How two way radios can help you manage peak periods

At this time of year, with Black Friday, Christmas shopping and many retailers running sales and promotions, crowds are getting busier and queues are often longer. But how can retailers and hospitality staff manage these peak periods, serve customers well and keep footfall flowing nicely, avoiding bottlenecks?

We all know that two way radios are designed to improve communications within teams; a well specified two way radio solution can make teams, organisations, and companies more efficient and productive. Two way radio solutions help teams provide excellent customer service and quick responses that they wouldn’t perhaps otherwise have been able to do in the same way.

At this time of year, as we all start to hit the retailers and hospitality businesses in preparation for Christmas, two way radios can play a vital part in helping retailers manage footfall during peak times. But how?

• Improve People Flow

Retail employees often have many different jobs to do at one time, especially in smaller outlets and at this time of year, when shops are busy. Using retail radios will help the team communicate with each other and give them the ability to ask others to jump in and help if someone is particularly busy. If queues are long or customers need a question answering, a busy member of staff can get assistance, quickly.

• Price Checking & Customer Queries

On Black Friday and during sale times, retailers see a rise in questions from customers on pricing. If the team can ask a quick question to a colleague on the tills, or in the stock room, this helps answer the customer's query swiftly, and reduce potential bottlenecks.

• Security

Two way radios help retail and hospitality staff stay in touch, subtly, with each other and security staff, and to act on any suspicious customer behaviour. This simple ability to communicate with each other can have a huge impact, reducing the risk of shoplifting, which is often harder to manage when stores are busier, during peak periods.

• Health and Safety: Breakages & Spillages

When stores are busier, more accidents happen. Whether this is a product that has been knocked off the shelf and smashed on the floor, or a plate of food or beverage which has spilled. Teams using two way radios can see to these accidents quickly, and safely, reducing bottlenecks and ensuring customer safety. In the event of an emergency, two way radios help teams communicate with a wider team across a whole floor, or building, to manage people while an ambulance may be called.

• Checking Product Availability

Rather than running and checking for availability of a product yourself, you can simply use a retail radio to contact a member of store staff to see if a product is available, saving time.

In summary, two way radios are a very powerful addition to retail and hospitality teams to help them manage these busy peak periods and all that comes with them. Here are a few of our favourite products for different sectors:

VoCoVo – Perfectly designed for retailers such as supermarkets, shops, garden centres, hospitality venues and restaurants. Easy to use and comfortable to wear, VoCoVo offers affordable solutions for a variety of teams. Read more here and check out some case studies.

Zebra Workforce Connect – Compatible with a range of mobile phones and ruggedised hardware, this is an excellent solution for staff at busy seasonal events. Find out more about Zebra radio solutions here.

Sepura – TETRA digital radio products and applications are designed for business and mission critical communications. These radios are used by clients operating busy, large, visitor attractions such as Estates and Venues. Read more here and download case studies too.