How Does Best Buy Combat High Turnover and Digital Competition? Investing in Employee Experience

Is your organization taking the time to improve its employees lives? When you improve the lives of your employees, you’re also taking the right steps to improve the lives of your customers.

In an article recently featured in Retail Drive, “Why Best Buy is Investing in Employees,” Corinne Ruff shares how Best Buy’s determination to invest in its employees is driving growth and success for the company.

I love the intro summary to her article, “executives at the big-box retailer have spent the last several years rethinking how to boost customer engagement. Turns out, the employee came first.” Yes, Best Buy gets it!

Fight High Turnover by Investing in Employees

Ruff shares that at a Future Stores Miami conference, executives at big-box retailers discussed how they’ve rethought employee training and invested in support for customer and product interaction. High turnover is a major problem in retail (the average turnover rate is about 60% according to National Retail Federation), and hiring/training ends up being costly.

How do you combat high turnover? Well, look at your internal operations. Best Buy wanted to understand how to improve the employee experience, and started looking within. This is a fundamental step; it’s absolutely critical when starting your CX transformation. Best Buy conducted “hundreds and hundreds” of one-on-one employee interviews across the country to understand the employee UX when it came to applications and other technology uses (including devices used on the sales floor and the POS system). Using technology to streamline transactions with customers is a big portion of employee training and sales floor operations.

By understanding the retail user experience, and rethinking how to train employees to make them more efficient in their jobs, Best Buy has been able to invest in support for both customer and product interaction. This new way of thinking helped Best Buy refine technologies used on the sales floor, improve the overall employee experience, and help decrease turnover. 

Treat Your Employees as Assets

Best Buy is looking at their employees as an investment, which goes back to my first core competency: treat your customers as assets. Amazon is threatening a lot of businesses, and Best Buy wants to differentiate itself with knowledgeable and friendly customer service. This is a great approach because as easy as it is to click your way through a purchase online, when it comes to buying products with a high financial investment like TVs, laptops, and sound systems, you may actually want to visit a physical store.

The value of the brick and mortar store is human engagement and education. You’re able to learn about the product first-hand from an employee who can help guide you through the process. It’s these human touch points that can truly make a difference for a company and should not be treated lightly.

The value of the brick and mortar store is human engagement and education. #cx #engagement #custexp Click To Tweet

I also like Best Buy’s realistic approach to CX transformation. Ruff shared an insight from Best Buy’s Vice President of Retail Operations, Shari Rossow, who stated that an overhaul to employee investments and training can’t be done overnight; it’s a complex process that will take time and financial funding. And I couldn’t agree more! Like I previously said, you can’t “boil the ocean” when it comes to this work. Everything has to do be done in manageable pieces in order to truly make a long-term difference for the organization.

Kudos to Shari Rossow and the Best Buy executive team for taking this step! Employees are your company’s cheerleaders and they’re the first line of defense. You need to arm them with the tools and knowledge to do their job effectively in order to create a positive cycle of customer-driven growth.

Employees are your company's cheerleaders and they're the first line of defense. You need to arm them with the tools and knowledge to do their job effectively in order to create a positive cycle of customer-driven growth. #CX Click To Tweet

 

1 comment to " How Does Best Buy Combat High Turnover and Digital Competition? Investing in Employee Experience "

  • Best Buy has had a number of ups and downs over the year. I really hope they continue to get the employee experience right, because I appreciate the value my local Best Buy brings when I’m shopping for electronics that I need to touch and feel!

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