Closing the Skills Gap With Retail Training and L&D
The retail industry has undergone a dramatic transformation, expanding beyond brick-and-mortar stores to embrace e-commerce, mobile shopping, and immersive digital experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of technologies such as AI, machine learning, augmented reality, and advanced analytics, driving innovations in inventory management, customer service, and marketing practices.
As consumer expectations evolve, demanding personalized and seamless interactions across all channels, retailers are also being pushed towards sustainability, with eco-conscious shoppers favoring brands that prioritize environmental impact. To thrive in this dynamic landscape, retailers must ensure their workforce possesses the necessary skills and knowledge to adapt. This requires the implementation of robust learning and development (L&D) strategies that emphasize continuous upskilling. By investing in their employees’ growth, retailers can improve operational efficiency, enhance customer satisfaction, and position themselves for long-term success in an ever-changing market.
Top Learning & Development Challenges for CPG & Retail Companies
- Uncertainty in Economy and Consumer Spend: The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a lot of market uncertainties, such as inflation, rising interest rates, spiking commodity prices, and global economic shifts, affecting consumer behavior and spending habits. Understanding the consequences of this uncertainty requires companies to be agile and adaptable to build operational resilience. Learning leaders must develop innovative training programs that involve constant market research and analysis to understand the market pulse and improve operations accordingly.
- Adopting Advanced and Emerging Technology: Technologies, like AI, machine learning, IoT, virtual reality, and augmented reality, have revolutionized the retail industry by managing inventory levels, enhancing customers’ shopping experience, optimizing deliveries, and improving store operations. Learning leaders must include technical training programs to improve the overall customer journey.
- Increasing the Agility of the Supply Chain: Efficiently managing inventory, navigating complex supply chains, and ensuring the deliveries of the right products in appropriate quantities at the right time are critical for both online and offline retailers. Learning leaders must focus on streamlining these processes to fulfill customer demands while maintaining the supply chain operations efficiently.
- Sustainability and Energy Transition: As consumers and regulators prefer brands that promote sustainable practices, CPG and retail companies must adapt their operations accordingly. This includes eco-friendly sourcing, producing sustainable products, and health-conscious items along with maintaining quality, pricing, and brand strategy. L&D leaders must think of innovative strategies to help businesses reduce waste, develop high-quality products, and digitize supply chains.
- Talent Disruptions and Opportunities: As the 'Great Resignation' and 'Great Reshuffle' occur, organizations are devising new strategies to react to change. The challenges of returning to the office and navigating hybrid work models have intensified this need. Learning Leaders must stay at the leading edge of the employee experience, implementing engaging learning and skill-building techniques.
- Aligning Brand Culture and Values: Brand culture and values give employees and customers a consistent brand message. Learning Leaders must take charge by embracing value-driven training programs to reinforce the company’s mission, vision, and values, ensuring every employee is aligned and conveys the brand’s ethos to consumers.
NIIT’s Specialized L&D Services for CPG and Retail Companies
With consumers seeking increased personalization and brand alignment with their values, L&D leaders must not only develop professional skills but also provide their employees with essential training on DEI culture and brand values. NIIT helped with redefining the learning ecosystem and aligning L&D with business priorities for many CPG and retail companies, resulting in tangible business impact through specialized services:
Managed Learning Operations: CPG and retail companies need to reskill, upskill, and prepare their workforce for a resilient and adaptive learning ecosystem that can meet any challenge. Our comprehensive range of Managed Learning Services aligns L&D goals with business objectives, resulting in tangible business impact. We improve L&D effectiveness and efficiency by streamlining learning operations such as learning administration, learning delivery, vendor management, or strategic sourcing. For large-scale learning operations, we aim to provide you with a dedicated staff that ensures smooth operations and high service levels, freeing up your internal L&D teams to focus on strategic objectives and outcomes.
Custom Content for Skill Building: As one of the largest and most capable providers of custom content across the globe, NIIT covers all learning modalities and levels. We deliver transformative results in the CPG and retail industry by combining sound instructional design with advanced immersive learning. Whether it is experiential learning for frontline workers or scenario-based ethics and compliance training, or driving your DE&I and leadership initiatives, our content expert team can meet all of your demands. We collaborate with your subject-matter experts to deliver content that will help your teams learn in the flow of work and scale with your business.
Cutting-Edge Technology Platform for Learning in the Flow of Work: NIIT’s award-winning Learning Experience Platform allows hyper-personalized job, tenure, and performance-based learning journeys for your workforce by utilizing custom and curated content. Driven by artificial intelligence, the platform connects learning with performance to provide real-time data, analytics, and performance support. Users, from frontline workers to supervisors, take advantage of extensive features such as skills practice, role plays, social and collaborative learning, coaching, and mentoring, to enhance productivity and performance. The platform provides multilingual capabilities and supports offline synchronization, ensuring seamless access across both developed and emerging markets.
Success Story: A Leading FMCG Company Transformed Their Learning Operations and Saved 24% in Operational Efficiencies
Challenge: Our customer is committed to becoming the world’s most sustainable business while enhancing their consumer-centric approach and readiness for the digital era. To achieve these objectives, they initiated an organization-wide digital transformation aimed at improving processes and adopting data-led models. This transformation also encompassed their L&D function, which sought to reduce costs, centralize structures, and embrace agile, digital-led strategies for greater efficiency and effectiveness.
Solution: Our customer partnered with NIIT, to transform their existing L&D operational model (including LMS administration, strategic sourcing, event management, help desk, and LXP implementation) as well as vendor management, facilitation, and content development. NIIT provided extended capacity and capability to help the clients of our customer accelerate the design and implementation of learning strategies.
Result: NIIT’s solution resulted in $3 million savings per year in operational efficiencies and cost savings for our customer. Furthermore, there was a 12% reduction in business skills management spend, an 80% reduction in business suppliers, and an 18% enhanced adherence to compliance programs.
Download the case study to read more.
Bridge the Skills Gap With Retail Training & Learning Outsourcing
With the volatile market, increased customer demands, and changing spending patterns, L&D leaders need to implement innovative strategies and equip their workforce for changing consumer behaviors and mindsets. The CPG and retail employees must be hyper-aligned with shifting social norms. In addition to professional and leadership skills, these companies prioritize DEI, brand values, and culture.
At NIIT, we have decades of experience working with CPG and retail companies by redefining their learning ecosystem and aligning L&D with business priorities to deliver tangible business impact. Explore how our managed training services bridge the skills gap and drive the success of your retail industry.