The Power of People - Retail’s Real Differentiator

Retailers love to talk about “the power of people.” It’s right up there with “customer first” and “seamless experience” on the corporate bingo card. But let’s be brutally honest: when the pressure’s on, people are often the first cost to cut and the last to be invested in.

That’s a dangerous game. Because as AI, automation, and global competitors level the playing field, the one thing no algorithm can replicate is the human heartbeat of retail. The real power of people is becoming the undeniable differentiator.

As we charge into the Golden Quarter, let’s examine five people-centric issues shaping retail across Australia and New Zealand….and who’s showing us that investing in people pays off.

1. Safety First: Protecting the Frontline without losing the welcome

The issue - In ANZ, retail crime is more brazen, violent, and costly than ever. In Australia, losses topped $7.79 billion in FY24 a 40% rise in just two years. In New Zealand, the murder of dairy worker, was a chilling reminder of how frontline staff bear the risk. I was fascinated while travelling through Asia recently, this doesn’t even come close to a problem. The layouts in malls with open stores would literally cause our retail teams conniptions.

How do we keep our teams safe without turning stores into prisons?

Safety can’t be left to policy papers and security cameras. It has to be designed into the store experience and paired with training that empowers staff to de-escalate.

Who’s making a difference: Woolworths has invested in team safety cameras, trolley-lock systems, fog cannons, and VR-based aggression training - practical moves that protect staff while keeping stores open and human.

Foodstuffs in NZ is leading the charge in facial recognition. Foodstuffs North Island ran a six-month trial (Feb to Sept 2024) of live facial recognition technology (FRT) across 25 New World and Pak’nSave stores.

• Over 225 million face scans were attempted during the trial.

• The system flagged 1,742 alerts, of which 1,208 were confirmed matches.

• Independent evaluation suggests the trial prevented 100+ serious harm incidents (e.g. assaults), showing a 16 % reduction in harm in the trial stores.

• The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) found the trial, as conducted, complied with NZ’s Privacy Act, thanks to a suite of strong privacy safeguards.

The safeguards included:

• Immediate deletion of non-matching face images (99.999% deleted within a minute)

• Watchlists limited to people known for serious harmful behaviour; excluding children, vulnerable persons, and no cross-store sharing of watchlist data

• Raising the match threshold mid-trial from 90% to 92.5% to reduce false positives

• Every alert had to be verified by two staff members before any action

• The system was not used for training or expanding its dataset beyond the trial rules

Foodstuffs’ experiment shows what’s possible, but also how delicate the balance is between safety and civil liberties. 

The takeaway: A customer won’t feel welcome if the person serving them feels unsafe. Safety is not a cost centre. It’s the baseline for engagement.

2. Engagement: From Quiet Quitting to Proud Participation

Engagement across the ANZ workforce is at historic lows, even when staff don’t leave. Retail is ground zero for the “quiet quit”: teams doing the bare minimum, no spark, no extra mile. I know a highly committed shop floor employee who wanted to do an international exchange for 3 months and they had to resign from their job and “reapply” when they returned. No one in the business is allowed “leave without pay” or any other arrangement and they must reapply. On their returned the role was still in recruitment and when they applied, they were rejected from their own role as “not having enough experience.” Seriously people!

You can’t fake engagement with free muffins or “employee of the month” plaques.

People want to grow, be recognised, and feel connected to purpose. That’s what drives discretionary effort and creates moments customers remember.

You know who’s making a difference? Bunnings is experimenting with Learning Festivals,  company-wide capability sessions shaped by team feedback, designed to build skills and energy. JB Hi-Fi continues to win plaudits for a culture where bureaucracy is low, trust is high, and service is the only KPI that matters.

The takeaway: Engagement isn’t a warm-fuzzy. It’s a hard-edge performance driver. Disengaged people don’t deliver great service.

3. Capability: Closing the Skills Gap

Retailers are demanding omni-competence - staff fluent in digital tools, click-and-collect, guided selling, emotional connection. Many new hires arrive enthusiastic but undercooked on retail fundamentals.

And you know what? Traditional training models can’t keep up. Taking staff off the floor for all-day courses in Q4? Forget it. I was talking to a young person who works for a large department store. They were constantly asked about doing their “online training” and “getting up to date” but when they asked for time to do that in working hours – the response was always No. Why should a young staff member need to do this in their spare time?

Smart retailers are building micro-learning, VR scenarios, and on-the-job coaching that makes training seamless and sticky.

Woolworths has rolled out VR modules for aggression management, product handling, and leadership - letting teams rehearse real scenarios safely.  Checkout the case study video here.

Mecca is a great example of a speciality retailer investing deeply in capability. Beyond product knowledge, their teams are trained to deliver personalised, high-service interactions, with the business reportedly investing around 3% of revenue in staff training. In 2024, they launched Mecca Empowers, a programme co-designed with the Equality Institute to embed diversity, equity and inclusion learning into everyday operations rather than bolt-on workshops. With 3,000 team members engaged, the initiative signals that capability in retail isn’t just about selling more lipstick – it’s about building a culture where staff feel equipped, confident and connected to the brand’s purpose, making the service experience part of Mecca’s true competitive advantage.

The takeaway: The skills gap isn’t just about digital. It’s about teaching people to be human in the moments that matter.

4. Admin Overload: Freeing People to Serve

Store teams spend too much time juggling systems, checklists, and reporting - often drowning in duplicate or outdated tech. Every hour lost to compliance is an hour not spent with customers.

There is a real opportunity to use AI and automation to take admin off people’s plates — not pile more on. AI and automation can only unlock real value if they’re introduced with people, not to them. Too often retailers drop in new systems that simply shift the burden elsewhere. The opportunity lies in consulting with frontline teams first -  mapping what tasks actually waste their time - then designing automation around those pain points.

Equally critical is support during rollout: clear communication on why the change is happening, what it removes from their workload, and how it will help them focus on serving customers. And because no tool is frictionless on day one, ongoing training and coaching is essential, not just once at launch but embedded into store rhythms. When staff are supported, automation becomes an enabler rather than an extra chore, freeing people to deliver the human interactions customers value most.

Who’s making a difference?

Chemist Warehouse has partnered with Augmodo to pilot spatial AI assistants that scan inventory and flag tasks automatically as staff walk the floor - turning wasted motion into value.

Kmart has scaled RFID to boost inventory accuracy from ~60% to ~95% and even trialled RFID-enabled fitting rooms. Robots now scan shelves overnight, reducing manual audits and freeing people to focus on service.

This is Tory part of the Kmart stocktake team - improvement in inventory accuracy for apparel from 60 per cent accuracy at an SKU level today to 95 per cent.

The takeaway: The most customer-centric innovation isn’t a new app. It’s giving people back their time.

5. Talent & Retention: Making Retail Work Aspirational

Retail is still branded as “low skill, low career.” At the same time, staff are expected to juggle omni-roles: picker, seller, greeter, content creator. No wonder burnout is rising.

How do we attract and keep talent when other industries are shouting louder and paying more?

Want to understand why retention is up but engagement is down in the Australian workplace? Check out the Engagement Paradox. 

Retail can be rebranded as a launchpad for careers - if leaders invest in mobility, inclusivity, and wellbeing.

Who’s making a difference?

Bunnings has leaned into inclusive workforce design, proudly employing a multigenerational team and proving retail can work for life stages from first job to semi-retirement.

IKEA Australia is showing how retail roles can be rebranded as aspirational careers rather than stop-gap jobs. In late 2023, they rewrote their Enterprise Agreement to remove casual contracts, offer fixed rosters, trial a four-day work week and extend leave for everything from parental care to cultural events.

They’ve also closed their gender pay gap to just 3.5% and achieved balanced representation in management, proving inclusion isn’t lip service but strategy. Add to that their award-winning Refugee Workforce Inclusion programme, and IKEA is signalling that stability, equity and purpose are just as important as pay - and that’s how you attract and keep talent in retail.

The takeaway: The retailers who make retail careers aspirational will win the talent war. Everyone else will be stuck recycling disengaged staff.

My Hot Take

Cutting costs by cutting people is cutting into muscle, not fat. Automating admin without freeing service is window dressing. And over surveilling staff because you don’t want to walk the floor is leadership laziness dressed up as innovation.

The future belongs to the retailers who double down on people:

• Keep them safe.

• Engage them with growth and recognition.

• Build their skills in the flow of work.

• Free them from admin to serve.

• Make retail careers aspirational.

Because in the end, it’s not the discounts or the tech stack that customers remember. It’s the people who served them - and how those people made them feel.

That’s the power of people. And in the Golden Quarter and beyond, it’s retail’s only true differentiator.