Rack Room CIO Reveals How He Uncovered and (Started Extinguishing) Over Four Dozen Friction Points in Stores

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Is friction friend or foe in retail?

Most would argue the latter. But after talking to Rack Room Shoes' CIO Brian Minnix recently, I'm not so sure.

Think about it: What motivates us to modernize our stores more than friction (or the cost of friction)?

Not much, right?

We talk a lot about friction. More specifically, we think and talk about ways to reduce friction. And every time we eliminate a friction point, we make it easier for our colleagues to do their jobs so they can, in turn, make it easier for people to shop with us and get what they need. Friction is the smoke signal that shows us where to strategically commit resources.

So, typically, friction isn't as bad as we paint it out to be - if we act fast when it's found.

Therein lies the problem.

What do you do when you receive 49 smoke signals at once?

Which one do you respond to first?

I'll let Brian tell you how he ultimately pooled technology and operations team resources and prioritized their response…

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I loved everything he shared, but these are the seven things that stood out most:

1. Brian's a technology guy, not an operations guy. So, why was he charged with figuring out what needed to be fixed operationally? Well, most friction found in retail these days can only be eradicated with technology's help. Brian, as a tech guy, was going to be the one who could best advise on what it would take to squash the problems as they surfaced.

2. In Zebra's latest Annual Global Shopper Study, over 80% of associates and decision-makers agreed that, "My store needs more associates available to help take care of customers." But what if you don't need more associates? What if you simply need your associates to be more out front, more visible, more available? Brian and his team realized that floor associates were spending way too much time in the backroom. They weren't doing anything wrong - only their jobs. It's just that their jobs, as previously structured, sent them running to the backroom for almost everything. That's where the computers were to check or order inventory. It's where the printers were to generate new signs. It's where they had to go to pull BOPIS order details, pick and pack orders, and communicate on order status. Nothing could be done on the floor except for sales, but even then, many customer questions couldn't be answered without a trip to the backroom. So, the minute Rack Room gave associates mobile devices, the minute that printers were available on carts or attached to associates' belts, "more associates" were suddenly available to help take care of customers.

The point is that you may not always need more people. You may simply need to rethink what it takes for your people to do their jobs today. Spend time shadowing them or doing the job. Then you'll understand.

3. Speaking of more people: the more people you bring into the project from the start, the more likely you'll be greeted by a cheering crowd when you reach the finish line. You'll also have more support along the way, picking you up if you start to stumble. That's because storewide modernization is a companywide initiative. Everyone needs to be bought in.

However, if you really want people to cheer you on, be open and honest about what you're doing and why. Transparency can ward off resistors, as people are more apt to get on board with proposed changes once they understand the reason for them.

So, ask the people who will (or should) benefit from the changes if they agree with your proposed solution. I'm talking about your store teams or other frontline workers, in most cases, not just your IT teams, board, shareholders, or customers. I know this isn't always standard practice, but it should be. Brian and his team proved why.

The only reason you're reducing friction is because your frontline teams sent the smoke signal. They're the ones you're saving. So, they'll best know whether your rescue mission was successful or not.

Get specific in your questions, too. Don't just tell them, "We're thinking about giving you mobile devices so you don't have to run to the computer in the back for everything. Sound good?"

The conversation should go more like this: "These are the mobile devices we think are best. Do you agree? Okay great. Now this is the software we want to load on there, and this is what the user experience would be. Seem like it will be helpful to you? Anything we're missing? Anything we should adjust?"

4. Pilot, iterate, repeat. Conduct pilot programs in a controlled real-world environment to see if your envisioned approach will work the way you believe it will. Use what you learn and the feedback from the store teams from these pilots to make necessary adjustments before full-scale implementation. Brian found that this helps to reduce the friction usually caused by changes.

Just be sure to continuously collect feedback and iterate, even after the full implementation appears complete on paper. There shouldn't be a pause in improvement efforts. Needs change.

5. Don't be too short-sighted when you're modernizing any aspect of your operations. Brian and his team were certainly looking at how they could address immediate problems. But every decision they made was influenced by what they felt the retail experience should look like in four or five years from now. In fact, they stopped their upgrade path and decided to reimplement their software and systems enterprise wide instead.

Had they just opted for a renovation versus a remodel, they would have found themselves encountering a whole different type of (costly) friction in the coming months and years. Such a smart move on their part. Well worth the money and the little bit longer timeline to project completion.

6. Make sure the hardware and software updates you make are part of an integrated strategy and not piecemeal - and recognize there's a difference between incremental and piecemeal. When you have a solid, holistic implementation strategy in place, you can incrementally execute. When you don't, you end up piecemealing in a disjointed way. The latter is not cheaper or more effective. Brian and his team understood this, and it continues to pay off every day. (Remember what he said about being able to more easily solve the scheduling challenge with the Workforce Management tool? Or being able to more easily bring inventory take in house?)

7. "When you pick true partners to try to work on solutions together, that's when you really get some traction and make a difference." Brian said this, and he's right. Picking the right partners is not just about the compatibility of their technology. Yes, "having things integrate and work together is a big deal" in a technology context, as Brian noted. But what was key to Rack Room's success was this:

"We had a great partner that we felt very comfortable with and knew would be there with us throughout this."

So, bring in the right people and all the pieces will come together when you need to figure out how to respond to 49 alarm bells all at once.

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Learn more about some of the tools the Rack Room team used to remove friction in its stores here.