One of the unspoken rules of maintaining a successful retail firm is a neat, appealing, well-kept shop floor. Nobody will want to spend any time or any of their hard-earned money in a bad situation. Retail executives must commit enough money to store maintenance and upkeep because a store’s physical appearance immediately reflects the quality of the goods being sold. This is especially true in today’s industry, when omnichannel is the name of the game: Customers expect your stores to maintain the same cutting-edge digital experience as your brand online.
With tens of thousands of physical establishments spread out over the nation, retail is one of the largest commercial sectors in Singapore. Regular store maintenance is necessary to make the property physically safe and usable for both customers and employees. Daily complaints about maintenance-related issues are the last thing a retail store owner wants, especially when they might have been easily prevented. These “minor” maintenance concerns have the potential to become a major operational problem if neglected.
In order to prevent this from happening, we’ll go over typical mistakes to avoid, the advantages of scheduled repair and maintenance services for retail businesses, and everything else you need to know to maximize retail store maintenance in this piece.
The Components of Retail Store Maintenance
The term “retail store maintenance” refers to a broad variety of strategically planned maintenance tasks intended to maintain the security and functionality of your store’s infrastructure. The intricacy of the held physical assets and the size of the building can affect the type of store maintenance services provided. For instance, the needs of a huge, multi-story department store will differ from those of a small, family-run business.
In any event, the more frequent store upkeep jobs include:
- General cleaning/janitorial services
- Parking lot upkeep
- Fire-fighting systems repair and maintenance
- Refrigerators and freezers repairs and servicing
- Water treatment and supply services
- CCTV installations and physical access control
- HVAC maintenance
- Waste management (refuse collection, disposal, and recycling),
- Electrical systems maintenance (fuse boxes, control panels, light fittings, emergency lighting, lighted signage, etc.)
- Lift or escalator maintenance (in high-rise stores)
- Store equipment servicing and repair (manual or automated cash registers, self-service kiosks, etc.)
- Commercial backup generator servicing and repairs
After thinking about the specifics of store upkeep, it probably sounds like a lot of labor. It is. Although it can be expedited by utilizing the correct tools and according to best practices, it is nevertheless a crucial component of shop performance.
How Scheduled Retail Maintenance Benefits Retail Stores
As is often said, prevention is preferable to treatment. Like any other company with substantial physical assets, stores will run more efficiently with a proactive maintenance strategy.
- Lowering operating expenses
Using a proactive strategy for maintenance in your store has many benefits. You will get the best value for your money in terms of things like labor and spare parts if you take action to fix problems with your machinery and equipment as soon as feasible. Consider the scenario where a store manager hears an odd noise emanating from your main air conditioner. Anything from faulty compressors to loose parts could be the problem.
Prioritizing the problem as soon as possible can spare you the misery of incurring additional costs for emergency maintenance, which may involve asset replacement and overtime pay (if that unit eventually breaks down on a busy weekend or a holiday). This also holds true for other types of assets and structural components, such as lighting, plumbing, and electrical systems. All assets perform more efficiently when routine maintenance is carried out when due. This results in increased cost savings and a reduction in the environmental impact of your store.
Last but not least, maintaining your equipment well reduces excessive wear and tear and the need to replace it early. You will need to make fewer capital investments if your equipment lasts longer.
- Achieving maximum productivity
To guarantee that clients receive the caliber of service they demand, stores rely on their tools and personnel. Unexpected problems unfortunately frequently arise. These problems can occasionally arise when the store is extremely busy with customers. Think about what would happen if one of the following things happened: your lights would go out unexpectedly, or your cash registers would malfunction during a busy trade period. These incidents might have been avoided nine times out of ten with routine maintenance.
- Enhancing brand recognition and image
Put yourself in the position of the clients you wish to draw right now. Making their surroundings secure, cozy, and pleasant is one of the main goals of retail establishments’ extensive maintenance programs. You can bet that nobody wants to spend money or time in a place that looks run-down and neglected. Proper maintenance is a wise business decision that enhances the reputation of your brand in the following ways:
- A steady client base can be attracted to and expanded thanks to content customers.
- If your consumers had a nice experience in your store, they are more inclined to submit positive reviews.
- A property’s worth will be preserved or even increased over time thanks to maintenance, which is an investment that pays for itself over time.
- lowering the potential for bad reputation, responsibility, and legal action in the event that a customer slips and is hurt in your store due to a broken piece of machinery or dirty flooring.
With all that out of the way, let’s discuss best practices that you can implement to limit recurring problems and optimize your maintenance operations.
5 Best Practices for Scheduled Retail Maintenance
You must be able to constantly deliver a positive experience if you want to keep people coming back. Everything matters, including parking lot problems and the condition of your bathrooms. Use these best practices for scheduled retail store maintenance.
- Preventive upkeep is essential
Proactive maintenance is the way to go, as we discussed earlier in this post. Smart businesses all over the world are implementing proactive maintenance tactics to cut costs, increase output, and reduce safety hazards. If you’re unsure about where to start or how to proceed, make a straightforward preventative maintenance plan first.
- Think about outsourcing
It is not practical nor wise to keep all of your maintenance in-house. A sizable maintenance crew with specialized maintenance certifications, pricey specialist equipment, and a substantial supply of spare parts would be required. Boiler maintenance and repairs, high-pressure pipes, and other electrical tasks are a few examples. A less stressful alternative to hiring and supervising more people with this level of specialist knowledge is to outsource maintenance to nearby subcontractors.
A substantial portion of maintenance labor can be relieved by outsourcing, allowing your personnel to concentrate on carrying out routine maintenance tasks. Be aware, nevertheless, that every outsourcing deal must be with reputable experts who have the necessary qualifications for the project in order to avoid issues with quality, compliance, and execution.
- Make use of a digitalized maintenance system
It sounds like you could use an extra pair of eyes and hands to monitor various maintenance issues in a busy retail environment. Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about this. Some experts employ specialized software to greatly organize and streamline maintenance in any kind of facility imaginable. A computerized maintenance management system is the only one that is more effective in this capacity. Some of the results it can produce are as follows:
- Preventive maintenance work should be planned, scheduled, and followed.
- Managing requests for maintenance work
- Create, assign, and follow up on work orders
- Acquire knowledge of maintenance costs and look into more effective cost-saving options.
- Organize employee work processes
- Monitor, control, and foresee your MRO inventory requirements
- Give maintenance of important assets first priority
Even if every piece of equipment in your shop needs maintenance, it’s a good idea to schedule some of it as priority maintenance. It merely makes sense to allocate extra funds to essential items like HVAC systems, escalators, lighting and electrical controls, and fire-fighting facilities.
- Prepare for busy times
There are certain seasons of the year when business in the retail sector is extremely hectic. Even the best maintenance teams frequently face a stress test during these times. Black Friday and holiday sales in Singapore come to mind. It’s crucial that you make adequate preparations. Asking questions like these will help you stay productive and ensure that crucial maintenance activities aren’t missed when things become busy.
Get Hassle-Free Scheduled Retail Store Maintenance with Fixwerks Corporate
One of the main advantages of hiring professionals is that they are specialists in this industry and may provide superior overall outcomes while saving money and letting management focus on their primary company. By ensuring that property care is provided through specialized, task-based property services, concentrated on related minor building repairs, and corporate grounds services, Fixwerks Corporate can construct maintenance programs to protect a retail company’s brand. Our services are mostly provided by directly employing highly skilled repair and maintenance professionals.
