8 Metrics for Comparing Retail Stores’ Performances

Ideas for trackable data points that can help you provide actionable insights to store managers

When you have multiple retail store locations, it can be quite instructive to compare them to one another. Ideally, you will be able to discover why your top-performing stores are doing so well and why lower-performing stores are lagging behind, and then present actionable insights to your store managers. Here are 8 metrics you may want to track as part of this effort.

Sales Per Square Foot

Obviously, a retail store’s number one goal is to sell. But comparing straight sales numbers may not give you an accurate picture of which location is performing the best. Dividing your total net sales by the square feet of selling space can provide a clearer picture by evening the playing field between large and small store locations.

Inventory Turnover

Inventory turnover can be evaluated by dividing retail sales by average inventory value. You can do this for a store’s entire inventory and for specific product categories, which may help you figure out whether different locations are overstocked or understocked on different types of products.

Sales Per Employee

To get the sales per employee, simply divide the net sales by the number of employees. This can help you compare staffing levels at different store locations and see where you might need to make adjustments. Stores with lower numbers may be overstaffed, while those with higher numbers may become even more productive if additional salespeople are hired.

Add-On Sales

By dividing the total number of products sold by the number of transactions, you get the items per transaction. When you do this for each individual employee’s sales, you can begin to see who might be the best at upselling customers on additional items.

Staff Turnover

Assuming employees are paid equally across all your locations, a high rate of turnover at one particular store could signal a problem with the management or work environment there.

Branding

When you have multiple store locations, it is essential to create a uniform customer experience across them all. You will want to make regular location visits to see how each store is making use of display signage and marketing materials.

Cleanliness

Another important metric to track on a location visit is cleanliness. Are trash cans emptied regularly? Are the shelves dusted? Are the display cases clean? As you compare locations you may find that the cleaner the location, the better it performs.

Customer Service

Customer service is more than just ringing up sales. You’ll want to compare how well each location is doing at greeting customers, informing them of special sales or promos, maintaining a friendly attitude during transactions, etc.

Generate Actionable Insights About Your Store with MyFieldAudits

You can track all these metrics and more with MyFieldAudits. Our simple, cloud-based software makes it easy to compare all your retail locations to identify strengths and weaknesses you may not even know you had. To learn more, contact us at info@MyFieldAudits.com for a free demo.