This press release refers to a project implemented together with Zenopt which was acquired by RELEX Solutions in June 2019.
Stockmann, which operates six department stores in Finland and has been part of Finland’s retail scene since the 19th century, has introduced work shift optimization to ensure working hours are scheduled more efficiently to meet customer needs. The optimization focuses both on improving the customer experience and increasing employee satisfaction by balancing the employees’ workload.
To match work shifts as closely as possible to real customer needs, Zenopt uses customer flow forecasts in its optimizations.
The system helps plan work shifts more efficiently and smooths out employees’ workload. The automatic system also allows shift planners to focus more on ensuring the work schedule is as efficient and effective as possible while taking workers’ wishes into consideration.
“It was important to Stockmann to find a system that helps us to improve the shopping experience in our department stores and that also works on employees’ mobile devices,” says Suvi Ragnell, Stockmann’s Human Resource Planning Team Leader. “When the planning takes into consideration data on customer flows by department, we can ensure that we always have service available based on demand at the checkout, customer service points and at any other store functions. With the help of a modern system, there is also much better visibility for resource planning, and upcoming workforce requirements are foreseeable far into the future.”
A similar approach using Zenopt has already been positively received in Sweden, where the system was introduced earlier this year. By making use of forecasting and optimization, operations have become more customer-oriented and planning is largely automated.
Stockmann’s forecasting and optimization project began in 2017. ”During the project we assessed several software solutions. We chose Zenopt because it’s a powerful modern system that offers both forecast-based shift optimization and efficient, long-term resource planning.”
Mika Halme, Managing Director of Zenopt, is excited at the prospect of working with a Finnish retail icon. “Stockmann understands and responds to the challenges of the changing retail landscape by adapting its operations. I firmly believe that we can achieve excellent results with Stockmann using modern resource planning.”