A Charity Transforming Retail Employee Experiences
Goodwill Industries of Sandusky has eight retail locations in Ohio, throughout Erie, Huron, Ottawa, and Sandusky counties. They are among thousands of independent Goodwill stores operating across the U.S.
The success of Goodwill’s retail sites links closely to its mission—to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by strengthening communities, eliminating barriers to opportunity, and helping people in need reach their full potential through learning and the power of work.
Goodwill retail stores bring in revenue for training programs for disabled and disadvantaged residents in the local community. “We take great pride in our culture, treating our employees as individuals and investing in them to build their confidence and knowledge base, giving them the best chance of success,” explains Steve Timmerman, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Goodwill Sandusky.
Goodwill’s mission was challenged by the arrival of coronavirus, and alongside staff retirement, the Ohio stores faced a labor shortage. Finding fresh, new talent and keeping current employees happy quickly became paramount.
Epicor Propello gives us the opportunity to really modernize how we run our stores and to engage the new workforce of younger workers. The introduction of a touch screen, point-of-sale system streamlined our checkout process and for the next stage on our journey we’re looking at self-service kiosks.
“We can’t offer premium salaries, but the pandemic led us to re-think our business model on the labor side,” Steve says. “We realized the greater importance of reducing unnecessary manual tasks and easing the pressure on our employees.”
Investment in easy-to-use retail technology that met millennial employee expectations became a key area of focus.
Using Epicor Propello, Goodwill saved its employees hours managing sales and inventory. They can easily keep up with the checkout line of customers and get data analysis on items being donated and sold.
Employee engagement has also been positively impacted with a new round-up program at the register, enabled by Epicor Propello. Additional income raised from rounding up sales is going directly to provide additional funding for job training programs.
Goodwill has also been able to analyze a pilot program selling snacks and sodas, which is proving to be a great revenue booster by adding an average of $1 to each transaction.
“Epicor Propello gives us the opportunity to really modernize how we run our stores and to engage the new workforce of younger workers,” says Steve. “The introduction of a touch screen, point-of-sale system streamlined our checkout process and for the next stage on our journey we’re looking at self-service kiosks.”
“Helping our staff work more efficiently and creating a great in-store experience for our customers is common sense retailing, but you have to give staff the tools necessary to achieve it,” Steve affirms.
