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How Mobile Solutions Can Transform the Retail Associate Experience

How Mobile Solutions Can Transform the Retail Associate Experience

In today’s highly competitive retail environment, keeping your employees engaged and motivated is crucial to the success of your business. Of the many drivers of expense in retail, the cost of attracting, retaining, and, all too often, retraining employees is arguably the most difficult to address. A study by Axonify and Nudge on the state of “deskless workers” found that 40% of retail frontline employees want to quit their jobs, up 37% in 2022 over the previous year. 

Employee retention is vital in retail, where high turnover rates can cause a significant loss of productivity, sales, and profitability. One effective way to improve the retail associate experience and increase retention is by leveraging mobile-based technology such as retail mobile apps.

Mobile-based technology can provide retail associates with the tools they need to be more efficient and effective on the job. With a mobile application dedicated to the associate experience, retailers can drive productivity for associates, allowing them to access product information, check inventory levels, process transactions, and communicate with customers and other team members in real time. Additionally, it can increase management’s span of control, enabling more efficient in-store communication, staff coordination, dynamic scheduling, task and compliance management, and access to real-time training content.

Keep reading for more detailed ways you can use mobile applications for retailers to improve the retail associate experience and increase retention.

Provide Mobile Training and Onboarding

Retailers can use a mobile application dedicated to the associate experience to provide on-the-job training and onboarding for new hires. By using mobile devices, you can deliver personalized and interactive training programs that can be completed anytime, anywhere. This helps ensure that new employees are up-to-speed quickly and can provide excellent customer service from day one. Additionally, retailers can salvage investment in corporate LMS platforms by modernizing, consolidating multiple sources of procedural and training documents, and presenting them on a single, robust in-store device.

Streamline Communication and Collaboration

Utilizing a mobile application can streamline communication and collaboration, whether that be corporate to field, associate to associate, or associate to management. By using app features that enable team collaboration, associates can easily communicate with each other, share information, and collaborate on projects. This can improve team dynamics and create a more cohesive work environment. Communication could also include culture and brand messaging to detail in-store compliance policies. 

Dynamic Scheduling

Having employees connected via a mobile associate experience application can significantly benefit dynamic scheduling by enabling real-time scheduling changes, employee self-service, remote work, real-time analytics, and advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning. By leveraging these technologies, organizations can optimize workforce utilization, reduce labor costs, and improve employee satisfaction and engagement.

Task and Compliance Management

When transitioned to mobile-based technology, task and compliance management can enable real-time task assignments, digital task lists, digital forms and checklists, real-time compliance checks, and mobile learning and training. By leveraging a mobile associate experience application, organizations can improve their task and compliance management processes, reduce the risk of compliance violations, and increase employee productivity and satisfaction.

Enhance Associate & Customer Experience

Mobile technology can be used to enhance the customer experience and improve sales. By using mobile devices to access product information, inventory levels, and customer preferences, associates can provide more personalized and informed recommendations. Mobile payment options can also offer customers a faster, more convenient checkout experience.

Offer Incentives and Rewards

Associate experience mobile applications can offer incentives and rewards to associates who meet or exceed performance targets. By using gamification techniques and mobile apps, you can create a fun and engaging work environment that rewards associates for their hard work and dedication.

Investing in Mobile-Based Technology to Transform the Associate Experience

In conclusion, mobile-based technology can be a powerful tool for improving the retail associate experience and increasing retention. With an app dedicated to the associate experience, retailers can create a more engaged and motivated workforce that delivers outstanding results.

At Wizeline, we work with leading retail businesses to deliver innovative technologies, including natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, to create digital retail solutions. Our proven implementation expertise allows us to address retail needs, such as developing custom associate applications and integrating leading associate experience platforms. 

Through our partnership with WorkJam, we help retail companies rapidly install WorkJam’s employee engagement app and seamlessly integrate it with other systems to ensure a consistent, highly engaging user experience. If you’d like to learn more about how Wizleine and WorkJam can help, contact us at consulting@wizeline.com.


Tajma Brown

Posted by Tajma Brown on February 15, 2023