Category: Retail

Looking at the typical bank, it would be so easy to assume that managing or operating a bank would be somewhat of a breeze. However, this is not so, especially when it comes to retail banking. There are so many factors at play here that concrete and accurate analysis can be very difficult for any bank manager or proprietor. Fortunately, this endeavor can easily be achieved with the help of KPI in retail banking.

What exactly is a KPI? This is actually an acronym that stands for Key Performance Indicator. This is a quantifiable factor that is used to measure the current performance or status of a business or enterprise, matching this against the goals and objectives that were once set way back during the foundation of the enterprise itself. In laymens terms, KPIs are measures used to determine how far along a business or enterprise is in its path towards achieving goals and objectives. Such is the purpose of the KPI, and this is very much needed when it comes to retail banking as well.

So, what are the KPIs that should be used in the industry of retail banking? These are actually the factors that are related to the overall performance of the retail bank. This is a very broad definition of the type of KPI that you can use in retail banking. To be more specific, here are some of the following metrics that you can use.

One of the metrics that you can use is the total cash deposits that the bank holds in a month. This should be included since this can measure how effective the retail bank is in attracting their customers and clients to make as many deposits as possible. After all, a retail bank earns its profit from the deposits that their clients make, right? Thus, this should be a metric to be included. In relation to this metric, the average annual deposits should also be used as a metric.

Another metric that you can use is the average number of depositors for each branch of the retail bank. Retail banks do branch out over time, especially when business is going well. Thus, it is important to determine the average number of depositors in each given branch. This still pertains to the ability of the bank to attract depositors.

The ratio of active depositors to dormant depositors should also be included as a metric here. We all know that not all accounts in a bank are active. Having a large number of dormant accounts is something that banks want to avoid because this would only mean bad business for them. Thus, this should be included as a metric as well.

The rate of borrowing risk should also be calculated. Banks are primary lending institutions, and when it comes to lending, banks should very well gauge the risk that comes with granting loans. For this, the bank should exert efforts in determining the possibility that the borrower would end up not being able to pay his loan once it matures. There is also that risk that the borrower might default.

These are just some of the KPI in retail banking that you should consider including. With these KPIs, the retail banks operations can run more smoothly.

Being involved in the retail industry is often a job by default. You start off in a casual or part time position when you turn 16, excited by your first job earning money of your own. Then it’s time for University. But how many people don’t make it that far? Sometimes the opportunity isn’t there for gaining a degree. Whatever the reasons, retail has many success’s in people starting as youngsters and working their way up through the ranks to become CEO, a worthy title to claim. The reasons people start off and stay in retail vary from convenience of knowing the role to being able to work part time suiting children once they’ve had families, It also come with opportunities through trainee program, gaining experience and education all the while being paid for it. When the crunch of losing a job you’ve spent years training for comes, it’s often retail, what some consider a lower level of employment, you return to. Yet retail has an unfair reputation as it sustains millions of people world wide and is one of the most reliable forms of income. Hours in retail may come and go like every other industry but if you look at statistics from Wal-Mart, you’ll understand, based on one company alone, how retail has it’s place in society as stable employment.

Maybe you’ve lost your job, lost your nerve as a return to work applicant, or think you haven’t got the skills it takes to apply for an advertised position. I spoke to a friend who is a Regional Manager in a large company and asked him what advice he would give to those trying to return to work……. Suzanne Beck

The first step for anyone returning back into the work force is to realize that they can add great value to the potential employer even that may not have had recent physical working experience but they have through there own experiences organised, managed other areas of there life and generally they come more balanced, opened minded, non re active and adaptive to the current work place because of these experiences.

In preparation the interviewee needs to think of the following.

-Coming prepared and confident and never assume that they are not good enough for the job as you can never judge or know what they may be looking for

-What they can bring to the job they are interviewing for

-What they are looking for from the employment

Do research on the company by internet but more important were possible in person. (Nothing better than showing you have gone to the workplace)

-Think of the job or role they are going for and bring examples from there experience that can translate. For example a role of the job may be giving instructions to a staff member and translate that to something you have done in your personal life with either kids, community groups or even an event you may have held at home.

At the interview

-Personal presentation is very important but your body signals, attitude and energy levels tell an interviewer more.

-Keep on track and try an answer clearly and concise. If you feel you have not answered the question confirm with the interviewer.

– Be honest when unsure of a question

-Always have questions to ask the interviewer relevant to role

-Try and give confidence to the interviewer that you have long term plans within the role and or company

In my experience of interviewing for staff at all levels of the business the main thing I am looking for is how is this person going to fit into my team and what is the real person like I am talking to. It is not always experience. That is were some people make the mistake when they assume to know what I’m looking for and answer how they think I want to hear the answers. Thinking that to get the job you must have had done the job before and must be experienced in the field. Keep in mind building a team takes all personalities, ages and you may have exactly what is needed for the team you are about to join. If I can not see who you are outside the interview it makes the decision on hiring a lot harder.

I know this is easy for me to say, but just let a bit of your personality show and ensure you talk about yourself not just answering the standard questions. Add words like from my experience, I would, I like and this can open up to a more relaxing discussion and can break down some interview barriers.

I find applicants returning back into the workforce from long periods generally have strong work ethics and if given a chance are long term employees and very productive within the team. They are open minded and always receptive to new ideas and direction. They don’t come with a attitude of I know everything. All you need to do is show that in the interview and more likely the job could be yours.

Dea Noc Advice for returning to work Advice for returning to work

Microsoft Dynamics GP is also referred as Great Plains Dynamics by GP user community. In Retail business you typically have such challenging requirements to your future Corporate ERP system, as POS (Point of Sale terminals, usually cash register with barcode scanner, coupon printer, credit/debit card, check and cash processors, POS screen for the customer to see the progress of scanning, etc.), merchandise barcode scanners in such automations as Sales Order Fulfillment, Inventory Replenishment, Increase/Decrease adjustments, Cycle Counts (these functions are typically implemented in Warehouse Management System software). Sometimes you also do assembly on order, which might be realized in such simple manufacturing modules as Bill of Materials, or even on the Kits level in Sales Order Processing. Lets review the highlights on how Retail business could be automated in Microsoft Dynamics GP. This publication is intended primarily to IT director, it is not overloaded with programming and technical terminology:

1.Dynamics GP and Retail external products or add-ons. If you like to have only very limited POS functionality and open Great Plains Sales Order Transaction entry to barcode scanning, there are several Dynamics GP Add-ons to consider. One of them is Compass Technologies extension. However, if you plan to do more advanced level of Retailing, such as supporting multiple stores, reorder merchandise, having mobile stores (where you are following seasonal retail trends, and rolling out your Flowers, Landscaping or Farmer Market outlets on the parking lots of the supermarkets), you may consider to implement external Retail application to automate these processes. As Dynamics GP is part of the Microsoft offer, we recommend you to consider Microsoft RMS (Retail Management System) for the upscale POS and Retail solution

2.POS extension versus external RMS. Obviously this is a decision, which should be done internally, as it defines your future direction advantages and disadvantages. If you pick POS extensions for Dynamics GP route, you do not need data synchronization phase, as POS add-on works directly with Great Plains transactions and master records. External POS system gives you the advantage of rich Retail business logic, but there are drawbacks, such as the necessity to synchronize POS transactions with Dynamics GP Sales Order Processing or Receivable Management documents, as well as Retail system originated Purchases and Inventory Adjustments and Transfers with similar transactions in Great Plains

3.Dynamics GP and Barcoding. You may try barcode scanning integration directly in GP windows, but this is not very efficient (especially taking into consideration such powerful barcode scanner options as batch mode documents scanning, and then batch mode upload to your ERP application). Normally we recommend you to purchase either external RMS or POS extension to GP, where barcoding is integrated. And when you need Barcoding on the warehouse floor, we recommend you to consider WMS (Warehouse Management System) add-on for GP, where you have such features as Sales Order Allocation, Inventory Adjustments, Transfers and Physical Counts, Merchandise Restocking

4.POS and Barcoding hardware. When you are in process of the next Corporate ERP system selection for retail business, it is important to review your Barcoding, Cash Registers on the subject of being compatible with the prospective Retail software. Please, note that barcode scanners and printers are progressing. For example in Barcode scanner selection dilemma you have multiple luxury or rather budget oriented options: having graphical user interface, or support only few lines of text in scanning, power of the internal processor, memory size, wireless protocols, etc. Microsoft RMS and Dynamics GP Workstation should be compatible with modern Microsoft Windows computer (where for cash register you probably want to minimize the hardware and software cost and in order to achieve these goals you may prefer to pick something which is rather at the minimums)

5.Sitting in your Headquarters and watching the numbers. Here we are coming to the topic of designing financial reporting, such as Balance Sheet, P&L, Statement of Cash Flow, plus probably consolidated versions of these reports (when you would like to consolidate sales results for several stores or all the stores to compare them to the last month or last year results to give you an idea). Here you have the privilege to capitalize on the power of Microsoft Dynamics GP reporting options. If you implement current version 2010/11.0 you should implement financial reporting in Microsoft Management Reporter. For the customers on the older versions: 10.0, 9.0, 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0 you have FRx Financial Reporting. Both tools in our opinion are equally powerful

6.Supply Chain Management or going beyond POS and Retail features (talking about Logistics and Distribution). SCM is the term, which is considered to be broader than Warehouse Management System. It may include such features as merchandise consignment, truck delivery route optimization. If you think that such classic concepts as POS/Retail application, Warehouse Management System doesnt do the job in your case, you should consider to discuss your concerns with Dynamics GP Consultant or Partner. Microsoft Dynamics GP is definitely capable to address custom business processes requirements, but there is the cost of doing it either programing in Great Plains Dexterity, or eConnect and even Microsoft Visual Studio SDK for GP

7.Opening your operations for Electronic Commerce. Here you would need to consider such technical features as ecommerce shopping cart (Magento, ASP.Net Storefront or similar) integration with your ERP sales module, in the case of Dynamics GP with Sales Order Processing transaction, likely Invoice or Sales Order with customer deposit (Credit card payment). We recommend Alba Spectrum ecommerce add-on for Dynamics GP

8.Dynamics GP and International business. Multicurrency is supported in all the modules of Great Plains. We recommend you to review Corporate ERP localization concept, where ERP application should be translated to the local language, plus (and in our opinion it is more important) it should comply to local country business legislation. Dynamics GP is localized for most of English speaking countries, and plus for Spanish speaking Latin America (except Brazil, where they speak Brazilian Portuguese). At this time Dynamics GP is not localized for such languages as Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, however translated interfaces are available, please call us for details

9.We are ready to serve you USA and Canada nationwide. Local service is available in Western Michigan (St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Holland, Saugatuck, New Buffalo, South Haven, Grand Haven, Ludington), in Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Houston Area of Texas, Chicagoland: Naperville, Chicago downtown and all the nearest suburbs

10.To request further support, please call us 1-866-528-0577, Retail industry is really complex and each customer might have know-how or business secrets to stay competitive. We need to discuss your cards in order to recommend you the best solutions, which is not contingent to our preferences

Employee theft will price a retail business thousands of bucks a week. It is one of those business possession or management experiences that is all too often ignored till it has happened to you.
Employee theft is real, take it from someone who has experienced it firsthand. In my case, over fifteen years as a retail business owner, I have experienced 3 occasions of great employee theft costing $a pair of,000, $20,000 and $twelve,000 respectively.
The tragedy is that retailers sometimes have at their disposal tools that, if used properly, cut back the opportunity for theft and thereby protect the money inside the business.
Retail store managers and owners want to require the danger of theft seriously rather than thinking that it might never happen to them. This suggests considering that everybody operating in your retail business is a potential thief. Powerful as this can be, it is the only manner to operate.
At every chance, build it clear that you have got a zero tolerance approach to theft. This will separate you from your employees, therefore be it. It’s essential that you set your want to cut theft previous friendship with an employee. Your business is at risk once all.
Everything in your business with price must be treated with respect. Each day. And you, as the owner or manager, need to demonstrate leadership on the mission to stay theft at a minimum.
Cash. Be obsessive concerning balancing every day. Ensure that your processes are water tight. Eliminate opportunities in your processes for fraud. Consider partaking a 3rd party not connected with the business to audit your processes. Review video footage regularly. Have yourself and your manager expertly trained in detecting employee theft at the cash register. Consider bringing in an investigator to assess the team of team members. Better of all, use the facilities in your software.
Track stock. Manipulating stock is one approach workers steal. By obsessively tracking stock available you are a lot of possible to discover employee theft sooner. Use your Purpose of Sale software to track all stock in and out, do spot stock takes and reorder stock. Making your POS software the heart of your stock management makes it tougher for an employee to manipulate stock in stealing from you.
Data. Accurate information is an excellent means to detect and resolve an employee theft problem. Data in your Point of Sale software will provide the proof which you denied would exist. Be open to what the info proves. Take time to learn regarding the theft tracking and management tools in your Point of Sale software. Be committed to using these.
Take a zero tolerance approach here. Staff stealing from you need to control information in some way. As an example, if their sales per hour worked are far not up to others then they might simple not be using the pc system. However, you would have detected off behaviour from your inventory system when reordering stock.

Starting a retail business means youre excited. Did you know by adopting Best Practice Retail Sales Performance Standards you can immediately increase your sales and profit expectations by as much as 30%!

Why because achieving sales objectives is more than just about whats on your shelves and what your store looks like its about having a customer focused mentality driven by key performance indicators (KPI) to inform staff at every level about the condition of the playing field.

Complicated? Not at all. Retail Sales Performance is just like Sports Coaching. How would sports coaches know how to focus their athletes without statistics? How would racing car managers know how to fine tune their engines and performance its all about statistics. When last did you watch a game on TV without them? They tell us about trends, behaviors, opportunities to increase performance, and they forecast the short to medium term future enabling us to understand why and where we are heading.

Statistical measurement of fundamental sales performance drivers for any retailer is a prime need. With all manner of spreadsheets, POS systems reports, Dashboards and Scorecards, we use Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to communicate the strategy of the shareholders to the individuals in the company and we employ feedback systems to report the results. It is common practice to compare what we have forecast with what has actually taken place statistically so we can make judgments, changes and plans.

It is important to recognise that the standard (senior level) business indicators such as profit margin and wage costs do not drive bottom line sales on the shop floor. You cannot walk up to a Salesperson and say We did 80% of budgeted sales please increase your performance. Thats like the manager of a football team saying to a player We lost the past few games you have to do better. To the salesperson or player the information is useless they cannot see a clear reason for their under performance.

What sports coaches do is take the Team Managers expectations (of winning) and filter them down to each individual player on the team so each player can win for them (and the team). The coach measures performance of a few highly enlightening KPIs that tells the players exactly in which areas to improve. In soccer it may be recording the number of times a player touched the ball, or number of attempts at goal. In baseball the coach could track number of players on 3rd base or number of strike outs etc.

It is common practice in retail to employ only five (5) KPIs to track individual performance and deliver the on-target information for coaching purposes more than five and the reporting system is too complex, confusing, and ambiguous. The five KPIs for retailers are:

Sales per hour – a statistic tells us about the speed at which each individual salesperson is selling or attending to customers compared to everyone else on the shift.

Average Sale the average selling price of each individual salesperson compared to everyone else on the shift higher averages show a greater knowledge of product as the salesperson is able to sell higher ticket items. Low statistics reveal the salesperson lacks skill in either product knowledge or effective probing.

Items Per Sale tells us about the ability of the salesperson to add-on to a sale.

Conversion Rate tracks how many visitors to the store are turned into customers.

Wage to Sales Ratio compares a salespersons hourly wages to hourly sales. This KPI identifies your clear performers and underperformers and their value to you.

The most common reason retailers do not track the five vital KPIs at a staff (team player) level, is their inability to easily and quickly, record and calculate data, to create meaningful reports. After all, one needs to track hours worked, set goals, track planned versus actual performance, and somehow level the playing field for all Salespeople. It can be a lot of work.

In a sports match the playing field is level at all times because everyone is simultaneously on the field. In a retail environment some salespeople will work during fast periods and others during slow periods of the day. A salesperson working during the lunch hours should be expected to sell more than a salesperson working early morning or late afternoon. So any realistic reporting system is going to have to weight individual sales targets otherwise the data becomes ambiguous.

Critical to any Retail Sales Management Solution is the ability to determine the most deficient statistic of the five KPIs because it is logically understood that improving the worst KPI first will have the greatest increase in sales and staff motivation.

Imagine if you had a really simple to use Staff Roster (time and attendance software) that automatically assigned individual, weighted, sales targets to each salesperson, based on when they were working then integrated with your POS (point of sale) terminal to instantly calculate the five (5) key performance indicators, and figure out the most deficient KPI – on demand! What if that software went further by having integrated sales behavior coaching tips built right into the system?

Playing the retail sales game to win means knowing why you are losing and how to go about fixing problem behavior areas. It’s easier to improve retail sales skills than it is to re-stock a new product or brand.

To win in retail, measure the five principal KPIs using an affordable solution and put Best Practice in place for your fast track to success.

Good luck with your brand new store!