Training

While the average employee turnover for all U.S. industries is around 19 percent, the average turnover rate in the retail industry is just above 60 percent, according to the National Retail Federation. This equates to a continual cycle of rehiring and retraining, with negative impact to retailers’ bottom lines. There are numerous possible reasons why…

In 2020, retail workers proved to be essential to the economy and society at large. Yet, it's not always clear whether they’re considered essential to employers’ future business plans. If retailers want to compete in an industry that — pandemic or not — is shifting more toward digital, they need to first invest in their…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, frontline employees have been referred to as heroes — and rightly so. Retail and grocery store associates have been the backbone of communities, ensuring businesses could stay open during the crisis. Despite an appreciation of frontline employees, however, businesses are letting them down during this crisis. Frontline employees do not…

The holiday shopping season will look a lot different in the age of COVID-19. For one, U.S. e-commerce sales are expected to grow 18 percent to $709.8 billion this year, according to a June report from eMarketer. However, despite the fact that shopping will largely take place online this year, seasonal hiring isn't slowing down.…

Microsoft said on Friday it will permanently close all of its 83 store locations and will instead focus on its e-commerce business, where customers can visit for support, sales, training and more. The decision comes after Microsoft temporarily closed stores in March due to the spread of the coronavirus. Microsoft said the thousands of workers from these stores have…

A recent article in The New York Times looked at life in retail during the recent holiday selling season. It centered on a busy Manhattan store of a big, well-regarded apparel chain and one of its merchandising managers. I wasn’t surprised to read the retailer equipped employees with several apps to expedite sales and keep…

The holiday shopping season looks a lot different in the age of Amazon.com. Retailers are battling to win shoppers back from the online shopping giant, and for companies like Target this means adding staff. The Minneapolis-based retailer recently announced plans to hire a staggering 130,000 seasonal staffers to handle things like restocking and customer service…

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, a crop of talented seasonal employees received job offers from your competitors. And that means the highly coveted pool of seasonal retail talent just got even smaller — a situation that’s only intensifying as the U.S. unemployment rate continues to hover around a near-historic low…

While online shopping is growing in popularity, according to a 2018 NPR survey, 56 percent of consumers stated they appreciate the in-person experience over e-commerce. That means that today's in-person consumer is looking for a more bespoke buying experience, which puts pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers to provide the optimal in-store customer experience. This shift in…

In this week’s Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss hiring strategies for retailers, as written in a recent article featured on Total Retail, “How to Attract and Retain Gen Z Talent in a Tight Labor Market,” by Aaron Schwarzberg, chief operating officer of Learning Tribes. Younger workers expect more from…