Time for a bit of Christmas Shopping? Made to measure services are a must

As we begin the run up to Christmas, the battle for the hearts, minds and most importantly money of consumers is well and truly underway. Why should people abandon the safety of their armchairs and laptops and venture into the cold to visit retail outlets and shopping centres across the country? Making retail hubs a magnet for visitors is about more than just the big name shops or grabbing a bargain explains Giles Wheeler, Operations Director, Facilicom, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of soft support services and specialists in contract cleaning.

Going out to the shops is no longer a necessity for the majority of the population who could shop online and have their goods delivered to their door; 86% of adults (44.7 million people) in the UK went online in the first quarter of 2015 according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Yet shopping has become more than a necessity, and in fact it is now a popular leisure pursuit. In the run up to Christmas a day out at the mall, shopping centre or designer outlet with friends or family is often a festive tradition in itself.

Retail centres can lure in shoppers with global brands and glitzy stores, and then keep them there all day with the variety of cafes, restaurants, cinemas and other entertainments. Children’s play areas and even dog kennels can make the experience a lot more enjoyable for the whole family. No wonder some retail centres are tourist destination in their own right.

Experience counts

Getting shoppers through the door, keeping them there and most importantly getting them to come back again in future relies on more than just the retail and entertainment opportunities available. Every shopping centre is competing against other retail outlets and high street shops for footfall, attention, and spending and the competition is never fiercer than in the run up to, and over, the festive period.

The growing aspirations and expectations of customers bring with them a challenge to provide a superb all round visitor experience. Clean, useable and safe facilities play a crucial part in influencing how long and how much customers spend, and whether they return.

There are many things service providers need to do in a retail environment to meet the requirements of centre and outlet managers, and support a successful shopping centre environment.

Offering bespoke services that meet the individual location’s requirements is crucial; ‘off the rack’ might work for the merchandise in the shops, but it won’t work for the services keeping a retail centre running. Leading retail centres need made to measure facilities management services to work effectively.

Service providers, such as contract cleaners, security and maintenance services, must be able to respond rapidly and effectively to fast-changing requirements. As well as managing regularly changing schedules and rotas, the provider needs to be able to react to incidents as they occur to the satisfaction of centre managers and end customers. For cleaning companies this means delivering the highest possible standards for customers throughout the retail centre.

A flexible approach

Centre and outlet managers need to continually measure shoppers’ behaviours through footfall and seasonal trends and adapt their offering accordingly. A flexible service model can assist these managers in making the best use of their resources by helping to monitor standards. At Facilicom, we believe that there is no substitute for day to day hands-on monitoring of service levels. We carry this out via site walks and by liaising with the various staff involved in the contract.

We also have a monthly monitoring and audit cycle to reduce the amount of material used and increase cleaning efficiency. Costs are therefore reduced, the environmental impact is improved, health & safety is simplified and cleaners are focused on and structured in their work activity. Our working methods and carefully planned schedules are unique to each customer’s environment and retail managers benefit from knowing exactly which area is cleaned when and where the cleaners are if needed in an emergency.

Success brings more challenges

When a retail centre is successful it brings its own set of challenges. The shopping centre must accommodate increased crowds and intensive, prolonged use of facilities. This creates a greater demand on support services, which must ensure they use appropriate materials and equipment.

In the case of cleaning, this means carefully assessing all types of floor coverings, fixtures and structural finishes, and choosing the right machines and equipment to get all jobs done cost-effectively. Increased footfall in shopping centres will mean periodic and responsive cleaning is required to keep all areas clean and presentable, but it needs to happen without disrupting the visitor experience. For example retail managers and visitors quite rightly expect flooring to be kept spotless, with any discarded litter or chewing gum quickly removed.

Keeping floors clean and tidy offers health and safety benefits as well as being more aesthetically pleasing. Service providers need to have clear health and safety policies and procedures in place and adhere to all regulatory measures. Health and safety laws exist not only to protect the public, but also the service provider and their employees and employers. Service providers should carry out risk assessments of shopping centre sites before starting contracts to ensure the safety of all those using the centre.

Going beyond basic service

The best service providers recognise that managing the customer environment is critical and understand how they contribute to the customer experience. Cleaning operatives, repair technicians, security officers and other service providers should also be customer service agents able to assist and engage with customers. To the customer everyone who works in a retail location is part of the same team and should be approachable and knowledgeable about the place they work. Service providers need to be highly trained and able to interact confidently with customers when required. We offer every colleague the chance to take part in what we call ‘Hostmanship’ training. This training in ‘the art of making people feel welcome’ embeds customer service in everyone’s everyday job. It helps instil people skills in our operatives, giving them the confidence to communicate with colleagues and customers – for instance providing help with directions to washrooms or specific shops or food outlets.

With retail managers and service providers working in partnership relationships can develop and any challenges can be discussed openly and resolved effectively. This opens the way for service providers – whether responsible for cleaning or a package of services – to add value to the way shopping centres are run, enhancing the user experience for the visitor whatever time of year it is.

www.facilicom.co.uk

Published in Tomorrow’s Cleaning – November 2015