Retail Exit Strategy
If you’re wondering if your job is safe in retail, your head is in the right place. It is the rockiest time in the history of the industry and thousands have been downsized, furloughed, or just plain lost a job this year alone. Even with industry experts forecasting a bounce-back in the post-pandemic world, it is no secret that brick-and-mortar stores have their days numbered.
In this article, we are talking about the Retail Exit Strategy: how to prepare for life after retail, even if you’re a career retailer with no experience in other industries.
Have a Back-Up Plan
I started in retail about ten years ago and even then it wasn’t a super stable industry. Apart from more business going online, I was constantly battling being short-staffed, unrealistic sales goals, and broken promises of career development. As I begged employees to cover day-of call-offs, I was forced to work 2 or 3 jobs at once. With every short-staffed day, my chances of being promoted became slimmer. I used to take all the responsibility for that (and the cascading effects on credit card goals, sales target, and shrink). But now I realize that it was a symptom of a bigger issue — one that even corporate C-Suites struggle to diagnose and treat. Retail jobs just aren’t that desirable.
Of course, there are exceptions like with everything else. But in my almost ten years, only one company supported my growth with real training and lived up to its shiny mission statements. Even with the good ones, it’s hard to stay employed. In fact, during my working life, I’ve held sixteen jobs and was laid-off, furloughed, or fired from six of them. That experience isn’t isolated to just me. Here are some stats that you might find shocking illuminating:
The GAP brands, American Eagle Outfitters, and Bed, Bath, and Beyond all plan to close over 200 locations each in the upcoming years.
Everyone wants a piece of Target. While Target thrives, other brands are itching to take up a corner of real estate inside the store (Disney and Ulta Beauty are giving up their own authority shores in favor of mini-shops inside the retail giant.)
During the first year of the pandemic, women lost 5 million jobs, $800 billion in lost income, and made up 100% of all jobs lost in December.
Traditional retail jobs are disappearing. Those that stay will need to be muti-disciplined, experts in clientelling, omnichannel, fulfillment, cashiering, and visuals. They are going to be asked to do a lot more without raises or wages that make sense for the amount of work they do.
Most corporate retailers are not set up to help you grow in the current challenges. It’s sink or swim with most companies these days. I remember going to bat for training hours at one company and being shut down hard. They said newbies could read the handbook on the floor and learn on the job. As the manager in charge of developing the staff, I was frustrated but did my best. The bottom line was there were things they knew well (like the register) and huge knowledge gaps preventing them from being qualified for raises or promotions.
Taking the driver’s seat with your own development is necessary. The best case scenario is proactively fitting your training into pockets of time at work, whenever possible. If that isn’t possible, then pursue up-skilling and learning on your own time whenever you can. Learn technical skills, a highly desirable computer program, earn a certificate, create portfolio-worthy products, whatever aligns with your ultimate goals.
It’s also necessary to have a job back-up plan in case your company goes through rounds of mass lay-offs or deletes your location off the map.
Protect Work/Life Boundaries
The most powerful key to either earning a promotion or transitioning out of retail forever is to create a solid boundary between work and life. Once the boundary is established, you can explore other fields, dabble in other interests, and up-level.
It comes down to having conversations, setting up systems, and reinforcing your policy.
I used to get calls while off the clock from my staff all the time. I was expected to answer any message immediately. I remember once being asked to stay on the line after a conference call with our home office so they could ask me why I didn’t want to download company-recommended apps on my personal cell. Because I don’t want to do work outside of work was not a great answer…
The pressure to be available all the time is real — but unplugging is not only necessary, it means your survival. You need to ensure that you’ve got a competitive resume and portfolio that gets you a foot in the door on the job hunt. Constantly being exhausted means you’re not making the best decisions, you’re not contributing as much as you could, and results are probably suffering along with you. Not a good look for a resume.
While thousands of workplaces are understaffed, the competition to fill those spots is fierce. Making sure you’re protecting your time off gives you a wider perspective, a fresh take, and skills and experience others didn’t take the time to gain.
During my off-hours, I produced work that I was able to reference in my resume and cover letters and use in my portfolio. Because of it, I was able to transition from retail to full-time writing. So, for me, it was worth the extra effort.
If you need help with how to start a conversation with your boss or team about why you’re suddenly establishing some work/life boundaries (and how to get your boss on your side without accidentally frustrating them), download the free How to Establish Work/Life Boundaries: Scripts and Systems.
SIDE-NOTE: There might be confusion and maybe even frustration at work during the beginning. Work through this one issue at a time. Be ready to put systems in place that support you actually being unreachable when you’re off-the-clock. For example, out of office messages in Email, a Who-to-Contact Flowchart, or point back to a company policy that supports your boundary.
Take Up-skilling into Your Own Hands
Now that you’ve got some time to yourself, you can spend it any way you like.
When you aren’t spending all of your energy, time, and brainpower to keep your team running, survival mode no longer has a death grip on your mental bandwidth. Once that pressure was off for me, I found I was more energetic, happy, curious, and (most importantly) could think big-picture about my job, my goals, challenges, and how to problem-solve.
Hobbies, projects, and just plain relaxing elevates your lifestyle and makes you a more dynamic, influential human.
Conclusion
While all retail jobs aren’t going to disappear, they are going to look very different in the near future. Traditional stores will turn into hybrid shopping destinations slash fulfillment centers. Or else, they’ll look more like the Amazon Fresh model where you shop and skip check out because you’re automatically charged. Staying in retail will mean having an expertise in omnichannel, operations, logistics, and fulfillment, and merchandising.
For those that are seeking to transition into another industry, taking time to research roles and career paths will get you started. From there, start fitting in the lessons or projects in some way. Whether that’s an overlapping opportunity at your regular job or on your own time, you’re the one who has to make it happen.
The bottom line is that retail is changing forever and no matter the direction you choose, it is going to take proactive upskilling to stay ahead of the curve.
The options are endless with what comes next in your career. If you’d like help figuring out if you should move on or move up, download the free field guide to get the planning started.
Original Publication Date 04.20.2021, Updated 12.22.2021