Store Managers: ROI Enablers?

In this month's State Of The Store Manager report (page 18), you'll find some provocative statistics that point to a disconnect between the technology you're buying and the acceptance of that technology among your store managers. Specifically:

• Nearly 1/2 of the store managers we surveyed don't feel they get enough systems training.
• 38.5% say they're not good at implementing new store technology.
• Slightly fewer than 1/3 fail to see how technology can help them better understand their customers.

Given how much money you spend on technology and how precious those dollars are, shouldn't improving these stats be a priority? Yet, of those statistics stated above, the only one that showed marked improvement over 2008 was tech implementation — 55% said they were not good at it last year, indicating a 16.5% improvement. So, more of your stores are doing a better job implementing technology, but store-level employees aren't being trained effectively on that technology, much less believing in it.

Engage Your Store Managers
Nobody likes mandates that they haven't themselves contributed to the discussion around, which is why you should get store managers involved in tech decision making as much as possible. In our survey, 44.9% said they have no decision-making authority regarding the technology their stores adopt. This, despite their proximity to the store's actual needs.

Clearly, big retail enterprises shouldn't attempt an all-inclusive survey of store managers at every tech adoption turn. But you should solicit input from a sampling and let the rest know you're doing that. Create the perception that store-level input is important. Let store managers company-wide know that you not only solicit input, but that you take store-level feedback into account in your decision making. Wherever possible, provide examples.

On The Web: Get an electronic version of the State Of The Store Manager Report at ismretail.com.

In this economic climate, store managers feel overwhelmed and undersupported. Only 12.5% of them say they're getting more technology resources to do their jobs this year — the remainder say tech resources are flat or down. While you may not be able to give them shiny new mobile devices and POS units right now, you can better prepare them to see the value in — and subsequently use — the technology they have.