As Old Navy works to make it easier for consumers to buy, the jobs performed by the employees tasked with helping them become rather more difficult. In today’s brick-and-mortar stores, the sales personnel and managers on the floor take on a vast range of roles and jobs in their efforts to meet the diverse goals that the company sets.
For example, every employee is equipped with a company-issued mobile device so that they can receive constant alerts. Those alerts prompt them to engage in different sales and service behaviors. For example, one ping indicates that the last size small of a certain shirt has been sold, so the retail worker needs to bring new inventory to the floor. Another alert reminds cashiers to request and encourage shoppers to provide their contact information or sign up for an Old Navy Credit card. Yet another link signals that a consumer has placed an order online and plans to pick it up in the store, so the employee needs to go pick out the items, place them in a bag, and put the package onto the dedicated “BOPIS” (buy online, pickup in store) shelf.
These alerts go to all employees; the floor manager for each shift receives even more of them. For these retail supervisors, Old Navy also recommends times to encourage other employees to express enthusiasm and excitement. At another moment, the corporate alert might suggest handing out branded reusable shopping bags to lucky shoppers or announcing limited time specials for people in the store.
But these workers also are performing all the traditional tasks of a retail employee, such as arranging and cleaning merchandise displays, checking out customers, and helping people find the products they have come to the store to purchase. In general, retail employees work harder today than might have been the case in the past. To encourage these extra efforts, Old Navy offers contest-based incentives, recognizes stellar employees with bonuses, and asks its managers to create a positive and encouraging atmosphere in stores.
The efforts appear successful thus far. Old Navy continues to outperform its parent company, The Gap, and plans to open around 800 new stores in the near future. Such promising outcomes contrast with wider trends, including evidence that the number of jobs available in the retail clothing industry have declined by around 9 percent in the past five years.
Discussion Questions:
- What types of roles does Old Navy expect its in-store employees to perform?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of such expectations, for employees and the company?
Source: Andy Newman, “Her Job Requires 7 Apps. She Works Retail,” The New York Times, December 26, 2019
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