Retail Asia 2018 RA September.October 2018 (Online) | Page 27

FOCUS
KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE JOB REDESIGN STUDY
COMPANY
BEFORE JOB REDESIGN
AFTER JOB REDESIGN
Targeted job roles: Store Manager and Fashion Advisor
Benjamin Barker
Started in 2009, Benjamin Barker is a
premium menswear lifestyle concept
dedicated to deliver a convenient one-stop
lifestyle retail experience for the modern man.
The company currently has 14 stores across
Singapore, Melbourne, Cambodia and Los
Angeles.
Observations:
Customer information would not be collected unless
he/she is eligible and interested in joining the
membership programme. New job responsibilities:
Expanded job scope for store manager: to
guide team in using customer-centric data
insights to drive sales performance.
Recommendations:
Collect customer information to personalise retail
experiences and allow for simple demand analysis in
store. New skills and capabilities:
Product Advisory — to be guided by data
analytics; Sales target management — to be
guided by data analytics.
Targeted job roles: E-commerce Customer Service Officer (CSO)
Charles & Keith
Charles & Keith was founded with a vision to
empower women around the world to express
themselves freely through fashion. The brand
constantly reinvents fashion with its modern
and curated collections of footwear, bags,
accessories, eyewear and costume jewellery.
Observations:
CSO fills in multiple forms for product returns via
hardcopy, manually processes delivery tracking by
third- party vendors, including sending personalised
email to customers when delivery fails. Service tickets
are also manually assigned among CSOs. New job responsibilities:
Expanded job scope for CSOs: to equip them
with sales techniques, product knowledge
to upsell/cross-sell when interacting with
customers on sales related enquiries
Recommendations:
Digitalise the forms, pass on the responsibility of
delivery status updates and daily delivery reports to
third-party vendors, and use technology to assign
service tickets to CSOs. New skills and capabilities:
Product Advisory — to be guided by data
analytics.
Targeted job roles: Store Manager and Sales Associate
Gain City Best-Electric
Established in 1981, Gain City Best-Electric
is Singapore’s largest air-conditioner retailer,
known also for carrying a wide range of
audio, visual and home appliances.
Observations:
Sales staff manually updates price tags when there
are changes. There is a lack of sales staff during peak
periods. Store managers/supervisors also manually
check and analyse point-of-sales transactions. New job responsibilities:
Expanded job for store/sales staff: to equip
them with real-time sales knowledge and
sales techniques to improve customer
service and product advisory. Customers can
receive product advice for different product
categories from one sales staff, improving
customer experience.
Recommendations:
Use technology (such as Electronic Shelf Labelling and
QR codes) for price tags, and provide trainings to sales
staff to improve product knowledge to sell products
from different categories. Point-of-sales analysis can
also be strengthened by using technologies such as
sales analytics tools. New skills and capabilities:
Product Advisory — broaden and deepen
product knowledge across multiple product
categories and guided by data analytics.
Targeted job roles: Customer Service Officer (Concierge) and Operations Executive (E-commerce)
Robinsons & Co
Founded in 1858, Robinsons & Co is a
long-standing local heritage brand and is
owned by UAE-based Al Futtaim Group. To
date, Robinsons & Co has three Robinsons
outlets and 10 Marks & Spencer outlets in
Singapore.
Observations:
Inefficient synchronisation between offline concierge
and e-commerce team to track comments and
responses to customer enquiries. New job responsibilities:
Expanded job for operations executive: to
support data analysis to generate insights
and coordinate with cross-functional teams
on execution of brand, marketing and
e-commerce activities.
Recommendations:
Provide customers with options to better direct queries
to relevant teams, and adopt systems and technology
such as customer support software and chatbot. New skills and capabilities:
Data Analytics, Stakeholder Management,
Business Operational Planning.
Retail Asia September/October 2018
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