Category: Retail

ICE first presented to MITIE (Retail) Ltd in November 2009 and over the next year became our sole supplier of cleaning machinery. They brought to the table an enthusiastic approach which was innovative, flexible and accommodating in those times of need. This was a supplier partnership and it was both encouraging and rewarding for both parties. Two specific mobilisations come to mind which I believe gives a good indication of ICE as a company, one which was the largest ever single machinery order placed by MITIE for the Co-operative Group stores and one is this case study for Tesco Stores in September 2010.

Background:
MITIE was awarded significant growth in the Tesco store cleaning Tender in July 2010. Up to this point we were using ICE to supply machinery into the existing smaller convenience Express stores. We had chosen the RA431 compact scrubbing machine for these stores, following their presentation. This proved to be a low maintenance, cost effective machine that the operators liked because of the simplicity. ICE had supplied with the machine both pad drives and brushes so we could utilise the machinery in almost every area of the store, achieving that machinery driven approach we were aiming for. This machine later became our utility machine of choice in the large format stores for use throughout the trading day on the shop floor.

Tesco has an agreement term within its Tenders that on site machinery will transfer between suppliers providing they can reach agreement on the net book values etc. Although this seems a fair approach it does have its complications and, in this case, negotiations had not been going well with the incumbent contractor. We were now entering minus four weeks to start date and we were starting to get concerned. I arranged a meeting with ICE and fully explained the situation. Without any firm commitments from MITIE, ICE immediately `got on board` with a contingency plan on our behalf. This involved considerable expense to ICE, surveying the stores, speaking to Switzerland on delivery timescales and eventually taking the ultimate risk in placing an order with Cleanfix without a guaranteed order from MITIE. This showed a huge amount of commitment from ICE and enabled MITIE to have a contingency plan for Tesco who were aware of the situation.

With two weeks to go to start date MITIE decided to end negotiations with the incumbent and officially place the order with ICE to supply a 1.5 million order for floor cleaning machines into all Express stores across our regions and all large store format stores in the South East and South West Regions of England. This amounted to approximately 230 sites.

Logistics:
The machinery roll-out started 2 weeks prior to start date. Fortunately, following the commitment ICE had made by arranging for machinery to be delivered into the UK, this was possible. If ICE had not taken this approach then we would have needed to either go back to the negotiating table with the incumbent contractor and pay well over the net book values for the machinery or request that the customer postpone the start date. Both scenarios would have been unacceptable to MITIE as options.

The machinery for each store had been specified on the surveys initially carried out and, upon delivery, training took place with not only the machine operator but all staff on the shift. This gave us the multi skilling of operatives we were looking for. Every member of staff received a training certificate prior to contract start date.

ICE had taken a simplicity approach and banded the stores into machine bundles so we were aware that a specific store would receive certain machinery. This gave us a very easy communication line with our field teams as we issued them all a matrix which they could refer to if questioned. As with every multi-site contract, however, there will be unique stores that the bundle matrix does not fit. These idiosyncrasies, which were unknown to ICE, on survey lead to the need to change some machinery for larger or smaller models and this was done without any objection and at a further cost to ICE which was never passed onto MITIE. All unique changes were carried out prior to the contract start date.

Machinery Types:
The machinery we procured was the RA431 compact scrubbing machine for the Express stores. The RA561 tough and powerful machine for hard and soft floors and the RA 900 Sauber ride on scrubber drier were chosen for the larger stores. We also purchased additional machinery including vacs, single rotary machines and car park sweepers from ICE.

Summary:
Whenever I am asked to provide a reference for a supplier, the first question I ask is firstly `Did they go the extra mile for MITIE?` and pull out all the stops as a supplier to `Make it happen`. We need our supply chain to, at times, gamble to aid the cause. The world of contract cleaning can throw all types of issues at you and you need to have a supplier who is in there with you when the going gets tough. I found ICE ready and up for the challenge and when we asked them to `step up to the mount` they certainly did so. The commitment they made considering the MITIE policy for purchase ordering went well over and above what was expected and probably saved what could have been a mobilisation disaster. I have no hesitation in recommending ICE as a supplier because there will be some tough times ahead for all of us and we all need suppliers like ICE to support us through difficult times.

Money Is No Longer Buying Happiness
Let’s face it. Today, building an effective team of retail employees is more challenging than ever. We all agree that the key to an effective retail operation are high performing and productive employees. Furthermore, in spite of a great location or a superior line of goods or services the behavior of every single team member well have a dramatic affect on the overall success of the operation. Every time the employee steps out onto the sales floor and interacts with a customer a change in brand equity is realized. In other words, the behavior and interaction of your employee with your customer will have an ongoing affect on brand identity and brand equity within the competitive marketplace.

Understandably great customer experiences create gains in brand equity while disappointing performance by your team members will create a deterioration in your brand equity. Exactly what is the secret to ensuring that each and every one-on-one customer experience in your store consistently increases brand equity in the eyes of the community? In other words, what makes a team member consistently delight and dazzle your customers so that long-term customer relationships with ongoing repeat business are realized?

The secret is a team of engaged employees. Why is employee engagement so critical in today’s retail landscape? In earlier times employee expectations were quite simple. Employees were happy to come to work and do as they’re told, collect their paycheck and go home at the end of the day. In contrast todays employee is far more sophisticated, educated and connected than ever before. Not surprisingly, the Internet has been instrumental in increasing knowledge levels and subsequently employee aspirations and expectations in the workplace. Unlike earlier times, countless surveys have demonstrated that compensation itself is not enough to satisfy employees over the long-term. In fact, in a ranking of 10 critical elements in one recent survey compensation for employees was rated 6/10!

Today, a retail employee is not just motivated by compensation. Above everything else there is a need to belong to the organization and have a sense of ownership. Ownership can be realized through employee empowerment. Trusting your employees and empowering them to make decisions close to the customer creates personal long-term relationships between your team members and your clients. Empowering your employees creates a climate of ownership and belonging for your team members and generates a great level of loyalty to the company.

Building a team of engaged employees that generates powerful long-term customer relationships takes a long time to build. However once realized the organization will enjoy greater productivity per individual employee, higher morale, lower internal and external theft rates and most importantly, lower employee turnover.

How does an organization that has traditionally operated through a regimented model began to create a more productive and loyal team of engaged employees?

1] Make sure that all employees are kept informed of new and relevant developments in the company. They should hear them first and they should hear them from their organization directly. There is nothing more demoralizing than hearing about new organizational developments last or hearing them from an outside source that was aware of the development before your team was.

2] Give staff increased responsibility and trust. Expand their decision-making powers even if you impose some limitations. Empower staff to make decisions close to the customer and give them the necessary support and Training to enable them to make good win-win decisions for all stakeholders.

3] Encourage staff to make decisions close to the customer and even when on occasion a bad decision is made, offer supportive training and refrain from chastising or punishing the employee.

4] Ensure that a structured process is in place to recognize exemplary customer service on a regular basis. Recognize and reward engaged employees who go above and beyond the call of duty to create a memorable customer experience. To keep momentum going, this strategy is most effective during weekly meetings where peer recognition is realized and small rewards are given to stellar employees. Rewards do not need to be extravagant. The recognition and appreciation is the key to effective leadership of engaged employees.

5] Create a formal and informal system that enables engaged employees to voice their opinions and help steer the future direction of the organization. Empower them to voice their opinions on a regular basis and contribute their ideas in a positive way that will make the company more effective and more efficient. Successfully implemented ideas also merit some form of recognition and a reward.

Building a team of engaged employees is the key to future survival and prosperity in every retail organization. Although this can be complex and protracted in time, the key to success is a change in leadership style that supports a greater level of empowerment, involvement and ownership of today’s retail employee. Start now and create the culture that generates higher morale, higher productivity and lower turnover. Rise above the competition in small steps today, and soar to being number one tomorrow!

For more information visit www.retailinstitute.ca

retail, employees, morale, productivity, engagement, empowerment,customer service, customer relationships

Flexibility Leads to Affordable Office

If You Help the Landlord Help You, Both Can Benefit. Many start-up businesses begin their journey in the affordable and comfortable confines of home. Before they know it, these businesses out grow home base and need to replant their operation in a more formal setting.

Flexibility Rewarded

Flexibility is essential if you want to find great deals that meet your unique start-up needs. If you are considering a move to commercial office space, the best advice I can give is to be flexible in your needs and look for landlords who are flexible in regards to term, price, and overall service.

Often an entrepreneur’s need for flexible lease terms will dictate their decisions. When I talk with them, their biggest fears are that of survival and of managing their growth, which is why they don’t want to get locked into a lease. If your business hits a bump in the road and you have to scale back expenses quickly, you don’t want to be stuck with lease payments for the next three years.

Conversely, if your business starts to grow faster than expected, you don’t want to be trapped in a space that is too small. For these reasons, prospective tenants prefer minimum leases of six months to one year terms which most landlords shy away from.

Working with start-up businesses has taught me the value of developing ideas that are different and unusual. I noticed that when I started getting creative, new businesses became interested. Most importantly, I am committed to meeting the needs of every tenant, so in the end we can work together and come to an agreement. If my tenants need to expand I’m delighted and make every effort to provide them with new space. On the other hand, if they need to end a contract or shrink their operation, I assist them in this process as well. In my line of work, it is crucial to develop long-term mutually beneficial relationships. I would recommend finding a landlord who will treat you in such a manner.

Watch for Deals

Recently I met a gentleman who needed a flexible deal; I had a 734 foot space sitting empty. Consequently, we agreed that he would pay $375 a month, on a month-to-month basis, while the space was still actively marketed.

In return if a lease-signing tenant was found, the gentleman agreed to move to another office in the building or to one of our nearby buildings. He also got the right-of-first-refusal in case he wanted to stay put.

Part of my job is to listen to the needs of new tenants. I heard they had a strong desire for low-cost solutions, so I developed a standard package that offers 200 square feet for only $300 a month. The property has a caf, free Wi-Fi, conference rooms, garage parking and an exercise facility.

The price of $300 per month includes everything, except for phone service.

Ask Questions

Prospective tenants often rely on me, as an agent, to take the lead, handle most of the process and answer all of the questions. Sometimes they even look to me for advice about marketing their business. Overall, they are looking for a full-service package, not just someone to show them space and get a signed contract.

When considering a presentation to perspective customers, retailers are always trying to find new ideas. While often challenging and hard to create, it’s a pretty straightforward goal. Even with years of retail experience and extensive industry knowledge it might still be challenging to predict how customers will respond to the products you have available. You should present your products in a professional and engaging manner. For this reason retail display stands, shelves, and racks are very important. Organizing traffic flow inside a store setting is all but impossible to accomplish if not for the necessary items.

Physical retail environments rely on carefully arranged shelves, stands, and display cases. Directing the flow of foot traffic in the retail store is managed with experienced sales agents who understand this concept. Not only to assist in inventory control procedures, placement of various shelving and cases not only highlight sales items but encourage overall purchasing.

A sales environment for just about any business is going to be built on empty floor area. The retail display stands along with other organizational units that are added to that space will encourage customers to take a closer look at what items are available for purchase. The arrangement of shelves and stands helps present a streamlined and organized that makes browsing easy.

Products placed at or just below eye level that grab your potential customers attention is arranged perfectly as they walk through your store. The goal of making it easier to sell products will likely be achieve if a customer is able to navigate effortlessly and pick up the readily visible items. You can even use display stands to spotlight products of seasonal interest or draw attention to items on sale for a limited time.

Just about the most important functions of display stands, shelves, and cases is inventory control. Taking everything under consideration, a store must be able to control loss as well. By Strategically placing goods that are smaller in size and easy to conceal within direct eyesight of the sales counter will discourage theft. Small items should be kept near any area occupied by a sales clerk or other employee. Large items which are heavier and more challenging to hide can be placed on shelves that arent in direct sight of the clerk.

There are various styles and types to choose from when selecting your display stands. Many stands are modular, meaning they can be disassembled easily and rearranged into new configurations. Retailers with limited available space will often decide on utilizing these modular units for their potential variety. As an example, if a particular display isn’t doing its job as you would have hoped, these modular stands could be re configured and changed.

For the more extended use in a single location, non-modular units are those which can not be changed. Generally heavy, these products cant be changed however they are able to be moved. These units are normally well designed and great looking. A kind of display that is actually built into the building’s structure is what is known as permanent sales display. Typically only large retailers have these types of displays.

The success of any organization is dependant on choosing the right retail display units. The arrangement of the display units is also very important. Promoting foot traffic, managing inventory and encourage purchasing is going to be accomplished with the right organizational and retail display stands.

Lingerie has been an integral part of every womans wardrobe and many innovations have been brought into the design or style ever since the time it was first introduced. There are many reputed lingerie brands in India which have come up with their designs to suit the Indian body type, choice and sensibility. These are priced at various affordable ranges to meet the budget of all sections of the Indian market. The recent Indian Lingerie buying trend among women shows a drastic change in the selection of such inner wear. Lingerie is no more considered just an essential inner garment but apparel that can accentuate the curves making one look and feel feminine like never before.

The different Indian Lingerie brands have designed such inner wear apparels for catering to all segments of buyers in India. One can select their pick of such inner garment according to their need and purpose. Choose from among the right size to get the perfect fit which is a vital factor in the making of such lingerie. This is why it becomes indispensable to buy intimate garments only after trying out the fit and size. In the recent times, there are many women who go out lingerie shopping unlike those times when women used to consider wearing inner wear as just mere bare necessity.

Nowadays, women in India bear less inhibition and are more open about the kind of lingerie they want to wear or don under a particular outfit. Owing to this drastic change, there are many international as well as Indian lingerie brands which have come up with a bold and exciting line of womens lingerie in India. There is simply no end to the variety available in such lingerie. Depending on the budget, women can now buy their pick from those cheap and affordably priced varieties or even from those expensive ones.

The price of such lingerie is largely dependent on the fabric which is used in the making. It might vary from cotton, lycra, mesh, satin, polyester, lace and others. The buying choice of women is entirely related to the occasion or dress when it comes to lingerie. For wearing on formal events or those special moments, one can choose from those under garments made of fabrics like lace, net, mesh or satin. This is surely going to compliment their style or dress for chosen the event. Again if you are looking for something for daily wear or suiting a casual occasions you can try from those lingerie line made of cotton.

One cannot just ignore the comfort factor when it comes to buying lingerie. Great intimate wear is all about finding the right fit, quality, colour, style and trends. The changing mindset of Indian women along with their changing dressing style has brought about a lot of transformation in the designs. This phenomenon has given rise to a lot of international influence in the design of such inner wear apparels. The sudden influx of renowned international brands in the retail lingerie market of India has led to organized growth of this industry and has provided that much-needed boost to the economy. The phenomenal growth sales rate in the retail lingerie market is enough proof of the booming profit derived from various lingerie majors.