Europe’s leading independent retailer of mobile phones, The Carphone Warehouse, has selected Kronos for Retail from Kronos to manage the scheduling of 5,000 staff across seven European countries.
Kronos will provide a fully automated employee scheduling solution that will analyse historical trading data, projected sales figures, labour standards, and employee availability before creating the optimum staffing schedule for each store.
The Carphone Warehouse conducted a proof of concept trial to test the correlation between schedule optimisation and customer conversion rates, and installed footfall readers at 15 stores to measure customer flow against sales figures.
The concept demonstrated a direct correlation between the number of staff available in store and customer conversions. As a result, the company commenced a search for a scheduling solution to optimise schedules and maximise sales.
The Carphone Warehouse selected Kronos for Retail to implement the full workforce management solution.
Mercedes Garcia, Senior Project Manager for Business Change Function Europe at The Carphone Warehouse explained:
“We selected Kronos for a number of reasons: the company demonstrated a sound understanding of our business; it has a track record in managing successful implementations across multiple European countries; and the solution is functionally rich, flexible, and able to manage the specific policy and legislative requirements of the seven countries in which it is to be deployed.
The Carphone Warehouse has complex rotas, fluctuating store opening hours and peak periods, which necessitate the utilisation of temporary staff.
Using historical trading data and projected sales forecasts, Kronos will create optimum schedules to minimise under – and over – staffing and to reduce the dependency on temporary staff.
The Kronos time and attendance module will allow The Carphone Warehouse to manage absence, ensure payroll accuracy, and reduce administration costs.
Biometric terminals will be used to guarantee the 100 percent accuracy of employee attendance data collected.
Garcia noted the key anticipated benefits:
“Kronos will allow us to manage employee schedules by accurately matching staffing requirements to customer demand. We expect substantial improvements in customer conversion rates as a result.
“The time and attendance element of the Kronos solution will help us to reduce payroll inflation, generate payroll management overhead savings, and give us real-time visibility to manage our labour resources. We expect customers will experience a greater level of service with more staff available to meet their requirements.”
Keith Statham, Managing Director, Kronos UK, commented:
“Given the current economic climate and customer confidence dropping to a record low, it is essential for retailers to consider optimising their employees to ensure they have people in the right place at the right time to maximise on every customer opportunity and provide exemplary levels of service.
“The Carphone Warehouse has identified the relationship between optimising the workforce and customer conversions, and we are delighted to be able to provide them with a Kronos solution to manage this process.”
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