Wal-Mart using holiday helpers

Where’s the shortest line? Workers to direct customers

Theresa Johnston, a Wal-Mart holiday helper, hands out candy Tuesday to a customer in Rogers.
Theresa Johnston, a Wal-Mart holiday helper, hands out candy Tuesday to a customer in Rogers.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employee Fatima Hernandez typically works as a cashier in the supercenter at Pleasant Crossing in Rogers, but this holiday season she has a new role.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Fatima Hernandez, a Wal-Mart holiday helper, assists a customer at a store on Pleasant Crossing Boulevard in Rogers. Wal-Mart hopes the move will help customers get in and out of stores without complaints.

Hernandez is one of Wal-Mart's holiday helpers, and for the next few weeks she and other employees across the country who have been selected for the job will be hard to miss. They'll be positioned in front of cash registers in each store wearing yellow vests, holiday hats and carrying a satchel full of candy to help customers cope with the hustle and bustle of the season.

"We have to make sure everybody enjoys their shopping," Hernandez said.

Wal-Mart is asking its holiday helpers to accomplish that goal by alleviating some of the congestion that can occur at the checkouts, which can be one of the biggest pains for retailers and customers. The helpers began appearing in stores earlier this month, and the work will continue when Wal-Mart kicks off its in-store Black Friday sales at 6 p.m. today.

[BLACK FRIDAY: Interactive map + details on when to get the best deals in LR/NLR]

The retailer believes its holiday helpers will help customers get out the door quicker. Workers have been trained to point shoppers to the shortest lines and open new registers when backups begin to occur. They'll hand out candy or stickers to children and help customers by returning to the aisles to collect items they forgot.

"When you're in a large supercenter or even in a Neighborhood Market, by the time you get to the checkout you're looking to get out at that point," Wal-Mart U.S. Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran said last week. "You've invested your time and energy, filling your shopping cart. So how do I get out quickly and effectively and efficiently and with a smile?"

The holiday helpers are part of a larger goal for Wal-Mart, which has worked to improve shopping in stores under Foran's leadership by setting "clean, fast and friendly" goals.

The retailer has taken steps the past two years with initiatives like raising employee pay, which it hoped would lead to improved morale and better customer service. Wal-Mart also has tried to improve its selection of products, keep items in stock and clean up aisles. It has worked to help customers check out faster by opening more registers during peak times and expanding self-checkouts in stores.

Wal-Mart believes the efforts have been key in producing nine consecutive quarters of sales increases and eight straight quarters of traffic growth. But Foran said earlier this month that he still isn't satisfied, and the retailer will attempt to tackle some of the common complaints over the holidays -- like long lines and unhelpful service -- by deploying its holiday helpers.

"We know that our front ends, particularly in our really big trading stores, can get a bit clogged," Foran said. "So we're going to take the effort to invest this year in that experience for the customers. So we've trained people. They've got tools to do the job, and we're going to see whether we can make a real difference at that critical part of the shopping experience."

The number of holiday helpers positioned at the front of each store will vary, according to Rogers supercenter manager Tina Budnaitis.

Depending on the day, her store plans to have anywhere from two to five helpers available to point customers to the quickest checkouts. Budnaitis said employees who wanted to be out front, smiling and having a good time were chosen for the roles in her store.

"There was some obviously some corporate training that they provided," Budnaitis said. "But it was really about a one-on-one training with the manager, setting an expectation on what we wanted."

Brian Yarbrough, a retail analyst at Edward Jones, said the addition of holiday helpers probably won't have a big impact on sales during the holiday season. But he added that Wal-Mart does have an opportunity to improve its reputation for customers if the program is successful during the holidays.

Yarbrough credited Foran and Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon for their work the past couple of years, but said customer service has been a "sore spot" for some time. Wal-Mart's reputation was highlighted last February, when it ranked last among department and discount stores in the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index.

"They've done a lot to fix it," Yarbrough said. "But still there's probably a lot of people, the experiences they've had over the last few years probably still taint their perception."

Still, Yarbrough said a good experience is never a bad thing, and Wal-Mart is confident that it will have plenty for customers throughout the holiday shopping frenzy.

Hernandez showed some of the potential Tuesday morning, guiding customers to open registers as they walked by checkout lanes. At times, she said her role as a holiday helper can get hectic -- she has raced through the store to fetch forgotten items like butter. But she believes it will make a difference.

"I really enjoy helping customers, greeting them and letting them know which register is open," Hernandez said. "It can get pretty busy, but this speeds everything up."

Business on 11/24/2016

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