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priorities and directs employees to
finish the most important tasks at
any given time.
Stock replenishment is a case in
point. Having the right products on
the shelves to meet shopper demand
is becoming increasingly complex in
an omnichannel environment, where
retailers must accommodate “buy
online, return in store” (BORIS),
“buy online, pick up in store”
(BOPIS), and ship-from-store pref-
erences, for example. Solutions such
as StoreOptimizer combine hand-
held hardware and a smartphone-like
interface with software that connects
to a company’s inventory management
system, alerting associates to in-demand
items that need to be replenished on the
floor. Associates receive an alert on their
handheld device directing them to a pre-
cise location in the stockroom to retrieve
a specific number of items, and then
directing them to the location on the floor
where those items must be replenished—
all in real time. The process streamlines
associates’ work while improving on-shelf
availability of products and reducing
stockouts, driving increased customer sat-
isfaction, Simmerman says.
Honeywell Safety and Productivity
Solutions offers a similar store operations
tool in its Connected Retail Solution,
which combines software and hardware to deliver real-time information to
in-store associates for inventory management, stock replenishment, click-and-collect ordering, and so forth. Beyond
the benefits of greater productivity and
improved service levels, such tools also
boost employee engagement, helping
associates feel more confident in their
ability to serve customers, says Karen
Bomber, the company’s director of retail
industry marketing.
“[With these technologies], you are
empowering associates to know that
without scanning a bar code or looking
something up, they have the technology
in their hands that will tell them where
something is,” which allows them to more
easily—and more confidently—interact
with customers, she explains.
EMBRACING WORKFORCE
MANAGEMENT TOOLS
External factors are coming into play as
well. Record unemployment levels are
helping to raise interest in labor-related
technology solutions as employers seek to
“do more with less” and find candidates
to fill open positions. Simmerman points
to growing interest in workforce management solutions (WFM) that cater to the
demands of the changing work force as
one example. Such tools allow employers
to create more accurate schedules and
minimize staffing shortages or over-cov-erage, and they also put more power in
the hands of associates. For instance,
JDA’s WFM for retailers includes mobile
