From snail-mail distance courses to digitalised training, the learning environment has come a long way and has reached its optimum, i.e., eLearning. Today, eLearning is one of the booming industries, and according to analytics, this industry is estimated to experience 10% growth by 2020, globally.
With that said, eLearning is taking every sector by storm, including the retail industry. As one of the biggest industries in the world, the retail market faces a considerable amount of challenges to keep pace with emerging technology and meet evolving customer demands.
With the rise of eCommerce, the retail sector is enduring the challenge of dealing with the ever-changing face of shopping. Additionally, technology brings new challenges, such as data protection, contactless payment, and identity fraud. Also, with the introduction of new rules & regulations, training programs must be flexible and adaptable to reflect novel responsibilities.
Hence in the industry where reduced cost & time are paramount, online courses proffer a premium platform to deliver the training requirements.
LMS factors contributing to the success of the retail sector
Scale and implementation - Retail businesses with multiple facilities and stores and across several cities, states and countries, can utilise a low cost, single LMS installation to train their workforce.
Strategic flexibility - Learning management system gives the flexibility to take the course at an individual’s own pace and location. This minimises business disruption and downtime while adding knowledge.
Effortless accessibility to materials - eLearning-based training offers easy access to centrally managed course material to all the learners.
Easy updates - eLearning let instructors develop and deploy new online training courses effortlessly and at a faster rate.
As per a report, the retail sector is expected to grow at 3 to 4% by 2021. To stand firm in the market despite the fierce competition, businesses must have staff-customer interactions, quality goods, and provide in-store experience & exceptional services. And the functional way of accomplishing this is via training the workforce using LMS.
Benefits of LMS solutions
Simulation-based training - eLearning courses with simulation and visual factors will enable the employees to learn the appropriate way of interacting with clients. By demonstrating the content in context, it will allow them to incorporate the best possible practices & enhance in-store experience. For example, tailor-made engaging, interactive simulation-based courses develop a virtual experience of the store. This assists in training employees to deliver superior customer experience.
Improved sales training - To successfully raise the sales volume, your staff must be aware of the sales cycle, including probing, qualifying the purchaser, handling objections, evidential support, etc. This can be accomplished by developing challenging sales courses that assess your employees’ sales skills and adds value to their existing know-how.
Development of bite-sized courses - Instead of spending an hour on a single course, deploy microlearning in the form of courses and videos that keeps the employees engaged, motivated to go through snappy yet meaningful content. The advantage of the chunks of the training course is, in addition to providing easy to grasp vital information, it can be easily accessed during the slower times at the store.
Easy risk management through compliance training - Risk management is critical for the retail industry. There are legal risks such as discrimination against buyers, reputation damage, sexual harassment, safety hazards, and so on. Equipping employees to identify such risks and tackle them effectively can protect the business from possible legal actions or bad PR.
Custom training - This is useful, especially if you have stores spread across cities or states. In the eLearning platform, a training course can be developed in the respective local language and delivered swiftly & systematically to your staff scattered geographically without any hassle.
Reduced costs & increased impact on seasonal onboarding - For retail businesses that hire seasonal workforce, it becomes a necessity to train the staff prior to the sale or business season. eLearning allows you to create impactful onboarding courses that can be used repeatedly to train single or group of employees cost-effectively.
Access to timely information - eLearning modules, apart from training, will also let employees access the information in a timely manner. For instance, they must be able to access detailed information about the products/services and suggest the perfect products/services that align with the buyer’s needs and drive more sales.
Access course on all devices/platforms - The best feature about eLearning is that it operates seamlessly across various devices or platforms. This enables the learners to take a quick glance through the training modules in their idle time from any location.
Industry trends, customer preferences change in the blink of an eye. Hence it is crucial for you to train your employees consistently, continuously and overcome the fierce competition in the market. Embrace LMS, revolutionise the buying habits and make the retail experience a big-win.
