Retail task management is a way of managing activities in a store based on factors such as priority, granular distribution, due date, tracking as well as reporting. It involves managing the several thousand activities required for proper in-store execution. It is a process that helps retail brands to achieve their goals via actionable as well as trackable requests.
Retail task management demands a lot of time and resources but it can be simplified by the use of software which helps to improve accountability. You can learn more about retail management in this article.
What are the Types of Tasks in Retail?
There are different types of activities in retail but they are generally grouped into ad-hoc and recurring.
Recurring are those that allow the business to run smoothly and need to be done over and over. These can include budgeting, inventory, scheduling, etc. They also encompass daily activities such as restocking, sales, cleaning and so on.
Ad-hoc on the other hand involve one-time activities that do not happen often but are also important. They can include training, policy change, product introduction or recall and many more. They are usually urgent and need to be attended to on time.
These two types can be further broken down into single as well as multiple action tasks. Single action tasks can be simple and need to be completed with just an action so they can be easily overlooked or forgotten. Multi-action tasks consist of taking multiple actions or steps. They are usually complex and may need to be finished in some specified order. With this, it is easy to skip a step or it can be partially executed.
Because these different activities are important, forgetting to do them or skipping a step might hurt a business.
Why Tasks May Fail or be Incomplete
Tasks can fail or may not be completed for several reasons or a combination of reasons. This can be as a result of confusion in job description or priority. Employees may not fully understand what they need to do or the order of priorities they should follow. Employees can have what is termed as completion bias where they choose to do easier assignments first not minding the importance when there is no defined order. You can read about completion bias here- https://hbr.org/2016/03/your-desire-to-get-things-done-can-undermine-your-effectiveness.
Another reason can be distractions. When this is the case, the activities that get attended to may not even be the most essential. Managers as well as employees are susceptible to this as they can get distracted by attending to clients, supervising, and so on.
In addition to the above, information gaps is another cause of failure or improper task completion. If employees do not clearly understand or know what is expected of them, they will not be able to carry out the assignment.
Software as A Tool for Improving Retail Task Management
At the store level, task execution can be a challenge for retailers. This is because things can become complex and uneasy to manage.
For this reason, a store needs an effective management solution. This solution helps to drive execution, engagement and participation. Instead of managing tasks over emails, a high-quality retail task management software can be used.
The software is used to help retailers or store-owners manage as well as oversee their day-to-day operations. This can be a single store or a retailer with multiple stores. It helps to manage operations more effectively and efficiently by eradicating manual tasks and automating most of the operations and processes. This in turn makes staff more efficient.
The solution helps to create a direct communication line between the corporate and the frontline workers. It helps managers and supervisors to monitor progress being made on daily activities.
Having a solution like this helps you to capture data in a smarter way. You can track visits to the store, capture sales, track your inventory and conduct audits. You can also monitor shelf space, monitor how a product is promoted and so on.
Conclusion
Tasks are essential to any retail business and organization. They are actions that are taken to grow and to ensure the smooth running of the business. Because humans have some specific weaknesses, automated solutions and software can be used as a tool for managing the day to day workings of a store rather than handling them manually.
