Retail Insights Unveiled: Maximizing Store Team Potential

Welcome to our new Retail Razor Show, DataBlades, our new standalone Retail Razor

Show, where we talk real world numbers andslice through measurable consumer insights

based on research at the point of sale.

And bringing us that slicing and dicing ofdata is Georgina Nelson, CEO of TruRating.

TruRating helps retailers heardirectly from validated shoppers

daily, and recently had a majormilestone of half a billion responses.

Retailers using TruRating average an80 percent response rate on questions

asked, made possible by asking a singlerotating question directly on the POS

pinpad, making it a seamless part ofthe shopper's checkout experience.

TruRating also works with theirretail partners to develop consumer

insights reports by running questionson an industry topic or theme.

These anonymous responses are linked tometrics such as basket size and repeat

visits to produce industry changinginsights like the ones Georgina will share

with us today and raise our data blades.

I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.

And I'm your cohost, Casey Golden.

Welcome Georgina.

Thank you, thrilled to behere with you both today

So today's Retail Razor Data Bladestopic is - the strategic advantage

of well informed store teams.

Georgina, let's dive in.

Thank you.

So I thought I'd touch today onthe success story of one of our

retail clients, who is a globalsporting goods retailer, which for

me highlights a real fundamentalprinciple in retail, basically the

advantage of well informed store teams.

So in their stores, shopperswere asked, did the staff give

you several product options?

So on average, across all of their stores,90 percent of shoppers answered yes.

And the result which they sawwas an impressive 27 percent

increase in average shopper spend.

And so essentially, yeah, what this reallytells us is well informed store teams have

the ability to, you know, offer customersa real diverse range of product choices

based on the needs of each shopper.

And ultimately this creates aatmosphere of personalization.

So shoppers really feelthat their preferences are

generally understood and valued.

So store teams can suggestcomplimentary products through

cross selling, or they can nudgecustomers, like, to more expensive

premium options through upselling.

And so, we found that when customersfeel that a store team really understands

their needs and offers these tailoredsuggestions, yet they are ultimately

more likely to consider additionalitems and higher end alternatives.

And so, ultimately, that leads to higheroverall purchase values, and that's

what we saw with our sports retailer.

And yeah, ultimately, it's not justall about, the bottom line and sales,

you know, really an informed storeteam can create that holistic shopping

experience, which we all love and which,when we walk into a store and speak

to a store associate, we really feelresonates with us as a brand and, in this

competitive retail landscape, I reallybelieve that this type of personalized

approach sets retailers apart.

It's been so difficult forstore teams to get that type of

information to corporate, right?

Store managers know how oftenthat they're talking to customers.

Sales associates, theyfeel that they have impact.

into the sales.

They know that they've cross sold.

They know that they've been helpingcustomers all day, but this is just

such a great way to prove on thetransaction level that these, these

sales associates are increasing sales.

They're increasing AUR.

They literally are partof the bottom line.

So I think this is just very, veryexciting to see because so rarely

is that type of a question, inmy opinion, Make it to corporate.

And in such a nice definitive way, right?

I think I really love this

There's no gray area.

Yeah, exactly.

It's not, it's not gray, right?

It's very clear what the impact is.

And I mean, we've always sort of, had, Iguess I have to call it a cliche, right?

That when everyone says all those,your frontline store teams are

the face of your retail brand.

And so many retail executives will saythat, but they say it loosely without

really having something to back it up.

And this provides that proof point thatsays, no, there is an absolute tangible

Impact to having that well informed team.

And I think this trickles back.

If I'm the retailer seeing this point,this should be telling me, Oh, well, that

means my store team, they must've beennot only are they well informed, that

means they've done the training, right?

So maybe this speaks to the effectivenessof sales training that we've had and

product training that we've had becausethere was a measurable sales increase

from customers that had interaction,engagement, with that staff member.

So it's another, it's yet anothervalidation point that says maybe it

does make sense after all that weinvest in those store team members, to

help make them better at what they do.

And it is reflectedback in our sales data.

exactly.

I think, you know, what's, what's reallyimportant is once you see this kind of

stat at a, at a higher level, Actually,it's about drilling it down to what

is happening on each of those stores.

So when we talk about that overallaverage, 90%, which is phenomenal,

when we actually get down to itin all our retailers, as you'll

expect, there's got execution gaps.

There's some stores which areexecuting on that strategy really well.

and others which are lagging behind.

And you can even see the difference,you know, when the, when the store

manager is on their off day, forexample, these things can lapse.

And so it's really, putting into thehands of the, of the regional managers,

even the store managers themselves,all the way up to corporate, the

view of how that strategy has beenexecuted at a store level across,

you know, across the course of a day.

And so, You can say to a particularstore, we can see that we're losing,

X amount of revenue because simplyyour teams aren't doing the upsell.

They're not looking at cross sellopportunities and, yeah, and we

need to give you some more coachingto get, get you up to speed.

Yeah.

I would even challenge that a storethat would have 90 percent yes, would

probably have less turnover and probablyhave a great team, you know, if it

was 90%, no, you probably have a veryhigh turnover and your store manager

is not engaging your associates andthey're not really a cohesive team.

I mean, this could into several otherlike divisions, to really communicate

how is like a nice little health check,

Yeah, exactly.

And, you know, when we speak to, whenwe speak to managers within retail,

I think so much, previously, they're,they're managing on gut, it's my gut

sense that this team, we've got problems,you've got issues, maybe, and, and

having customers, all your customersbeing essentially a mystery shopper

and providing, providing this data justtakes the emotion and the heat out of it.

It's like everyone, look, thisis what our customers are saying.

We're all aligned.

This is, you know, let's take action.

And it means the store teams cantrust the data and corporate trust

the data and that means everyone'saligned on action, actionability.

oh my gosh, I was broughtback like deja vu there.

I just had a flashback of like, ohmy god I have a secret shop coming

in this quarter Ha ha ha ha day I wasjust like, oh my god, is that them?

Is that them?

I remember those moments.

Now it happens at every single checkout

Well, and isn't there also a factor hereabout tracking customer repeat visits?

I know that the questions are doneanonymously, but because you are mapping

against point of sale data, right?

I'm assuming there's an ability youcan help a retailer track this as

a lifetime customer value metric

Yeah, exactly.

So, you know, not only is therethat, I'm going to spend more in the

moment, you're persuading me to getthe, those more expensive trainers,

for example, but that impact of thatpersonalization and that consultative

sale means I'm more likely to come back.

So yeah, that's definitely whatwe, what we look at as well.

It's very interesting, I can't saythat Ricardo and I wouldn't have

a blast digging in and slicingand dicing that data Now Now

It just sounds like a good time

Well, I would love to come and sharemany other insights with you on what

we're, what we're hearing from shoppersall over the U S anytime you would like.

There's like you said earlier thereis so much happening with consumer

behavior right now across so manydifferent generations shopping

right now at the same time We'rethis having the consumer insights

essentially coming in in real time.

It's just really really such agood move for retailers to make sure

that like they have a pulse and theyactivate a pulse on any given moment.

Yeah, I couldn't, couldn't agree morethan, keeping current on the wave of

consumer, consumer change and sentiment.

So we're happy on the be journey.

Well, that does it for anotheredition of Retail Razor Blades.

Thank you, Georgina.

Thank you so much for having me.

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I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.

Thanks for joining us.

Until next time, keep cuttingthrough the clutter and stay sharp.

This is the Retail Razor Data Blades.