July 5, 2018
C-store shift planning – getting labor hours right – is one of the most challenging jobs. Having the correct hours allocated by shift ensures you can maintain the customer experience while keeping costs in line with store sales. Getting the labor hours right is a key to ensure you have good operations with the labor costs that match the store sales when they happen. Too much – you hurt profits, too little – you risk bad service and lost sales.
Many companies perform c-store shift planning with a critical view of sales and customer count by hour. There is always need for cleaning and stocking, but scheduling the hours to match traffic allows the store to have the necessary staffing and keep the hours on track to hit performance goals. There are only so many hours available so it is key to assign them at the right time.
Key Data for C-Store Shift Planning:
- total sales and customers by hour
- same day comparison for several weeks to see trends
- day of week compared to other days
- average sale, discounts, loyalty
- inside versus outside traffic
The Right Labor Hours
With a good understanding of historical sales by the day of week and broken down by hour, shift labor can be scheduled to match the busy times. There are times when the registers will be the most busy and times when other tasks must be done. Together, a manager can utilize the hours to match the operational needs with the store sales.
Related Information – C-Store Operations Assessment
You may want to take an assessment of your C-Store operations It provides a written summary along with ideas for new things to consider: C-Store Performance Assessment.