Training is a tough issue for smaller retailers. Good training programs are expensive to develop. Taking people off the floor to train them is hard to do. Space in which to conduct training is hard to find.
For larger retail enterprises, some of these problems are more easily overcome, but not all. That's part of the reason that retailing giants like Nike and Best Buy have integrated online learning with their traditional employee training practices. Nike points to a 2% increase in sales since it started using online training. Best Buy has developed special online learning segments for slow-moving products that it credits for helping increase sales by as much as 20%. With numbers like that look for online retail training to become a growing trend.
This data and more is included in a $349-report from Forrester, Retailers Adopt eLearning to Groom Smarter Store Associates.
Savvy retailers will pay attention to the cost savings the online training programs can deliver over traditional training. Well trained sales-floor personnel can dramatically improve revenues and customer satisfaction. Online training lets employees be trained at a computer in a backroom or from their homes. Online delivery of training can make it much easier to update an employee's knowledge base. For small retailers with more than one store, online is a fast way to deliver new product info and sales techniques to all employees at the same time.
TrendTracker Trend: Technology Levels the Playing Field
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