There’s no doubt about it… When retailers gather together, magic happens. 🪄 

Over the past three days, we soaked up as much NRF as possible, connecting with leading retail experts about business-critical challenges and technology that can drive the industry forward. We reTAILGATED, toured local best-in-class retail stores, had powerful conversations with innovative retail leaders on the bleeding edge of new technology, and took well over 12,000 steps a day! 

These are a few of our favorite moments from the final day at NRF:

Empowering associates = progress in stores

A major theme of the last day of the show was about creating great in-store culture,  retaining and training top talent, and investing more in associates’ access to learning.

“Barnes & Noble is changing the historic model considerably,” says James Daunt, Chief Executive Officer at Barnes & Noble. “Most struggling companies would have cut costs in labor, but we’re focusing on development. We want to develop a smaller group of well-paid people. You have to pay them more and train them, and the bet is that better people will sell more and it will come back to you.”

Nailing the onboarding and training experience is one of the best ways to help your employees feel confident in their role and their brand. Organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%.   In an industry where the average employee churn is 60%, onboarding, and continuous training is critical for retailers that want to keep store teams engaged throughout their employment journey.

Learn more about how Zipline’s latest module helps retailers deliver frontline employees the tools and knowledge they need to be successful in their roles. 

Stores, stores, stores

Wednesday morning Eric Buff, Abbey White, and Eric Wardian took to the Big Ideas stage to share some of the ways that they foster open two-way communication, promote healthy competition, and maintain brand consistency across stores.

We can’t just pick one favorite quote, so here are some of our favorite words of wisdom from these leaders:

• “If we do things with intention, the stores pay attention,” – Eric Wardian
• “[Adopting] a communication task management platform shouldn’t be viewed as a change, but as a catalyst for change,” – Eric Buff
• “Bad habits get harder the bigger you get,” – Abbey White
• “There is a chaos cost associated with what you’re currently doing that is holding you back.” – Eric Wardian
• ” Listen to customers, patients, and what the data is telling you… And most importantly, listen to your associates. If you do that, your operations will go smoothly. ” – Eric Buff
• “If there is a solution that you’re interested in, don’t hesitate to make the jump and implement it. Don’t wait.” – Abbey White

Opening a store a week, creating customer “sanctuaries,” harnessing the power of community (and FOMO) – these are all things that luxury wellness brand Alo does with ease. So what’s their secret? We hosted an exclusive in-store experience where you’ll learn how the brand brings its covetable customer experience to life, all in the midst of transformational store growth. 

We heard from Alo’s communication team, field leadership, and store management about how they create a holistic brand experience that customers love and how they use Zipline to ensure operational ease and engagement.

We wish we could have nama-stayed all day!

👋Let’s keep the conversation going! 

We know there’s a lot happening in retail these days, and stores can only do so much. That’s why we built Zipline – to make store teams’ lives easier. For far too long, retail brands have struggled with disconnects between headquarters and frontline teams. In fact, only 29% of HQ directives are executed correctly by stores.

All these disconnects impact customer experience, sales, and brand sentiment. As you’re being asked to roll out more and more, and store teams are being asked to do more and more, it only gets harder to keep everything and everyone on track.

To ensure success tomorrow, you’ve got to keep today on track.

📣 We’d love to hear about the store initiatives you have planned this year and, if you’re interested, share more about how Zipline can help. Schedule some time and let’s chat again soon.