Retail Training Explained: Why It Matters & How to Implement

2. Product Training

Product training in retail is a part of the sales enablement process to turn new hires into product experts. This training develops the ability in employees to clearly communicate the features and benefits of different products to your customers. In other words, they are trained to confidently tell customers what makes a product unique and why they should buy it.

This training is tied to increased sales through excellent knowledge about products and their associated benefits and how your employees convey them to potential buyers.

Your retail employees should be able to explain even the most technical aspects of a product in layman’s terms so that people understand it well and are persuaded to buy from you, not your competitor.

3. Customer Service Training

This is another equally important example of retail training.

75% of consumers don’t think twice about dropping the idea of business with a retailer if they encounter poor customer service.

Customer service trainingis one of the focus areas of every retailer, online or brick-and-mortar. No matter how irresistible a product is, it will turn off customers easily if the attending service is poor.

The training educates retail employees on how to offer a positive and consistent customer experience. Whether it is welcoming customers warmly, answering their queries, or following up on their complaints, a trained workforce is in a better position to manage these responsibilities professionally once they are properly trained.

4. Sales Training

The ultimate goal of every retailer is to make more sales over time by creating the demand for products. After combining the knowledge and skills of your products and customer service, retail employees can achieve more sales.

So, retail sales training tackles the challenges of achieving increased retail sales by educating employees on promoting an amazing range of products, selling them, and following up with delightful customer services.

More specifically, it deals with the journey of a customer from the awareness phase to the point of sale (POS). During the training, employees learn how to identify sales opportunities, leverage them, and close more sales within a specified time.

5. Safety & Compliance Training

Most people associate compliance and safety training with high-risk industries such as construction and manufacturing. But nothing could be further from the truth.

The retail industry has its share of legally mandated rules and regulations to follow. Examples include sexual harassment prevention, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), fire safety, information safety, OSHA, and COVID safety.

A few years back, OSHA stepped up its health & safety-related enforcement in retail stores and warehouses to ensure safe workplaces.

So, a safety & compliance training program trains retail employees on these topics to build a compliance culture and a risk-free work environment for both employees and customers.

Watch: What is OSHA Compliance Training

6. Software Training

In recent years, retail companies are increasingly relying on numerous software applications to automate, simplify, and track processes. Tools for inventory management, billing, and marketing are a few examples.

Employees are expected to be adept at these technological solutions that modern workplaces demand. Retailers usually provide software training as on-the-job training in the actual environment in which employees work. Learners get to learn through hands-on training about the custom software tools they will be using at work.

So, whether it is an eCommerce platform or a barcode scanning system at the point of sale, proper training on modern technology can save time, increase efficiency and productivity, and make data trackable while offering a seamless customer experience.

5 Benefits of Retail Training You Don’t Want to Miss

Like all other training programs, retail training brings a set of benefits to employees and businesses. Some of the top ones worth knowing are:

1. Knowledgeable Employees

The first benefit of a well-designed retail training program is it helps develop a knowledgeable workforce. Training lays the foundation for business knowledge or expands the existing knowledge of an employee. It also keeps employees up-to-date and relevant with industry trends.

This is essential for becoming a productive member of any retail store who contributes to business growth and expansion.

2. Greater Efficiency, Productivity & Performance

Retail training provides the key to employee efficiency, productivity, and performance. This is because training educates them on executing their job roles with the least wastage of time and resources. It shows them how to avoid common mistakes and streamline retail operations through communication, coordination, and teamwork.

3. Better Customer Service

A trained retail employee will inevitably provide higher quality customer service than a novice. Better service, in turn, leads to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. Training equips your employees with the ability and confidence to handle any issue your customers may present.

Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect. – W. Clement Stone

4. Increased Sales

During training for retail employees, you provide them with all the knowledge, skills, tools, and support to excel at their jobs. You train them on your product line and soft skills.

All this naturally increases their efficiency and productivity, which boosts sales. Ongoing training raises the bar for expectations and performance. When employees fulfill the goals, the result is more sales.

Case Study: Thermo Fisher Scientific

5. Improved Employee Retention

Training is one of the signs that a company is fully invested in its employees’ professional growth and development. It keeps employees motivated and offers little reason to break ties with a company, which is significant for an industry that reports a high turnover rate (around 60% for the US).

In this sense, training is a form of incentive that inspires confidence and makes employees feel more valued.

How to Develop a Retail Training Program

Like all other corporate programs, retail employee training follows certain logical steps. This is designed to help retailers develop a comprehensive plan that addresses all learning requirements. Such a well-crafted training program also makes learning consistent and sustainable.

Let’s look at how you can build a program like that.

Identify Gaps and Needs

Whether it is new hires or existing employees, it is unlikely that they will be skillful in all aspects of a retail business. They may be an expert in one area but not in others. There will always be something they lack in terms of knowledge and your duty is to fill in those gaps.

So, first and foremost, identify those deficiencies and missing links. This will enable you to focus on them in the course of your training. A goal-based training like this will help you develop a well-rounded staff who is an asset to your organization.

Here’s an in-depth look at how to conduct a gap or training needs analysis in your organization.

Align Training Objectives With Business Goals

Once you understand your audience and their learning needs, the next step is to align the learning objectives with your higher business goals.

For example, if your goal is to offer a better in-store experience or invest in retailtainment, you can encourage your employees to be more creative and innovative.

Similarly, if your goal is to open more stores in additional locations, you first need to ensure your employees can manage them with minimum supervision. All this will make your training more realistic and manageable.

Choose Your Learning Modes

Nowadays, companies are using traditional classroom learning on a limited scale. It is giving way to modern and advanced teaching and learning methods based on digital environments.

You can choose from eLearning, blended learning, microlearning such as short videos, quizzes, lessons, and flashcards, and even VR and AR.

The idea is to offer a more personalized, engaging, and flexible learning method. It will ultimately depend on your training budget and learners’ preferences.

Get the Training Materials Ready

The next vital step is to gather your retail training course content. You can use the materials you already have as-is or by repurposing. They include docs, videos, charts, presentations, and PDF files. You can even add your updated company policies. It will save you time and money you’d otherwise invest in building courses from scratch.

Conversely, many learning management systems (LMS) provide ready-to-use courses on different skill areas. You can leverage them and get your training up and running quickly. These resources are generally designed by professionals and fully editable.

Use the Right Training Tool

Along with the training content, you’d need a training platform to deliver it to your audience. These solutions help users create, design, share, and track online courses and assessments. They help simplify and automate most of the tasks and processes involved in the training.

Besides, you can pull custom reports on progress, completion, score, engagement, challenges, and milestones for individuals and groups.

If you’re new to these tools, make sure you choose a user-friendly, customizable, and scalable platform. Plus, the solution should come with excellent customer service.

Available features, flexible pricing, and free trial are other considerations you should make to ensure you land the best solution for retail training online.

Watch: How to Choose the Best Corporate Training Platform

Run a Pilot Test

A feasibility study is a must to gauge the practicality, strengths, and weaknesses of your retail training program before you formally roll it out. Conduct the test with a small sample group and observe how your representative audience receives it.

Such a study can provide both qualitative and quantitative insights into your training strategy. After the study, you will know what works, what doesn’t and what you can improve to make a positive impact.

Launch Your Program

Assuming that the pilot test went well, you can put the finishing touches and do some fine-tuning. After that, you can straight away launch your training program. Make sure you consult subject-matter experts and your stakeholders so that they can give their additional inputs.

Once your training comes to life, send out communications informing learners that the training is ready for them to enroll. After that, you can start monitoring participation to ensure all the employees take part in the training.

Evaluate Results & Gather Feedback

Once the training is up and running, you may begin tracking the results to check its effectiveness. More specifically, you should watch the dropout rate, if any, and the completion rate. See if learners meet the learning objectives and what and how they learned.

Set and evaluate key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success or otherwise of your program.

Along with this, you need to gather feedback from your training participants to understand their reactions to your initiative. Through feedback, you can gain a deeper and more accurate understanding of how they find the training, the engagement level, challenges, and other vital information.

For this, you can use online surveys with post-training assessment questions. Most of them are customizable with your own questions, and you can choose a question order, scoring system and theme, as well as enable social sharing.

That’s all about developing, implementing, and evaluating a retail training program. Before we wrap up, let’s see some additional ideas on how to make the most of your training in the next section. These guidelines are proven to be effective in the long run.

Bonus Tips: Retail Training Best Practices

These best practices can help you create the right impact on your employees’ upskilling, reskilling, customer experience, and retail sales.

Communicate Customer Expectations

Customers expect several things from a retailer, including a selection of products and accompanying services.

One of the ways to set yourself apart from your competition is by meeting these expectations. Make sure you outline the expectations and communicate them clearly to your employees so they can put themselves in your customers’ shoes.

Your employees should know the type of customers they need to deal with daily, their expectations, and how to fulfill them.

Include a Topic on the Buying Process

A buying process or a consumer decision-making process describes the series of steps a consumer goes through to arrive at a purchasing decision. It starts with the recognition of needs and wants and terminates with post-purchase evaluation.

When your retail employees understand what their customers do during the process, they will be better positioned to make the most of the sales by assisting customers in this journey.

Focus on Real & Common Issues

Another best practice is to focus on real issues that your sales associates often encounter. Issues may include how to deal with difficult customers and how to handle sales objections.

This will make the training more relatable, engaging, and effective, and prepare learners for the challenges ahead.

Watch: Handling Sales Objections

Teach Techniques & Strategies

Like in other industries, the retail industry has its own tactics or rules of thumb that are known to effectively convert prospects into leads and leads into customers. Practices such as active listening, storytelling, and providing social proof to validate the value of a product are strategies that work.

Train your retail employees to apply more of these techniques to bring better and faster results.

Measure On-the-Job Performance

While training may be important, you can understand the real value of such initiatives only through how well they are translated in the workplace. It can be sales per week or month, the number of customer complaints resolved on time, and the number of repeat customers.

Based on the result of this measurement, you can improve your performance management strategies to drive greater sales and profits.

Don’t Make Training a One-Off Activity

Employee training isn’t and should never be a one-time activity. Instead, it should be continuous and consistent. It’s an ongoing thing — from onboarding and compliance training to refresher training. You won’t get uniform results if your retail trainings are few and far between.

Regular learning opportunities are a must to maintain higher productivity levels, ramp up business operations, and reduce employee turnover.

Deliver Effective Retail Training ⇒ Enhance Efficiency⇒ Boost Sales

This guide is designed to provide you with a comprehensive and practical overview of what ideal retail training programs look like. Hope that you find it informative and actionable, whether you’re just a beginner or a veteran at providing such training.

With these training examples, key benefits, how-tos, and best practices, you’ll find it easy to plan and implement training that translates into knowledgeable staff, better customer experiences, and improved sales.

The approach is simple – you need to focus on the core activities of your retail employees and the parameters of your business operations. Once you identify them, the skill development areas will present themselves.

The right training materials, delivery formats, and platform like an Retail LMscan prove decisive for your retail business. They streamline retail training administration and make learning engaging, consistent, and sustainable.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is retail sales training?

Retail sales training is a process that equips employees with the necessary skills and knowledge to sell products or services in a retail environment effectively. It focuses on techniques such as customer engagement, product knowledge, communication, and sales strategies to enhance the overall customer experience and increase sales performance.

What is the cost of retail training?

The cost of retail training can vary widely depending on the provider, the specific program or course, and the duration of the training. Some online courses or workshops may range from around $100 to $500, while more comprehensive training programs or certifications can cost several thousand dollars. It’s best to research and compare options to find a training program that fits your budget and needs.

How much time should it take to train retail employees?

The duration of retail employee training can vary depending on various factors, including the complexity of the role, the specific skills being taught, and the training approach used. Training programs can range from a few days to several weeks, with on-the-job training typically lasting anywhere from a few days to a month, allowing employees to gain practical experience in an actual retail setting.

What kind of training is essential for retail training?

In retail, common training requirements include customer service skills, effective communication, sales techniques, product knowledge, inventory management, etc. Training may also cover handling difficult customers, visual merchandising, store policies and procedures, and teamwork. Retail employees may undergo on-the-job training, participate in workshops or courses, or receive online training materials to develop these skills.

What is the best way to train retail employees?

To train retail employees effectively, clearly outline job expectations, and provide comprehensive product knowledge. Provide hands-on training, role-playing exercises, and shadowing opportunities. Focus on customer service skills, effective communication, and sales techniques. Use training materials such as manuals, videos, and online modules. Provide continuous feedback and opportunities for growth and development. A retail training LMS can help you streamline and centralize training and evaluation.

What are the best retail sales training programs that I must try?

There are plenty of retail sales training courses that you’ll find online. The choice of course depends on what knowledge or skills you’re trying to impart. For instance, if you’re using ProProfs Training Maker, you can find basic as well as advanced courses for retail sales training. This includes the introduction to sales, persuasion and negotiation, making a sales pitch, getting sales leads, and nurturing sales leads, to name a few.