If you found yourself moving from bricks to clicks over COVID-19, then you'll relate that managing both your retail shop and keeping your website up and running is now a real challenge for businesses.  Added to this the new requirements for caring for staff and customers, taking measures to prevent the spread of infection, surviving with less staff whilst juggling store opening with sending out online orders, couriers, paperwork and a whole new set of Managerial credentials.

Having a to-do list

Simple ideas may help greatly: like having a To-do list for each day in the week - so maybe 'Purchasing new products' turns up on only one day in the week, in opposed to 'Dispatching online orders' that is a daily to-do.  This way you can block out time for catching up on emails, or discipline yourself for handling these at certain times in the day.  It sounds really obvious but planning your day the night before will help you complete tasks quicker and get more done.  If you're not a pen-to-paper person then Google Keep or Apple Notes maybe good apps for you.

Vendhq has some top tips on Time management here https://www.vendhq.com/blog/retail-time-management

Training the team

Cross-training staff to serve at the till or pack parcels, book carriers or book in stock, means less on any one person and prevents the whole business grinding to a halt over one person being away for the day.

Social out of hours

Post on social media at times outside of office hours. This means you're not spending your valuable time in the day when you could be physically involved in giving your real customers the best experience - getting their order out to them faster or helping a customer in store.

Set Goals

Determine what your key daily goals are and align them with your business goals. What does your business stand for and what goals does it have for the week, for the day? Does your company have peak times - schedule your time accordingly.  Knowing what your key wins are will focus everyone on the team, however many staff you have.

Woocommerce has a really helpful article on taking your business "O-2-O" - offline to online, https://woocommerce.com/posts/offline-store-online

There must be more key learns from lock down - if you've read this article and feel you'd like to share your ideas with others please drop us a line from our Contact us page and we'll republish with your helpful insights.

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At Kudos Giftwrap, we work proactively with retailers to create memorable packaging solutions that improve brand engagement and increase customer loyalty. Please get in touch today on 01923 954933 or request a free quotation online.