Sales Staff and Wage Optimization
Retail Challenge
Labor costs remain one of the greatest expenses for most retailers and consume between 10 and 17 percent of operating revenue. In these uncertain economic times, expense reduction is a top priority. Often used to improve the bottom line, reducing labor costs can sometimes lead to suboptimal results if done incorrectly. Ensuring that the reduction is well designed and well executed is crucial to the success of such a strategy. After all, having the right people in the right place at the right time is still the key to retail success. J.C. Williams Group has designed and fine tuned a program to help your organization achieve its financial goals through Sales Staff and Wage Optimization.
What We Offer
Our Sales Staff and Wage Optimization service will reduce your overall wage cost or decrease your wage costs as a percentage of revenue. Either one will have a significant positive impact on the bottom line.
Our program consists of two main components:
1. A store-by-store corporate planning model built from the top down to
• Allow for individual store planning
• Integrate annual corporate goals
• Incorporate fixed salaries
• Set productivity targets based on pure selling hours
• Accommodate non-selling and management tasks
• Customer analysis
2. A store labor budgeting template built from the bottom up that
• Addresses the uniqueness of each store
• Makes planning at the store level simple and agile
• Frees up store level management time to focus on other tasks
How We Do It
J.C. Williams Group’s experience means that we understand how all aspects of a retail business come together to create success.
Our services will typically include the following 3 phases:
Phase 1
• Analysis of head office requirements concerning store staff scheduling
• Visits to several typical stores of various sizes and success
• Collection and analysis of historical sales and staff cost data
Phase 2
Using all the information compiled above, we will:
• Develop a corporate planning template that will help plan sales staff in each store effectively and economically. The template can be integrated with your existing planning process and systems.
• Develop a store planning template that will obtain inputs from the corporate template and simplify store level staff planning.
Phase 3
• Implement the program either in test stores or chain-wide
• Monitor and measure results
Benefits to You
• Significant bottom line improvement through a reduction of labor expenses
• Increased conversion rates and improved profitability
• Superior customer service
• Improved in-store decision making
• Significant savings
Other dedicated labor scheduling software offered on the market costs from $150,000 to over $1 million. Our solution is more adaptable and customizable, at only a fraction of the cost.
Case Study
A U.S. based clothing retailer with 70 stores recently contracted our services. Through an analysis of their operation we were able develop a program that reduced their store staff costs immediately. Ensuring optimal staff levels was instrumental in this success.