New Merchant Training Program Paves the Way for Impressive Growth
Development and delivery of a comprehensive new merchant training program to support the client’s newly designed merchandising organization and processes.
Client Challenge
The client is a $7+ billion discount variety retailer with multi-banner, multi-channel, and multi-format operations throughout the United States and Canada. The retailer had recently partnered with The Parker Avery Group to transform their merchandising processes, roles, and reporting structures to support their growth trajectory towards $10+ billion in sales. The client recognized gaps in their existing retail training programs and needed a structured and comprehensive new merchant training program to roll out the transformative changes effectively.
Parker Avery Solution
Parker Avery worked closely with the client to guide the organization in developing a new merchant training program to support the retailer’s transformation. Key activities included:
- Established a program management office to oversee 9 different parallel work streams
- Developed a comprehensive communication plan for the retailer
- Defined the merchant training curriculum outlining courses offered and required vs. optional attendees
- Developed instructional design documents, detailed training content, and facilitator guides
- Developed a master business user guide summarizing roles and responsibilities, merchandising team calendar, and meeting templates
- Defined merchant training phases and timing to align with key business milestones and activities
- Defined the schedule and logistics for over 250 unique sessions
- Conducted instructor-led training for 9 category team roles and 11 teams to foster interaction
- Facilitated post-training role roundtable sessions and team stand-up meetings
- Conducted and assessed a post-training survey to capture participant feedback
Results
As a result of the new merchant training program, the client successfully transitioned more than 200 merchants into their new roles. This transformation shifted the organization from a functionally siloed structure into a matrixed organization with over 20 cross-functional category teams. The participants’ feedback was highly positive and enabled the retailer to identify enhancements to continuous training efforts.
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