What Tasks Do You Give Employees During Slow Retail Days?

[sacredheart926]

Some days in retail are much slower than others, and I’m always looking for productive ways to use the downtime.

What tasks do you give your employees when the store is empty? Do they focus on cleaning, reorganizing displays, updating inventory, creating social media content, contacting customers, or something else?

I’d especially love to hear about tasks that have helped improve future sales or the overall customer experience.

[ascoach]

Some things I have my employees do is updating our online stores.  This includes making sure we have everything listed correctly, pictures and sizing charts updated, going through inventory and then deciding what can be put on sale.

I also have them send out emails which may include coupon codes or just following up with customers that we may have not heard from in a while.  They also go through social media to see what is trending in apparel, so we stay on top of those things.

It is usually small things to help us stay organized and on top of things.  I also offer VTO - voluntary time off - some prefer to do that instead of cleaning or trying to find things to do.

[DinaLRosenberg]

We stamp our shopping bags, make sure all the shelves are dusted, focus in remerchandising and restocking so the store always looks fresh.

We research new product lines to bring in.

We shoot social media content.

We browse our own website and make sure all our listings are correct and photographs look good (otherwise we re-shoot).

[MudFire_Dex]

We also stamp bags, refill containers of supplies, catch up on dusting, etc. For us - retail/classes are pretty consistent Wed - Fri and balls to the wall Sat and Sun - so Monday tends to be our slow/catch up day and we stack tasks heavier on that day. Each day of the week has a task list designed for the day.

[Doran]

Bag stamping.

Dusting.

Making sure all the testers are clean and working.

Organize the clearance bin.

Organize back stock.

[Lovewell]

Honestly pretty much the same as everyone else! Get the place looking spotless.

if our girls want to do socials stuff they can.

deep clean areas that need attention. 

[LukeNieuw]

Cleaning/Organizing always a good thing!
We also have them verifying Event Registrations and spreadsheets we use for our events (happen weekly) as well as prep any event paperwork, in our case that's competitions Check-In Sheets, Labels for Golf Carts etc.