It’s been a busy quarter of retail shows. Kicking off with NRF and CES and ending with Shoptalk and the Retail Technology Show, store leaders are left grappling with an all-too-familiar dilemma. Many of the technology solutions showcased at these events promised to streamline retail operations and enhance efficiency. However, the reality is that store leaders are already overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data and applications they must manage.
Now, with the deployment of even more technology, their workload is increasing rather than decreasing. Instead of making their lives easier, the explosion of retail tech is adding layers of complexity, forcing store leaders to act more like business analysts than frontline operators.
The Reality of Data Overload in Retail
Retail stores today are more complex and data-rich than ever before. Store leaders now have access to over 50,000 data points per week, sourced from countless reports, dashboards and emails. This is a stark contrast to a decade ago, when stores received 50 times less data. While data-driven insights are crucial, the excessive flow of information is keeping store leaders tethered to their back-office screens instead of being present on the shop floor where they can make the most impact.
Once on the shop floor, store leaders are often guided by generic reports that fail to reflect the unique challenges and opportunities of their specific location. As a result, the average store manager leaks at least 20% of store contribution every day. Furthermore, without a standardized way to interpret and act on data, each store leader applies their own lens to reports, leading to inconsistent execution and decision-making across the retail network.
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Adding to the challenge is the high turnover among store managers. Since 2019, the turnover rate has increased 3.5 times, leaving retailers with a less experienced workforce that requires significant time and resources to train. Compounding this issue, central teams often only gain visibility into stores that either demand attention or are struggling, leaving many locations overlooked.
The Need for Simplicity in Store Operations
To overcome these challenges, retailers must simplify store operations. By creating a seamless connection between central teams and store leaders, retailers can provide clear, actionable insights rather than a flood of data.
A key obstacle for store leaders is determining what to prioritize among the myriad of daily tasks. They need to know which actions will drive measurable performance improvements. Similarly, district managers require a data-driven approach to decide which stores to visit, what issues to address and how to maximize their impact.
By streamlining operations and reducing the number of reports, dashboards and emails store leaders must sift through, retailers can help their teams reclaim valuable time. On average, store leaders can save six to eight hours per week simply by minimizing redundant and non-actionable information.
How AI and Intelligent Management Can Help
Retailers need technology that doesn’t just provide data but translates it into clear, prioritized actions. AI-powered solutions can help store and field leaders identify what matters most, take the right actions and measure the impact of those actions in real time.
One effective approach is leveraging intelligent management platforms that analyze retail data at scale and present personalized priorities for each store leader. These platforms can process billions of calculations per week, yet remain intuitive enough for non-technical users. By crowdsourcing insights and best practices, store leaders can benefit from collective learning across the organization. This not only speeds up problem-solving but also ensures that every store benefits from strategies that have been proven to work elsewhere.
Additionally, ensuring that every action taken in-store is measured allows central teams to scale successful initiatives across the entire retail network. Whether a store manager is a seasoned leader or newly onboarded, AI-driven guidance can help them execute with confidence from day one, significantly reducing the time needed for training and ramp-up.
The Future of Store Leadership
Retail is at a critical juncture. While the industry continues to embrace technology at a rapid pace, store leaders should not be left drowning in data. The goal of retail tech should be to simplify operations, not add complexity.
By implementing smart, AI-powered tools that prioritize actions over raw data, retailers can ensure that their store leaders spend less time analyzing reports and more time delivering exceptional in-store experiences. In doing so, they can create a more productive, engaged and effective workforce, ultimately driving better results for both customers and the business.
As retailers navigate this increasingly complex landscape, the key to success lies in cutting through the noise by simplifying store management so that leaders can focus on what they do best: running great stores.
Julian Mills is the CEO and Co-founder of Quorso, the Co-Pilot for Store and Field Leaders. World leading retailers, including eight of the top 25, manage 50,000 stores and nearly $200 billion of sales using the platform. Quorso has been voted Best Retail Tech Company at the World Retail Congress and one of the UK and Europe’s fastest-growing companies by Deloitte. Before founding Quorso, Mills spent 15 years advising retail and consumer businesses as a partner at McKinsey & Company, led the successful turnaround of a $1 billion private retail business and founded the Global Infrastructure Initiative with Madeleine Albright, a gathering of heads of state, ministers and business leaders from around the world. He was an Arjay Miller scholar at Stanford University and a senior open scholar at Oxford University.
