It’s no secret that the last years have challenged us to change the way we’re doing business. Although the latest stats show a substantial recovery of the retail industry in Australia, amidst the war for talent, employers really need to know (and anticipate) the expectations of their customers and find new ways to bridge the gaps created by these recent challenges. 

In the search for answers, let’s briefly cover the issues that the retail industry continues to face.

The need for an omnichannel strategy to promote and sell products

With Covid-19 safety measures and proximity rules, trading conditions worsened, and many businesses had to adapt to online shopping and increase their digital presence, which resulted in increased spending on the reinvention of in-store operations to maintain a competitive edge. 

Staff shortages and employee turnover 

Massive labour shortages fuelled by socioeconomic factors became one of the major pain points for Aussie retailers. AACS reports confirm that some recruitment efforts provide no results, and although store staff is in high demand, people just don’t show up. What once was the typical job choice for overseas students, now, when the borders are barely open, requires more consistent full-time staff.

This issue is complex and entails higher recruitment costs and, unfortunately, results in worsening customer service. This last issue is an even bigger blow that the retail industry cannot afford. All in all, coupled with the global trends of employee disengagement and a lost sense of purpose (the Great Resignation and quiet quitting), labour shortages present the greatest challenge to the industry.

Global challenges and Influences

With the rest of the world balancing on the edge of recession, the Australian retail industry is also seeing the impacts of challenging weather and ever-changing climate patterns. During the last two years, Australia was hit hard by the infamous La Niña, wildfires, and floods. Businesses have faced supply disruptions, interruptions to trading hours and deliveries, and excessive delays, which added to already existing business pressures.

Intense cost pressure 

The spike in shipping and input costs, rentals, wage inflation, and a general increase in the cost of goods create more challenges for businesses to keep their heads above water. Under these circumstances, businesses are searching for ways to reduce any operating costs they can, sometimes sacrificing strategically important initiatives like training and quality control.

How can we meet the new demands?

Understanding this question is essential to how we approach the recovery of the industry, avoiding the wait for federal and state government actions. 

New growth requires repairing a key business foundation – the people that keep the industry going.

While sociodemographic factors keep changing the market, omnichannel strategies and retail digitalisation make some skills fade out and others emerge.

An aging workforce questions the relevance of their skills; youths seek jobs with more growth opportunities; migrants want a better cultural fit; work parents and students want flexibility.  

Retail businesses can tackle a lot of these issues by reinventing their approaches to training and development.

The global market has already had time to appreciate the efficiencies that online training can generate; however Australian retailers are only beginning to assess all the real applications of e-learning solutions. 

For retail businesses across the world, affordable and time-efficient online training at scale provides an opportunity to attract, grow, and retain talent. 

Companies like iSpring offer entire ecosystems of training software products for businesses. 

Cloud-based solutions are easy to integrate with existing systems and enable retailers to create training materials that go beyond compliance and generate real engagement and value for their employees 

This is possible thanks to a series of integrated solutions such as iSpring Suite and iSpring Learn. Both work as enhancements to existing tools that businesses already use, allowing anyone with access to a basic Microsoft Office suite to turn information into interactive courses that include quizzes, roleplay characters, and audio and video integrations. Such software can deliver the material to the entire team through any device and allows you to track the performance. 

Hundreds of iSpring customers in product sectors, including fast-moving consumer goods industry, enhance their employee training in-house with a few simple clicks and successfully improve their service, product, and compliance knowledge, promotional support and distribution, as well as safety and business skills.

Whilst the future of the Australian retail industry is still being redefined, IT solutions such as iSpring allow retailers to eliminate extra costs and allow them to significantly reduce the time spent on onboarding and performance management, and most importantly, enable businesses to quickly and effectively close skill gaps within their workforce and elevate the brand and customer awareness within their teams. 

You can check out iSpring solutions for retail companies here.