Store Associates

While the holiday shopping season may be over, busy retail environments are still thriving. As in-person shopping reaches pre-pandemic levels, staying connected is a must for retail workers on the move. From the shop floor to the stockroom and checkout counter, retail store associates are the glue that holds the whole operation together. However, 85…

Walmart announced Tuesday that it's raising its minimum wage for store employees to $14 an hour, representing a roughly 17 percent jump for the workers who stock shelves and cater to customers. Starting in early March, store employees will make between $14 and $19 an hour. They currently earn between $12 and $18 an hour, according…

The events of the last few years — Brexit, the pandemic, The Great Resignation, a cost-of-living crisis — have caused evolving challenges that continue to ripple through the retail industry. One of the biggest causes for concern for businesses today is a mass shortage of workers as people switch to remote or at-home working, decide…

With national labor challenges lingering, the retail industry is among those hit the hardest by “The Great Reshuffle” ­— formerly known as the Great Resignation. In fact, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that the quit rate in the retail industry was hovering close to 4 percent over the summer, just behind the leading leisure…

Retailers should be preparing for peak season hiring as the holidays are just two months away. Since many retailers have struggled to fill open positions over the past year and a half, the thought of hiring enough seasonal help could be frightful, rather than delightful. Amid the Great Resignation, seasonal retail jobs dropped 7 percent from…

Frontline employees are vital to a retailer's operation. The quality of a customer's experience is directly related to the level of employee engagement.  When customers need assistance, they expect fast, reliable service and they shouldn't have to look all over the store for help. Unfortunately, customers are often left with no other option than to…

Retailers have been under excruciating pressure as inflation, supply chain woes, and recession threatens consumer spending, impacting their bottom line. As a result, many are leaning into promotional sales periods as a way to push inventory to consumers, ensuring they receive a portion of the limited discretionary spending. With the back-to-school shopping season underway on…

Lowe’s is giving full-time workers in its stores the choice to schedule four-day work weeks. The home improvement retailer made the decision after its five-day schedule left many associates complaining about an inability to find a balance between their personal and work lives as a result of having very few consecutive days off, reports Retail…

Retail has certainly evolved over the past two years. Today, we're living in an omnichannel retail universe that must be catered to carefully by retailers. Store associates can’t be expected to carry the entire load and overwhelming task of the end-to-end sales process anymore, but we also can’t entirely lean on artificial intelligence (AI) to…

As lease signs begin to disappear from storefront windows in Manhattan, retailers across the U.S. are preparing for the industry’s big return. Although the harshest COVID-driven restrictions were lifted months ago, businesses have been hesitant to open or expand their physical locations after suffering devastating revenue losses over the last two years. Increasing interest rates…