. Learn about your customer’s business. See what sells well and
identify appropriate products to offer them.
2. Don’t assume your retailers know your business. Show them
what you have got.
3. Learn from your customers and replicate best practice. Help
your retailers to succeed by keeping them aware of which
products are your best sellers.
4. Measure your success. If you know what a profitable customer
looks like then you are in a much better place to replicate them.
CROSS-SELL AND UPSELLCHAPTER 5
THE SERIOUS MERCHANT’S GUIDE TO RETAIL
Share
C H A P T E R 6
PROFITABILITY AND CASH MANAGEMENTNo matter what else is going on, if you run out of cash, the music stops. To maximize your chances to make the most of any situation, you need to know, at any moment, how much money you have, what is due in and what you have committed to pay out.
3 TA K E AWAY P O I N T S
Use purchase orders to understand future outgoings
Assign costs by channel to protect margins
Target your team on profitability
SHARE34THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
It may seem at first like a bureaucratic overhead, but the
use of POs is one of the most important disciplines that
you can introduce to a retail or wholesale business.
Purchase orders give you a view of what goods you have
ordered, which is invaluable data when evaluating how
to spend your money. They are also a vital piece of the
puzzle when evaluating supplier performance.
1. Build purchase orders in your and regularly review what you
have on order and when it is due to arrive.
2. Ensure inventory that is on PO is visible to operations to ensure
you don’t accidentally place multiple orders for the same
product.
3. Book in stock against each purchase order.
4. Report against your purchase orders to analyze your vendor’s
performance. Use vendors who deliver the right goods at the
expected time.
PURCHASE ORDERSCHAPTER 6
SHARE35THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
It takes effort to optimize a sales channel, effort that
could equally be expended elsewhere. By associating
the cost of doing business through a particular channel
with the orders it generates, you can decide whether
that commitment is justified.
1. Account for goods movement on a first in first out (FIFO) basis.
That means your margin reporting remains true even as your
vendors change their prices.
2. Get a true picture of your cost of sales by associating a
transaction with all relevant costs including, marketplace fees,
forex charges and the cost of processing orders.
3. Assign expenses at the channel level, including the costs
of preparing your listing data, translating descriptions, and
optimizing for search efficiency.
4. Use all this data to understand your profitability by channel.
Focus your valuable time where the margins are.
USE RETAIL ANALYTICS TO MAXIMIZE CHANNEL PROFITABILITY
CHAPTER 6
SHARE36THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
To give yourself the best possible chance of achieving
your goals you need to specify exactly what you are
trying to achieve, communicate this to your team, and
build incentives around them.
1. Build a set of management accounts, identify key performance
indicators - the numbers which tell you how well you are
shaping up to your objectives - and regularly measure your
business performance against them.
2. Keep your books up to date. The sooner you can see something
changing the sooner you can react.
3. Manage by exception. If there is a number which doesn’t
look right, investigate. Quickly!
BUILD INCENTIVES AROUND PROFITABILITY
CHAPTER 6
SHARE37THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Accurate data and software tools which can help you interpret
your data are important for savvy retailers to glean real insight
into business operations and to stay competitive. A business that
turns their data into useful, actionable knowledge is expected to
make decisions five times faster than its competition.
Manage cross border trade with landed costs and
multicurrency features in Brightpearl
Keep your accounting records up to date in real time. Review your
profit and loss statements on a daily basis.
Make informed decisions to make your business grow more
THE MOST PROFITABLE WAY TO MANAGE YOUR BUSINESS IS WITH BRIGHTPEARL
Earn more and try Brightpearl free for 30 days
SHAMELESS PROM
O!
CHAPTER 6
C H A P T E R 7
GET YOUR TEAM BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS FOR YOU
THE SERIOUS MERCHANT’S GUIDE TO RETAIL
Share
When your business is small, you know what products you have in stock and what is on order; you see what is selling and what isn’t; you know how much money you have to spend. In a larger business, this simply isn’t possible. An organised and focused team can be the difference between success and failure.
3 TA K E AWAY P O I N T S
Use purchase orders to understand future outgoings
Assign costs by channel to protect margins
Target your team on profitability
SHARE39THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Think about the business you want to become, and map
out in detail what it might look like. What are the roles and
responsibilities of the people involved? What are their key
skills and characteristics? Clear ideas will help you hire
the right people and clear responsibilities will help them
succeed.
1. Talk to others in your sector, even your competitors. People love
to talk and you will be amazed at what you can learn.
2. Map out an org chart and plan the roles that you will add as your
business grows.
3. Define a role before you fill it, and what qualities an ideal
candidate might have. Not only will it help you hire wisely but also
the clarity will help them succeed.
4. Set some simple KPI’s for each role so that you and the individual
know what success looks like.
PLAN FOR SUCCESSCHAPTER 7
Download Chart
DOWNLOAD A TYPICAL ORG CHART FOR AN INDEPENDENT MULTICHANNEL
RETAIL / WHOLESALE MERCHANT
SHARE40THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
“Singing from the same hymn sheet”... “on the same page” The driving
force behind these clichés (and plenty more besides) is the importance
of teamwork. As the leader of a team, your success depends upon
the combined energies of the people around you. Get them working
together and you can move mountains.
STAY IN TUNECHAPTER 7
1. Be explicit about what you are setting out to achieve.
Sell it to your team and they will sell it to the world.
2. Ensure everyone is working with the same facts by
establishing single trusted sources for all your key data.
3. Use technology to give people access to tools and
information. Clearly there is some data that is sensitive,
but the more people can see and understand what their
colleagues are doing the easier it is for them to collaborate.
SHARE41THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
DEFINE YOUR WORKFLOWSCHAPTER 7
When your business is small, workflows are simply what you do,
and you very quickly work out the most efficient ways of getting
the business of the day squared away.
Add a few more people into the mix and inefficiencies and
mistakes easily creep in which can erode margins and change
the dynamics of your business. Get it right, on the other hand,
and you can create a culture of ongoing improvement.
1. Make your workflows explicit. Train your team to work within them.
2. Identify objective measures to assess how well they are working. If you
have a pick, pack, ship process, how many orders are you processing in
a day? What are your error rates? How much stock is lost or broken?
3. Review your workflows regularly, listen to feedback and iterate. If you are
measuring the right things, you will quickly see if you are improving.
SHARE42THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
MANAGE BY EXCEPTIONCHAPTER 7
Whether that is giving special treatment to your most
valued customer, or identifying potentially fraudulent
orders on your website, the fact is that a few exceptional
cases can have a disproportionate impact on the
profitability of the business as a whole.
If you can identify the exceptions, you can deploy your
most intelligent and effective people to deal with them,
and that is interesting and motivating work.
1. Define what counts as an exceptional opportunity. Is the person
walking into your flower shop looking for a single rose for their
sweetheart or organising a wedding for 200?
2. Define what counts as an exceptional threat. Does that delivery
address look complete, or is there a chance that the package
will be returned?
3. Work out the features that identify the exceptions that matter,
and flag them straight away. Use technology to automate this if
you can.
4. Identify appropriate responses and empower the right people to
act on them.
5. Streamline your workflows around the unexceptional. Use
technology and automate as much as you can.
The ability to collaborate over the internet means I don’t have to waste money hiring out office space, or on travel and I save time by no longer having to share my system. Overall this equates to my company being more green
and cost-effective.
www.evolvebeauty.co.uk
Tweet this!
CHAPTER 7
SHARE44THE GUIDE TO MASTERING MULTICHANNEL RETAIL
Share www.brightpearl.com
THANKSIf you need more help why not contact our Customer Service team. We can help you scope out your needs for a retail management system. You can also trial Brightpearl for [email protected]