Steve Montgomery

NRF: Retail Means Jobs (Good Jobs?)

January 19, 2012

FROM RETAILWIRE:
A major theme of this week's National Retail Federation 101st Annual Convention was that "Retail Means Jobs." And NRF supported that contention by citing lots of statistics related to retail in the U.S. Are the realities of retail compensation affecting the industry's ability to attract the type of talent that would excel on the front lines?      [more...]

In order to pay more I need to either charge more, have fewer employees to do the same work, etc. We know charging more isn't going to work as customers will not pay more. Having fewer employees isn't likely to work as there is a defined amount of work. True there may be some opportunities with greater automation but there is not guarantee that if retailers automate the skill level won't go down and compensation with it. B&M retailers are in game changing times and there are no easy answers.