Manhattan Associates : The ‘Great Resignation’ guide for unified commerce

What is the Great Resignation?

No matter what term you used to describe it, with a general consensus landing on "The Great Resignation," employees are beginning to reassess where they stand in their current positions and are quitting their jobs in droves as a result. This recent "Great Resignation" is seeing employee turnover - especially at low-paying jobs - skyrocket, with a significant portion of workers relocating and reexamining where they stand in the current job market. According to Shopify, one in four workers left their job in 2021, with an average turnover rate of 63% for retailers.

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Why are Retailers, in Particular, Experiencing this Much Turnover?

There are many contributing factors that are influencing retail associates to walk out the door during the busiest time of the year, some are pandemic related, but others are also related to how associates are being treated in general by their employers. According to an article in Insider, the reasons range from "low pay, poor working conditions, lack of scheduling flexibility, and coronavirus pandemic-driven burnout."

The risk of contracting the new coronavirus variant omicron and putting yourself in the line of fire is not adding up to the reward of working through the holidays for many retail front-line workers. Another key reason why associates are leaving is retailers enforcing "blackout periods" where employees are prohibited to take any time off during the holidays due to the massive number of orders needing to be fulfilled, both online and in-store.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of job openings increased to 11 million on the last business day of October. With employees more than likely waiting for the holiday shopping storm to pass, retailers are bound to have some new employees in 2022.

Can Technology Change the Great Recession?

As the carousel of old employees leaving and new employees taking their place turns, retailers must adapt to find a resolution that empowers new hires with the ability to learn the ins and outs of their store operations in a short amount of time. This includes providing a consumer experience that possesses complete knowledge of a customer's history, as well as knowing where and when to pull from inventory, and the various fulfillment methods needed to complete a transaction.

with the right point of sale and order management solutions in place, you can replicate the assistance and knowledge of a tenured employee through one single app, arming new employees with the ability to provide a unified commerce experience, along with everything else your customer needs for their retail therapy to actually be therapeutic. Not to mention, making day-to-day operations easier on associates will more than likely persuade them to stay on, instead of jumping ship.

During the 2021 holiday season, shoppers are expected to continue with the recent trend of hybrid shopping as 74% of consumers will shop online and in-store, according to a recent holiday study to NPD, and this trend does not expect to slow down in 2022. Consumer expectations will continue, and those expectations are that retailers will be able to provide their products on demand and that customers can order these products when, where, and however they want.

Leveraging Point of Sale (POS) and Order ManagementCapabilities

The pandemic did its part in shifting the buyer's journey to a more user-friendly customer experience vehicle, now is the time to ensure you keep the driver and vessel of that vehicle in top shape. With Manhattan Active® POS, any associate can:

• Drive real-time customer insights derived from commerce and supply chain data
• Mix devices in any combo of form factor and operating system
• Unify customer insights, such as history, wish lists, appointments, and more>
• Provide real-time product inventory detail and availability

These capabilities will not only make the lives of your associates that much easier, but it will also increase the likelihood of social distancing by turning your store into a mini distribution center. With Manhattan's point of sale and order management solutions, associates can utilize a plethora of store inventory and fulfillment options as well, including:

• Buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS)
• Buy online, return in-store (BORIS)
• Ship from store
• Contactless curbside fulfillment

Providing everything consumers need in today's retail world comes with many hurdles and challenges. With the right point of sale in place, you will not only make the lives of your associates easier, but you will also satisfy your customers by exceeding their expectations, retaining both the customer and your employees in the process.