Retail Repair & Maintenance
Using Business Intelligence to Maximize Uptime
PREVENTION
A positive shopping experience is the lifeblood for any retailer. While the cost of preventative maintenance is often less than the cost of avoidable repairs, the cost of lost sales and customer satisfaction due to unexpected downtime can never be recouped.
How do you maximize your organization’s availability to make a sale?
Maintenance Planning: Stay open for business.
It’s true that maintaining FF&E causes friction and may sometimes slow foot traffic and service in the moment, but control of these events’ timing and magnitude translates into steadier, stronger sales and customer experience over the long term. Additionally, well-maintained equipment and facilities consume less energy, fail less frequently, and last longer overall, so when usage-based maintenance projects and larger-scale refreshes are paired intelligently, ROI on your investments is increased and reactive maintenance is reduced.
Audit-ready facilities also experience less friction, keeping staff and customers safe and comfortable. With transparent, simplified maintenance schedules and easy repair requests from the sales floor, minor issues are addressed efficiently in regular maintenance, before they grow, unreported, into emergencies.
RECOVERY
Not all work stoppages are avoidable. When equipment fails or facilities undergo emergencies, minutes saved in response time = hours saved in recovery.
Large-scale business intelligence allows everyone in your organization to identify the best available option, no matter how complex those options may be.
Break/Fix: Ensure the right resources respond quickly.
Even when locations are able to work around anything from a frozen storefront door to a complete power outage, every bit of friction reduces foot traffic, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, sales.
Match the right work with the right vendor or internal technician based on factors the moment calls for, like skills, urgency and availability. Shared, flexible data drives smart decisions now, and continually better decisions in the future. Clarify and adjust for changing priorities at will.
Example: Broken Storefront Door
- Fastest
- Most Reliable
- Fast & Least Expensive
Emergency Recovery: Re-open the doors ASAP.
Reactive response and recovery techniques are better than they ever have been, but they still rely heavily on timely requests for service. Keep your insurance company’s response policy and contacts at every manager’s fingertips, no matter where or when.
Interested parties can also stay in the loop via email, text, and social media. Communicate up-to-the-minute recovery status to stakeholders and customers, as reports come in from the field.
COST SAVINGS
The benefits of knowing when and how to invest in durability and maintenance extend beyond the purchase price of FF&E. Capital product and vendor feedback enable better buying decisions throughout the organization, including for future locations.
Cost Reporting: Make informed budgeting decisions.
Detailed, flexible reporting simplifies important comparisons between in-house options and vendors over time, and allows you to translate maintenance cost, beak/fix, and emergency data from locations and FF&E into informed decisions for future locations. Know your cost per ft² and project the effects of future decisions with data already in your system.
Track parts and tools
Minimize overhead by tracking part and tool inventory, age, condition and location. Provide your operators and technicians this information in-store and on the go, empowering them to make the best repair/replace decisions.
The bottom line
No matter the details of your retail business, harnessing business intelligence to maintain your physical locations’ assets allows for better business decisions, saves money, and maximizes uptime.
Learn more about creating a connected retail business with solutions from Rosetree Solutions.