By Ian Hall, CEO at CCS McLays
In these uncertain retail times, offering outstanding retail experiences to customers has never mattered more. According to The British Retail Consortium, after ending August on a high, the UK high street footfall dropped by 2.5% in September – the peaks and troughs in the retail industry are very real.
In-store brands require many things to line up to remain competitive and in business. Yet in their efforts to stabilise or grow stores, one key area where they can make significant savings often goes overlooked – that of optimising their in-store consumables.
Even the most popular in-store retail brands need a support system to deliver seamless customer service. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to keep stores running smoothly, from providing till rolls, to visual merchandising, to hangers and bags. Relieving pressure on store managers to be able to do their jobs well, delight customers and make sales is essential for thriving stores.
Ultimately, it’s all about creating the ‘right environment’ for thriving in-store teams to optimise sales.
Why are store essentials such a big deal?
One area that demands careful attention in stores, and particularly during store openings, is non-core in-store consumables, often referred to as goods not for resale (GNFR). These operational essentials – such as size cubes, gift boxes, mannequins, cleaning products, stationery, and first aid kits – are fundamental to a store’s daily functioning. Managing the many moving parts involved with these items – the sourcing, timing, brand consistency, and quantity – is especially critical to ensure a smooth running of a store.
In today’s unpredictable supply chain environment, partnering with a dedicated consumables specialist is more valuable than ever. An experienced partner can help retailers forecast demand accurately, coordinate deliveries efficiently, maintain brand standards, ensure clear communication across teams, and provide seamless support. Getting consumables right can lift the team and sales; getting it wrong can tip the balance of in-store karma.
Without the right planning for their in-store requirements, retail leaders are putting pressure on store managers and their teams, at the risk of staff satisfaction and further implications for customer care and loyalty. However, there are some key considerations to improving the process for everyday store supplies and making smarter choices to consolidate and source. This can not only improve staff and customer happiness but save considerable costs whilst contributing to sustainability goals.
Key indicators of poor in-store consumables management
The inner workings of in-store provisioning, from acrylics and garment display rails and accessories to tissue paper and staff uniform, are often a good barometer for a brand’s overall success.
If a brand is buying hangers from one place, bags from another and toilet rolls from another, the overspending and time wasted handling these deliveries from multiple suppliers is huge. With the vast spectrum of items needed to make a store run smoothly, some store managers might be receiving in excess of 10-15 deliveries a month, with poorly managed resource planning often leaving them out of critical supplies, such as gift boxes during peak trading periods.
In contrast to this short-term approach of making multiple small orders, managers might also be over-ordering, causing a storage issue and chaos behind the tills. This disorganised approach can then impact on in-store management. The admin time to order, receive, store and manage consumables puts pressure on in-store managers and disruption which can impact staff satisfaction, staff churn and ultimately – sales.
Particularly at scale, across dozens of stores, the wider implications of this over-ordering and multiple orders include extortionate delivery costs. From an environmental perspective, a brand’s carbon footprint is most likely unrestrained or, worse still, unmeasured. Many consumables managers believe this is a problem they just have to deal with – it isn’t.
The benefits of consolidating the supply of essential in-store consumables
For a retailer with over 50 or even 100 stores nationwide, this saving on annual consumables makes a marked impact on the profit margins and the planet. Some of the key benefits that improved management of in-store consumables brings to both store teams and the wider business include:
- Streamlining delivery – By investigating how they procure and manage non-core retail consumables and packaging, retail leaders and procurement managers can identify opportunities to cut costs and streamline delivery, storage and ordering. This allows them to forecast more accurately for their needs and build a tailored roadmap for operational improvement.
- Harnessing and empowering teams – By improving their consumables management, retailers will also support and empower store managers to carry out their duties effectively. The process of a consumables review will bring together many roles across the business, giving all parties involved a greater understanding of the business.
- Improving employee and customer satisfaction – By taking a strategic approach, retail brands can empower workers to focus on customer priorities. With store associates alleviated from the burden of stock control and storage issues, they can prioritise sales and handling customer queries, boosting motivation, productivity and increasing customer satisfaction.
- Brand consistency through details – To offset supply chain issues, a consumables partner leverages a broad supplier network and maintains contingency plans to secure these vital brand elements even when market conditions are unstable. They manage production timelines, quality control, and alternative sourcing options to ensure branded consumables meet exact specifications.
- New store launches – Every successful store launch should begin with thorough planning. Analysing past usage data, considering lead times, and factoring in potential supply chain delays all contribute to developing a realistic forecast. By mitigating risks early, a consumables partner saves both time and money, reducing stress across departments and providing a reliable roadmap for store launch success.
- Impacting the bottom line – A thorough examination of how a retailer procures and manages their retail essentials will reveal usage patterns, revision timescales, amalgamation and standardisation options, warehousing issues and speed to market. A subsequent report may recommend ways to optimise stock control, such as re-engineering and enhancement of products, reduction in wastage, ordering online for superior order tracking and visibility, and correct stock levels for the correct season. By optimising sourcing strategies and analysing/revising spending patterns, retailers build resilience to withstand disruptions and adapt to fluctuating consumer demand.
- Meeting sustainability targets – In making improvements to consolidate in-store consumables, reduce packaging and the number of deliveries, the retailer will be reducing carbon emissions, minimising its carbon footprint and be better for the business and the planet.
A retail detail review can kick-start consumables efficiencies
More so than ever before, it is critical retailers understand the inner workings of their consumables management to discover some of the key efficiencies they may be overlooking. A thorough consumables discovery session can clarify all the in-store areas that are performing well, along with identifying opportunities for improvements. Celebrating 20 years of partnering with brand leaders on their retail consumables, CCS McLays is ready to support with a strategic plan to save costs.With a free tailored report that includes recommendations for improvements and a bespoke roadmap for potential change, forward-thinking retail leaders are taking a data-driven approach to their in-store consumables. This enables them to make vital cost savings in a challenging market, whilst considering their people and the environment.
