At the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show this week in New York City, brick-and-mortar was at the center of the conversation. With the pandemic era fully behind us, customers are returning to stores, and brands and retailers are looking for ways to make the in-store experience more seamless than ever. One special area of focus for many brands: upgrading their store staff’s training and on-hand technology.
At NRF, representatives from multiple brands spoke about the necessity of properly equipping and educating store staff to efficiently serve customers in the store. New data from the NRF showed that 73% of customers go into a store knowing what they want to buy instead of just wanting to browse, compared to 54% of people saying the same about e-commerce.
Foot Locker’s customers in-store are often dedicated sneakerheads with both in-depth product knowledge and a specific product in mind that they’re looking for. Sasha Palacios, general manager at the newly reopened Foot Locker flagship in Manhattan, told Glossy that it is imperative for the retailer’s in-store staff to be just as educated on the latest releases as the customer is. To do that, Palacios said employees receive training and education on new sneakers every day through Foot Locker’s internal apps, Lace Up and Sneaker U.
“I’ve been here almost 20 years and I’ve seen the evolution of how we train our employees, starting with textbooks,” Palacios said. “We have such a diversity of customers coming into our stores, and when our store staff are experts, it helps build loyalty.”
The “reimagined stores,” Foot Locker’s term for its slate of new store renovations in the last year, have been central to the company’s recent strategy. In addition to the store in Manhattan, Foot Locker opened reimagined stores in Melbourne, Delhi and Utrecht last year and will open two more, in New York and Western Massachusetts, this year. The reiminaged stores include the latest of Foot Locker’s retail tech upgrades, including 3D scanning to help find a perfect fit. These stores have already seen higher conversion rates and basket sizes than Foot Locker’s other stores and are bringing in more women, a target demographic for Foot Locker.
“The majority of the communities coming into our store are sneaker passionate,” Palacios said. “And we hire from these communities so that there’s a shared passion between our Stripers and the customers. Our team is young, diverse and relatable, and that’s an asset.”
Within the Sneaker U app, there’s a survey form where store staff can submit requests, concerns, questions and more to company management to help communicate what support is needed on the floor.
Joe Granato, vp of North American stores and global retail operations at Arc’teryx, said Arc’teryx regularly lets employees test-drive the products, including by taking them on outdoor trips to test rain jackets and other gear.
“Maintaining credibility with our core athlete is super important,” Granato said on Monday. “Having our team participate in these activities really makes a difference.”
Granato said that elevating the in-store staff’s expertise, as well as their level of service, is paramount as e-commerce has continued to grow. The speed and quality of information that an online customer has access to is high, which has trained customers to expect the same level of service in all channels, even in-store.
“The guest doesn’t want to be left on the floor,” he said. “You should be able to serve them right there. We want seamlessness. If a guest wants to try something on, it should arrive in 30 seconds or less. And that takes a lot of discipline from everyone involved.”
