How John Lewis, Waterstones and Lush are making store staff their greatest assets

The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the maxim that the greatest asset of any business is its people.

But even before Covid-19 struck, many retailers had built a brand proposition around the high level of service delivered by their frontline staff.

As Waterstones retail director Luke Taylor says: “People will return to bookshops because of the experience. You can’t replace what a bookseller can do with an algorithm on Amazon.”

Retail Week’s new report, Customer Champions, features in-depth case studies of leading retailers detailing how they are making store staff their greatest assets as we emerge from the pandemic. They include: 

• John Lewis
• Kingfisher
• Waterstones
• Lush
• Tesco 
• Richer Sounds
• Dixons Carphone
• Liberty 

From the “tonnes of power” Lush gives store workers to make instant decisions on the shop floor, to the reward system that enables Waterstones’ best booksellers to earn more than managers, Customer Champions shows how retailers have built a reputation for delivering outstanding customer experience through the interactions of their frontline staff. 

The report also features global case studies from retailers such as Sephora and Atol, which have become synonymous with high levels of face-to-face service.

And it explores how companies like Dixons Carphone and Liberty are making the best use of store colleagues’ wealth of product knowledge to serve customers digitally through virtual product demonstrations and video consultations.