With countless buying options for consumers online or in stores, virtually every product has been commoditized, making the purchasing experience—especially customer service—the true source of brand differentiation. The NRF noted this in its latest Top 100 Retailers report:
"The dot-com boom launched 20 years ago, ushering in a new era of retailing, and 2017 is the year that acknowledges the future has arrived. In this landscape, retailers are embracing disruption, reimagining physical stores as places for brand experiences and exploring new ways to connect with consumers."19
Recruiting in retail must follow suit and emulate “clicks-and-mortar” leader the Apple Store, where every aspect of the buying experience is configured for seamlessness, convenience, and creating and engaging brand advocates. You’ve seen more of those Apple stickers on cars over the years, right?
Stats about company brand strategies
decrease in employee turnover
more candidates apply to work at companies with a strong talent brand
of candidates seek out company websites and social media
A winning employer brand.
Companies applying the same strategy to talent acquisition are benefiting. Those that incorporate a brand strategy see a 28 percent decrease in employee turnover, and 2.5 times more candidates apply to work at companies with a strong talent brand.20, 21 Like consumers, most people shopping for employers do their homework beforehand. 52 percent of candidates seek out company websites and social media beforehand to learn about employer values.22
To reciprocate reviews on sites like Glassdoor, retailers should proactively promote their mission and culture on all channels and content, including job postings. Employee testimonial and “day in the work life” videos are great tools for touting your work culture differentiators. And don’t forget to engage your consumers, who’ll surely have desired candidate skills and an existing love of your company as a whole.
Some cautionary tales in the U.S., though, underscore the need for a well-thought-out brand strategy. During 2016’s transgender bathroom debate, department store Target was a vocal supporter of activists but experienced a 6 percent drop in sales due to a boycott.23 Now environmental conservation is a hot topic for debate in the U.S. Will specialty outdoor retailer Patagonia fare better in its fight against the Trump administration’s plans to shrink two national monuments?24
Building the ideal candidate experience.
If experience is brand, then retail is lagging when it comes to the candidate journey. Although 78 percent of active candidates use their smartphone in a job search, most organizations still lack a mobile-optimized career site.25 And 85.7 percent of candidates think the application and interview process are vital.26
An advanced cloud HR system can be the backbone of an ideal candidate experience. Teams can deliver automated notifications to keep applicants informed and engaged (see Figure 2, below), and save time by conducting virtual interviews via smartphone videoconferencing. This approach is essential for hiring top talent in growing retail areas like ecommerce and analytics. And retailers must be honest when assessing their chances of competing with technology companies that offer perks such as the ability to work remotely.
Sourcing can also be invigorated by a cloud HR solution with functionality in:
- Social sourcing to reach passive jobseekers, who most recruiters feel are better in quality than active ones.27
- High-volume onboarding, training, and offboarding of seasonal workers, which routinely number in the tens of thousands annually.
- Analytics to mine past and current employee data for criteria that constitute an ideal candidate—or the opposite.
Figure 2: Raj’s omnichannel candidate journey.Seeking a new job in retail, fashionable millennial jobseeker Raj clicked a Twitter job post to apply via his smartphone by linking to his LinkedIn profile. From there…
- Top 100 Retailers, National Retail Federation, June 2017,
nrf.com/resources/annual-retailer-lists/top-100-retailers. - The Ultimate List of Employer Brand Statistics: For Hiring Managers, HR Professionals, and Recruiters, LinkedIn, 2016,
business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/global/en_us/c/pdfs/ultimate-list-of-employer-brand-stats.pdf. - Global Recruiting Trends, LinkedIn, 2015,
business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/c/15/1/global-recruiting-trends - The Ultimate List of Employer Brand Statistics: For Hiring Managers, HR Professionals, and Recruiters, LinkedIn, 2016,
business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/global/en_us/c/pdfs/ultimate-list-of-employer-brand-stats.pdf - Hayley Peterson, “The Target Boycott Cost More Than Anyone Expected—and the CEO Was Blindsided,” Business Insider, April 6, 2017,
finance.yahoo.com/news/target-boycott-cost-more-anyone-141019006.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw - Christine Hauser, “Patagonia, REI and Other Outdoor Retailers Protest Trump’s Decision to Shrink Utah Monuments,” New York Times, December 5, 2017,
nytimes.com/2017/12/05/business/patagonia-trump-utah.html - “The Unstoppable Rise of Mobile Job Search: What Employers Need to Know,” Indeed, July 27, 2017,
blog.indeed.com/2017/07/27/the-unstoppable-rise-of-mobile-job-search/ - “Passive Versus Active,” HRO Today, March 15, 2017,
hrotoday.com/uncategorized/passive-versus-active/. - Ibid.