I’m new to retail work and stocking. Making the change hasn’t been that difficult. For one thing in comparison to working in group homes, it’s relatively stress-free. The hardest part is remembering to watch the clock for breaks, lunch, and to leave. With shifts being 8 hours (I’m use to 10-19 hour shifts) and always being busy, time flies!
Most of the work is common sense.
- Stocking (aka zoning)-fill the shelves, make it look good, keep it clean, and organize backup stock in department
- Cleaning-if there is a mess clean it up and clean up after myself
- Customer service-if someone needs something either help them or find someone who can help them
Lessons from Wal-Mart that can be used with websites and blogs:
- Prioritize-I stock the items closest to the main aisle first. It gives the appearance of being stocked until I am able to fully stock the items. It is important to get a site up and going. Waiting until it’s perfect may cause it to never be launched. Get the first page looking it’s best. Then as soon as possible work on the next pages.
- First Impression-when someone walks into the dept I work in, I want their first impression to be positive. At a glance the area will look clean and stocked. Make sure your first page makes a good impression with a nice design (it can always be improved later as the site brings in money and can pay for itself). Have the first page give complee information about what the site provides.
- Maintaining-once the area closest to the main aisle is clean and stocked, then I move down the aisle. Once your site is up and going, then have a routine of regular updating and improvement until it is complete. After that, a less frequent schedule (1-4x per year) of updating and improvement is needed.
- Fine Tune-once I have stocked and cleaned, I then rearrange items so that they look the best. I line up the items in an orderly manner. I stack items so that as items are taken off the shelf, it causes the least impact in appearance. I stack items so that each variation can be looked at without messing up the entire display. Go over your site and evaluate the ease of navigation and position of ads.
No matter what your job, there are lessons to be learned that can be used as an internet entrepreneur. While wage earning, make the time doubly useful by taking those lessons home.