Retail giant brings back greeters to offer customers more at the door.
Walmart has announced the return of greeters to the front doors of its stores in an effort to both boost customer service and improve loss prevention efforts. In a blog post, the retailer explained, “Last year, we launched a pilot program that in many stores, moved our greeters from action alley back to the front door, and in others, introduced a brand-new position: customer host, an associate who greets customers, but also checks receipts where appropriate, assists with returns, and helps keep entrances clean and safe.”
Now, the retailer has announced that the pilot program will be rolled out to all of its U.S. stores by mid-summer., though it also recognizes that it cannot apply a “one-size-fits-all approach” to its door coverage. It will employ data on safety, security and shrink risks to determine how best to staff entrances on a store-by-store basis. According to the company post, the retailer anticipates adding approximately 9,000 of the new customer host positions, specially trained to both greet customers and help deter would-be shoplifters.
Fortune explained that these “customer hosts,” who will wear bright yellow vests, will also be responsible for other tasks from handling situations where a customer gets hostile to processing returns.
“Greeters are a big part of our company and culture,” wrote Mark Ibbotson, executive vice president of central operations for Walmart U.S., in a blog post. “Providing customers with an excellent first impression is part of Walmart’s broader strategy to ensure simpler, more convenient shopping. Focusing more on our greeters is one of a whole host of details we’re looking at – it just happens to be a very visible one.”
The retailer is also creating a new position to have an employee oversee the self-checkouts, an area that promises to speed up shopping but is prone to theft, Fortune reported.
Walmart has boosted its customer experience ratings over the past year, and has reported five straight quarters of comparable sales increases, indicating that the retailer is doing something right. Part of that success comes via raises for workers, staffing registers at peak times, and improving its fresh food assortment. The retailer also faces a serious – and common – problem of “shrink,” which represents a $300 million challenge annually.
