Retailers use Mobile to Ace Inspections and Improve Store Appearance

Introduction:
If you run a retail store, you have a lot to worry about.

Inventory management, marketing, customer service, and appearances can have a huge impact on how customers view your store. On top of that, you’re busy navigating the enormous changes underway in the retail industry, from the soaring e-commerce market, where global sales hit $1.3 trillion in 2014, to the growing list of options like beacons, mobile payments, and Buy Online and Pick-up In the Store (BOPIS).

Business as usual is no longer an option. You have to make some big shifts to keep up, and that’s a tall order.

Retailers are faced with a scary reality: change or become obsolete.

“Technological innovations and a hyper-connected world have significantly influenced consumer behaviors and expectations,” explains Bashar Nejdawi, president of the technology retailer Ingram Micro Mobility, in an article for Forbes. “As a result, retailers are faced with a scary reality: change or become obsolete.”

You’re probably already paying attention to how clean and safe your store is — and that’s a good thing. But with so many other major priorities on your plate, you might not know how important it is to really focus on cleanliness, overall appearance, and safety, and you might not know how to juggle these things while also managing everything else.

But cleanliness, safety, and appearances matter. Your customers are definitely paying attention to the look (and smell) of your store — including its exterior and restrooms, which are often overlooked — and making purchase decisions based on those factors.

In addition, cleanliness and safety go hand in hand. Clean, dry floors are less likely to be sites for slip-and-falls. Clean cooking equipment, if your establishment serves food, helps make sure you’re serving safe products to your customers. Disinfectants prevent germs from spreading to your employees or customers.

Mobile forms and checklists can be a powerful way to ensure your store is clean, attractive, and safe, and can help your staff work more efficiently vs. relying on traditional paper forms. This eBook will show you how.

You’ll learn how mobile can help you:

• Make your store look great inside and out. 
• Keep displays and inventory up to date. 
• Prioritize safety for customers and employees.
• Boost efficiency and grow your bottom line.

Technology can help you get ahead in the global retail industry. To learn more, don’t miss our guide, “4 Ways Technology Helps Retailers Thrive in the Modern Marketplace.”

Chapter 1: Make your store look great inside and out

Looks matter in the retail industry. If you have great customer service and competitive prices but your signage and displays don’t lure customers in the door, you’re not going to have much success.

Consider, for instance, that in a study conducted by Harris Interactive, 99 percent of shoppers said poor cleanliness would negatively affect their perception of a store. Shoppers also said unclean restrooms and bad odors were worse than poor customer service.

Another study found that 14 percent of consumers would stop visiting a store that was not as clean as they would like, and another 29 percent would only dash in to get something they couldn’t find elsewhere.

99% percent of shoppers said poor cleanliness would negatively affect their perception of a store. 

95% of customers use outside appearances to decide where to shop.

But it’s not just the inside of your store that matters. From your parking lot to trash cans, everything needs to be in tip-top shape. A 2011 survey by market research firm Morpace found that 95 percent of customers use outside appearances to decide where to shop, and more than half (52 percent) would avoid a store because of a dirty appearance from the outside.

Displays, walkways, signage, bathrooms, parking lots, trash cans — your customers notice it all. And keeping it all in shape isn’t easy.

What challenges do retailers face keeping up appearances? 

• Stores with lots of SKUs just have a lot to keep track of, resulting in potentially messy displays.
• Employees can’t clean and help customers find items at the same time — but customers want both service and cleanliness.
• If you only have one set of bathrooms, then closing them for cleaning interrupts traffic flow.
• Let’s be honest: your customers don’t always put things back where they found them.

The good news is that of customers who have chosen to shop at a competitor due to unmet cleanliness expectations, 93 percent said they would come back if that retailer made a clean store a priority.

Furthermore, shoppers who want clean stores “aren’t looking to do a white-glove test,” as Retail News Insider put it. They just want stores that meet five qualifications: 

• They smell clean. 
• They are well-lit (cleaning light fixtures is a good way to ensure good lighting).
• They have a clean checkout area. 
• They have neat and orderly product displays.
• They have well-maintained restrooms.

93% said they would come back if that retailer made a clean store a priority

What can help?

The basics of keeping a clean store are pretty simple, and they’re the same things your parents taught you as a kid: put things back where you found them and clean up after yourself. But of course, cleaning an entire store is more complicated than cleaning your childhood bedroom. Consider these tips:

• Create a daily cleaning routine for your staff. They won’t forget anything if they know that the floors are always mopped before the windows are cleaned.
• Train them to mop up any spills or messes as soon as they’re made, and deal with any hazards ASAP.
• Details matter. Don’t just mop floors and wipe down sinks — pay attention to door handles, ceiling vents and fans (which are often overlooked), and hard-to-reach corners, including those hidden by shelving or other furniture.
• Ensure all employees, or at least every employee on cleaning duty, are properly trained on cleaning policies and procedures, have access to adequate supplies, and understand what “clean” means.
• Describe the end result: “Doors and door handles should be free of handprints and scuff marks,” for example.
• Consider a cleaning checklist, which can help you ensure that nothing gets missed.

Use mobile to make cleaning more effective 

If you’re investing all this effort in a clean, clutter-free store, the last thing you need is for your employees to be carrying around pieces of paper to help them remember everything that needs cleaning and organizing. Yet many retailers still rely on paper forms and haven’t yet made the switch to digital forms and other technology-based solutions that make cleaning more efficient and effective. With mobile forms, your employees can have all the information they need at their fingertips, without excess paper — and when they’re done, they can email the completed checklist (and even photos of the sparkling clean store) to their supervisor, corporate, and others immediately to analyze results.

Chapter 2: Keep displays and inventory up to date

Your inventory is your biggest investment, and getting it right takes a lot of work. Customers don’t like seeing outdated inventory or empty racks. They don’t like having to ask, “Is there more in the back?” and having the answer be “I’m not sure.” But as you know, keeping track of what’s coming in and going out isn’t always easy.

Small and medium-sized businesses can’t always afford pricey inventory management software, but as retail operations move to a more “omnichannel” strategy, things can get pretty complicated. In all likelihood, you’re selling online through multiple channels, as well as managing the inventory in your brick-and-mortar store(s). Plenty of retailers even use their stores as fulfillment centers from which they house and ship goods when online orders come in. These added variables make it all the more important — and all the more challenging — to accurately predict and manage inventory.

Beyond that, customers’ needs and wants are changing daily. And the growth of online me ga-retailers has led customers to expect flexibility, a wide range of inventory, and that they can have what they want right now.

Customers don’t like seeing outdated inventory or empty racks. They don’t like having to ask, “Is there more in the back?” and having the answer be “I’m not sure.” 

It can feel overwhelming sometimes but technology can help.

What technologies support inventory and stock management? 

• Inventory tracking software, which allows you to track inventory by type, cost, quantity, and volume. 
• Database programs, (such as Microsoft Access) that you can tailor to your specific needs — as long as you can code.
• Mobile apps, which put inventory data and information in the palm of your employees’ hands.

The big guys, like Home Depot, have dedicated mobile devices that let workers help customers locate products, give information about products, and even check customers out before they reach the register.

Even the most basic of these mobile apps are a huge step up from tracking inventory manually.

Luckily, there are plenty of mobile apps out there that can give you similar superpowers for a much more affordable price. Use them to track inventory (and know where it is in your store), and keep track of sales so you can crunch numbers and see what products are flying off the shelves. Even the most basic of these mobile apps are a huge step up from tracking inventory manually.

Consider, for example, how these apps can help: 

• With this mobile inventory tracking sheet (bar-code enabled), you can track a wide range of data on your products and supplies, such as beginning and ending dates, item number, description, quantities on hand, and the last date in which the item was inventoried.
• Use this mobile app to manage food inventory if your retail store has a restaurant. You can record purchasing units and unit prices, along with inventory units for meats and poultry, seafood and fish, dairy, produce, grocery, dry goods, and bakery items.
• Keep your inventory organized with this mobile item-inventory sheet. Calculate the balance of inventory on hand, know when items are received and shipped, and track location.

Another bonus of strong inventory management? It’s actually good for employee morale. One company owner told Successful Business News, “Not only does this mean we don’t have to disappoint our customers, but…[our employees] don’t have to deal with the frustration of not being able to fulfill an order.” To say nothing of how mobile can improve the process of doing a full-store inventory — is not usually a fun task for your employees.

Use mobile apps to track inventory and keep track of sales so you can crunch numbers and see what products are flying off the shelves. 

Chapter 3: Prioritize

A clean store is a safe store. And safety matters for customers and employees — and your bottom line.

You might not think of your retail business as a target of OSHA fines. After all, retail establishments don’t use much heavy equipment, handle many hazardous materials or chemicals, and don’t perform dangerous work like welding. But injuries still happen, so OSHA is cracking down on the retail industry, issuing thousands of dollars in fines for everything from failing to keep passageways clean and clear, obstructing exits, and storing boxes in a way that makes them prone to falling.

New regulations went into effect on January 1, 2015, requiring all retail employers to report work-related deaths to OSHA within 8 hours, and work-related serious injuries within 24 hours. 

According to the law firm Epstein, Becker, Green, OSHA has been “very aggressive in its enforcement efforts and in seeking large penalties.” It intends to encourage its inspectors to impose the highest possible penalties going forward.

In addition, OSHA has tightened its reporting requirements and added a recordkeeping requirement for many types of businesses that previously did not have to keep injury records. New regulations went into effect on January 1, 2015, requiring all retail employers to report work-related deaths to OSHA within 8 hours, and work-related serious injuries within 24 hours.

The good news is that you are not likely to see many very serious injuries at work in retail, but that doesn’t mean your employees and customers can’t get hurt or even die from unsafe conditions — and cost your company big. Just think of the slew of personal injury lawsuits that have arisen after Black Friday shopping events due to a lack of crowd control. As CNN reports, one anonymous website, blackfridaydeathcount.com, even tracks the number of injuries (98) and deaths (7) that have occurred in stores on Black Friday.

But poor crowd control at major retail events isn’t the only safety hazard of concern. Many of the retail citations in 2013 were related to poor “housekeeping and cleanliness” and “trip and fall” hazards, all of which can be prevented by keeping your store clean.

If you’re still relying on paper forms to keep your store clean and safe, a potential problem might remain a problem for hours, even days or weeks, after it’s noticed. To understand why that is, imagine that a clerk spots a loose shelf in the back of the store, covered in heavy merchandise. She may fill out a paper form documenting the problem and leave it in the office, but your maintenance team doesn’t know there’s a problem until they physically come to the office to collect the forms.

If you’re still relying on paper forms to keep your store clean and safe, a potential problem might remain a problem for hours, even days or weeks, after it’s noticed.  

If you equip your team with mobile forms though, that same clerk can document the problem (with photographs, if necessary), and maintenance will receive a notification immediately.

How else can mobile apps help?

Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets put information at your employees’ fingertips — including the many safety regulations they need to track and enforce in your store, but might not always remember in the rush of the job. By equipping your managers and employees with something as simple as a mobile safety checklist, you can lower your risk of an essential safety measure slipping through the cracks — and leading to a costly lawsuit or even workers’ compensation claim.

Why checklists? Again, the goal is to keep it simple, and there’s nothing complicated about a checklist, which can help you systematically ensure that your safety procedures are clear, effective, and easy for your employees to access and follow.

You can use mobile checklists to:

• Identify risks and alert folks of them immediately 
• Create emergency plans 
• Label hazardous materials 
• Maintain equipment 
• Train new employees
• Prepare for OSHA and local government inspections

You can also use checklists for general inspections of your parking lot, restrooms, water fountains, and warehouse. Or you can use them to look for specific safety issues like precariously balanced boxes in a storeroom, wet floors, conveyors in your warehouse, forklifts, and more.

Stay compliant easily

The Co-operative Group, based in the U.K., is one of the world’s largest community-focused food retailers, with 2,800 food stores and gas stations across the country. Until recently, the company’s field management team was still using paper and pen to conduct on-site store audits. By switching to mobile, the results of safety inspections are sent to the head office immediately. And by using mobile to collect data, results from all 2,800 stores can be collected together for detailed, real-time data analysis.

A paper trail — minus the paper

Customers or employees who slip, fall, and injure themselves at your store may even sue you. As the law firm Selman Breitman advises, some cases are legitimate: people get badly injured, and a hazard at the store was to blame. But sometimes plaintiffs exaggerate or even fabricate claims. In these cases, good record-keeping can be one of your best pieces of evidence. Video surveillance isn’t always available (and doesn’t always show a scene in enough detail), but good cleaning logs and incident reports are practical.

A cleaning checklist app can take all this data and store it for you in the cloud.

A “proper cleaning log,” Selman Breitman lawyer Fred Heiser explains, shows that an area was inspected on a certain date by a certain employee, and if it was found to be dirty or hazardous, what the problem is, when it was discovered, and how it was fixed. If keeping track of all this paper makes you start to break out in hives, consider that a cleaning checklist app can take all this data and store it for you in the cloud. That gives you a paper trail — minus the actual paper — to see precisely what happened, when, and how your staff responded so that you can defend yourself in the event of a lawsuit.

No matter the size or type of store, you need to keep everything clean, up-to-date, and most of all, safe. You need to do these things on top of building a roadmap for success in a fast-changing — and intensely challenging — global retail marketplace. Part of that roadmap involves using technology to streamline and improve how you operate. However, the technology doesn’t have to be complicated and expensive. There are plenty of costly options on the market, but they’ll take you a long time to get up and running, not to mention ongoing employee training. 

Considering that your employees likely have varied tech experience, the last thing you want is to give them something they can’t use.

That’s why simple solutions like mobile apps, which the majority of employees already use on their own, work best. 

Say goodbye to paper and move your business into the 21st century with Canvas’ suite of mobile forms. Browse our selection of existing apps, let us convert your paper forms into apps, or create your own apps with our easy-to-use technology. 

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.