The vibrant and ever-evolving retail industry of India is growing with leaps and bounds. It contributes a significant 10% to the country's GDP. With the country's population exceeding 1.4 billion and the rising middle class family having greater aspirations, India's retail industry remains a lucrative ground for both brick and mortar and e-commerce players. While the growth opportunities remain strong for the retail industry, the challenges lie in finding the right talent at the right time. While some retailers find, some don't. The lack of credible talent makes it difficult for retailers to maximise from the opportunities presented through seasonal demands that remain on for a good 6-8 months of the year. That is the time when demand spikes enormously high, creating enormous opportunities for retailers across India. But the intermittent supply of retail talent makes it a challenge.
Seasonal Demand
The seasonal nature of retail demand presents a challenge of its own. Seasonal demand is characterised by the sharp rise in buying patterns driven by festivals, cultural events and celebrations. It all starts with Navratri that falls in the autumn and ends with the Navratri of early summer. During this period, retailers witness a massive surge in customer footfalls and sales. It creates demand for additional workforce to sustain business momentum driven by increasing user buying tendencies. However, finding a lot of talent who could work at a reasonable cost during the peak season remains a monumental challenge for retailers. They can't dedicate time to finding such talents.
Stiff Competition from Other Industries
Retailers continue to grapple with the competition they face from their business peers across industries such as hospitality and technology startups. Companies across these industries offer attractive incentives to workers alongside giving them a work-life balance. Employees want more pay to survive the challenge posed by the rising inflation. The fact that India's retail industry is largely unorganised, most companies can't offer employees the luxury they need. As a result, they are not able to rope in talent quickly either. Balancing all such expectations that employees pin on becomes a monumental challenge for unorganised retailers, at least.
How Can Retailers Overcome Staffing Challenges?
Retailers can overcome staffing challenges by adopting various measures discussed below.
Plan Recruitment in Advance
Conducting recruitment for the peak season demand earlier can help retailers gain a competitive edge. So, maybe the hiring process should begin from the Independence Day, celebrated on August 15 every year. It will give retailers enough time to create a steady flow of talent to meet seasonal demands. Globally, retailers use this strategy to achieve enormous success to fill in the workforce on time.
Investment in Employee Training
While advance recruitment certainly gives retailers a push ahead, they can make further gains by investing in staff training for retail work. They can tie up with training institutes or even the best staffing company in India to train the retail staff. Helping employees get the necessary skills and knowledge only allows them to excel at work. Trained staff empowers businesses to increase operational efficiency and offer outstanding customer experiences during the peak season.
Implement a Temporary Staffing Model
Retail businesses should adopt a temporary staffing model to acquire talent on time. They can tie up with temporary staffing service providers such as Kutumbh HRCare (Kaam matlab Kutumbh) to find a wide range of workers for their retail business. The best part is that these workers work for a limited period but deliver more, helping businesses achieve economies of scale. Most of these workers work based on an output model, relieving retail businesses from the fixed cost burden that lowers their profit margins.
Data-backed Recruitment Initiatives
Data-driven recruitment technologies and improving workforce sourcing strategies can allow retailers to find and retain top talent. They can thus use recruitment analytics tools and applicant tracking systems (ATS) to ease the hiring process and make informed hiring decisions.
Building a retail workforce strategy requires a proactive approach that involves identifying the forthcoming trends in the retail industry. Retailers must adopt data-driven recruitment insights to ramp up a vibrant retail workforce to tap into the rising demand the country's middle class and other segments present with their increased purchasing power in the 21st Century.
Kutumbh HRCare is a prominent name in helping retailers ramp up their workforce across India. Collaborate now to take your retail business to a new height.
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