Summer 2015

Internship Project: Item Locator

Caroline Sparr and Dominic DeSerio

Item Locator is currently Belks top priority. This is what led us to

choose it as our internship project. Our project goal was to determine how

the store can improve its Item Locator (IL) sales percentage. We are

stationed in Belk Store 0016 in Greenville, SC. The store is a 45 million dollar

digital flagship store that is currently not meeting its IL goals. As a company,

Belk has set a 3% IL goal for the store. What this means is that IL should

make up 3% of the stores total sales. As of week 21, when we started our

project, Store 0016 was at 2.05%. The associate participation level was at

56%. With this in mind, we set out to determine if low participation was a

root cause of the store not meeting the 3% goal. If the participation level was

not a major cause, what other factors are contributing to the inability to hit

3%?
First we needed to categorize associates views towards IL, their

comfort level using IL, and any modes of motivation that they are not

currently receiving that will help them drive IL. In order to gather this

information, we divided the store into two sections, upstairs and downstairs,

and interviewed the associates. Dominic interviewed nine associates

downstairs and then pulled their IL standings. Below is the associates IL

information split into two tables. The first is for the week he interviewed

them (Week 21) and the second table contains their information for the final

week of our project (Week 25).

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These results were pulled from the Associate Sales Report which is

available to all managers. Taking it a step further, the last column was added

to determine each associates average price per unit (YTD). This helped us

determine if a possible reason for such success with top performers was due

to locating expensive merchandise. With Mary Davis being our stores top

performer, we thought some of her success could be due to selling many

expensive comforters in her home department. We compared her average

price per unit with someone like Travis Mercer (who is not having a lot of

success with Item Locator) and found out that Mary Davis average is only a

few more dollars more than Travis. It is safe to say that there is not a direct
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correlation between having success with Item Locator and having a high

average price per unit.

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How would you describe your comfort level when completing an IL order?

uncomfortable getting more comfortable comfortable

8%

38%

very comfortable 54%

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How would you describe your comfort level when explaining the IL system to a customer?

uncomfortable getting more comfortable comfortable

8%
31%

very comfortable
62%

When interviewing 13 of the

associates who work upstairs, Caroline asked the same 8 questions. The

charts below illustrate the associates comfort levels with IL.

The results were interesting because none of the associates claimed

that they were uncomfortable when it comes to explaining the IL system and

actually completing the IL functions; this means that the associates received

proper training and are equipped with the skills necessary to complete IL

orders. If associates are able to do an item locate then why are we not

meeting our goals as a store? The number one reason that associates say

they do not complete an IL order is because it is time consuming. This is not

the mentality that the associates should have when they are approaching

such a helpful tool to use for customer service. From the interview results, it

is evident that it is a will issue, not a skill issue.

Ever since IL was introduced to Belk, managers have been pushing

associates to complete IL orders. During the interview process, we wanted to

find out what the associates would like to see management do in order to
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help them achieve their IL goals. A new approach to IL coaching was the top

answer. Below are some excerpts from the upstairs interview transcript.
Amber (FP): Mgmt is pushing IL really hard but I feel like the focus is

just on the number and not on why the number is so important.

Associates should be aware of the goal but want to use IL to help the

customer. Its all about our mindset.

Jaclyn: IL is more than just a number but thats all that we focus on.
Ben: Coaching! Mgmt does a good job of reminding associates to push

IL but I think associates need to know how to push it. This means like

how to spot on opportunity to offer IL. Weekly department meetings

where we can share success stories and struggles/concerns would be

very beneficial. Meeting with specific departments will allow for some

personalization because each department approaches IL differently.

Gretchen: Focus more on customers rather than the actual number.

Reminders that IL is a tool for customer service and excellent customer

service is a top priority.

It is clear that associates want to be coached. We strongly encourage that

each manager devise a coaching plan that would work the best for them and

be the most beneficial to their staff. One example of a coaching technique is

to hold departmental meetings where associates share success

stories/obstacles they have faced. These meetings give associates the

opportunity to be heard and to grow and learn from each other. Managers

can also hold coaching sessions on how to spot IL opportunities. Managers

should strive to make sure their associates know where they stand in the IL

rankings.
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In order to increase the participation level, we created a participation

tracking board. The purpose of the board is to provide a visual representation

of the stores participation level. The board is divided by ASM and then by

STM and then by each individual associate. After an associate gets an IL

order, their name is hidden from the board. The goal is to encourage every

associate to get at least one IL order a week. The board works on many

different levels; some associates are motivated by getting their name off the

board first, others are motivated by not wanting to be the last, and others

want their department to be the first to get 100% participation.

Once the

participation tracking board was implemented in the store on Week 24, we

analyzed the Item Locator participation and sales from Week 21 to Week 25.
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Participation increased WTD by 12% from Week 24 to Week 25 which

lead us to believe the participation tracking board had a positive effect on

the associates view of IL. In order for the board to continue to yield positive

results, it needs to be consistently updated or it proves irrelevant. Currently

the store has one manager who oversees IL. A plan needs to be worked out

so the board is updated even when she is out of the office. The participation

tracking board had a positive effect on all departments, as shown below, so

all the managers take responsibility for it and utilize it.

From our findings, we were able to conclude that in order to continue

progressing, management should focus on getting associates to view IL as a

useful tool for customer service by focusing on new methods of coaching and

employ the participation board.