The time to engage retail sales associates is now.

Here are some highlights & key takeaways from a recent survey. This survey was conducted to both RetailSales Associates and Consumers. This was conducted twice. Once in August 2020 and repeated inOctober 2020.

The Need for Engagement

• 82% of the time the associate is impacting the consumer purchase without knowledge or training on the product.

This metric stood out in the survey. There is a great opportunity to engage with associates to positively impact sales. In fact, a previous study showed that when sales associates are engaged with a brand sales increase by 87%.

The retail sales associates surveyed indicated they all want more product knowledge but many felt that they didn’t have access to it. In many cases, their corporate program was lacking.

Consumer Interaction

• 83% of consumers want to interact with a retail sales associate prior to making a purchase.

This was from the consumer survey. Even in the COVID landscape, consumers are still seeking out retail sales associates for recommendations.

• 69% of consumers said they expect to go to a physical retail store 5+ times over the next 12months.

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How to Engage with Training

The question was asked to retail sales associates, “With the current restrictions in place, how can training realistically take place at your store?”

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34% - PC based learning
32% - Mobile App
14% - In person
13% - Zoom
8% - Demo

66% of the retail sales associates say that digital (PC/App) training is needed now. 5-15 min training pieces are best.

This correlates to the data we are seeing with video and one pagers getting a lot of consumption.

Training & Seeding products with retail sales associates impact the rate of recommendation 76% of the time.

When asked to rate factors that most heavily influence product knowledge & willingness to recommend a product to a customer

55% - Owning & using a product. This is a high number however correlates in what we see. In programs where we offer an accommodations program or B-Stock sales.

10% - Bite-sized ongoing training on the product

11% - Extensive training on the product.

Work with Karrot

Karrot specializes in programs to increase retail sales associate engagement. The survey results show the need for increasing engagement. Increase engagement leads to increased sales. To explore program options, please contact your Karrot specialist.