Project Management for Retail Stores: How It Helps and How To Get It

Are you looking to make your business more efficient?

Project management can be tough for any business, especially in restaurants and retail. It involves a ton of planning and resource management, and you can’t be sure it will all work out in the end. In addition, you need to dedicate someone to the task, which takes away from regular duties.

Outsourcing project management is a great way to get around all those issues. Dedicated project managers come in with more experience and a fresh perspective. They can focus only on the project and give honest, objective suggestions.

In the long run, this can save you money and a major headache to boot. You don’t have to worry about juggling staff and business commitments either. The only thing you need to do is find a reliable project manager you can trust.

Read on for a full guide to project management for retail stores, its benefits, and how to get it.

More Experience

A variety of projects can pop up that require an expert touch. One of the first benefits of outsourcing project management is getting someone more experienced. This is super helpful when you open a retail store for the first time and need some help.

Not everyone has the expertise to manage large-scale projects. Consider having to make a significant change to your point of sale system. You might be able to handle a minor tweak, but overhauling the whole thing could be a nightmare.

Imagine having to do that for several locations on a tight turnaround schedule. You also have other duties to deal with at the same time, like running the business and serving customers. Many people don’t have time to learn or develop the experience needed to manage such projects.

When you outsource product management, you bring in a project manager. This is someone who does this for a living. They assess the situation and come up with a solid plan of action.

They oversee every step of the process and ensure everything gets done the right way. They also handle the troubleshooting, so you don’t have to.

Frees Up Staff

Outsourcing project management also frees up your staff. You don’t have to sacrifice your time or one of your best managers for the project. This can be a godsend during staffing shortages or busy business periods.

You also don’t have to worry about having an employee that can handle the task. You can let everyone do what they do best and bring in an outside project manager to help. It can be super troublesome to juggle schedules around to try and take on a major project by yourselves.

Outsourcing the task to an external project manager can make a big difference.

Overhauling your POS system might only take a month or two. Setting up a brand new location might take much longer. That said, when it comes to most projects in the retail and restaurant space, things tend to go in the scale of months.

Rarely will you need to dedicate someone to a project for over a year. This means that it doesn’t make much sense to go for a full-time hire for a short-term project. Instead, you can outsource the work and keep your staff open for other tasks.

Saves You Money

Any retail store or similar business knows how to run a cost-benefit analysis. The majority of projects you’ll embark on are to increase net profits or benefits. You won’t waste your time otherwise.

A better customer experience translates into more sales. This is why you might embark on a project to implement mobile POS systems. A better inventory and ordering system saves time and resources, so updating your software makes sense.

The only caveat might be projects required for health or safety. However, this can also benefit, as it avoids fines and keeps customers and employees safe. This minimizes accidents and legal liabilities, which means your business can keep going.

Bringing in a project manager from outside can save money while maximizing ROI. This return on investment is that you only have to pay the manager for the specific project. You don’t have to hire someone full-time or train someone from scratch.

Most large businesses will eventually want an in-house project manager. However, the best ones will require high salaries, which aren’t always affordable. For small to medium size businesses that don’t have constant projects, outsourcing is the way to go.

Brings a Fresh Perspective

When you bring in a project manager from the outside, they’ll bring a fresh perspective. They can see things objectively and plan the best course of action. These external project managers can leverage their experience from other jobs as well.

If you try to work with in-house staff, often they are stuck in the system. They might know what you need but not the best way to go about it. In the worst-case scenario, they might not see what’s wrong with the way things currently are.

A project manager cuts through all of that. They don’t have any affiliation to your company culture or history. This allows them to make suggestions that are purely objective.

Staffing changes, including new hires, are easier to suggest from the outside. A fresh set of eyes can also introduce you to things you never noticed. A great example is how beneficial contactless payment systems could be.

When you bring in an outside perspective, you can take advantage of that opportunity. You can innovate and improve your business in ways you thought weren’t possible.

This is why most major businesses hire outside consultants from time to time. It’s to give them that fresh take.

Focuses Only on the Project

Outsourcing project management also has the benefit of only focusing on the project. As mentioned earlier, an external project manager isn’t part of your company. They don’t have any real responsibilities outside of the project they work on.

The same is not true of you or your staff. You have organizational needs that need to get addressed. This means serving customers, doing inventory and ordering, and keeping the business running.

Unless you can afford to shut down for several weeks while the projects are underway, you’ll be stretching yourself too thin. It’s also worth noting that not every business can afford to go that route either.

By not having their attention divided by other tasks, a project manager can give their 100% effort. They won’t get bogged down by the needs of your business. External project managers are also immune to office or retail politics.

Project managers get paid to do a job. They show up, and they do their job with no issues. The sooner a project gets done, the sooner you’ll reap the benefits of it and get back to business as usual.

Finding and Evaluating Project Managers

There’s a lot to consider when finding good project managers. Some will work for themselves, while others will represent companies. Each has some pros and cons, and you have to do your research.

Project managers that represent larger companies have more resources. They might be able to call in additional support to help expedite a project. They’re also less likely to be fly-by-night or inexperienced operations.

Project managers who work for themselves are more tricky. Some of the best in the field operate this way, but finding them can get difficult. It’s very easy to end up with someone who ends up overrated compared to what they offer.

Something worth considering is looking for project managers with certification and university degrees. The best project management companies will headhunt these individuals. These project managers will have the experience and the training needed.

Another thing to consider is reputation. Project managers and the companies they represent won’t hesitate to brag. If they’ve worked with large retailers like Benihana or Jollibee, they’ll let you know.

They say not to judge a book by its cover, but in this case, the portfolio will tell you what you need to know. If a project manager doesn’t have any notable work under their belts, it might be better to find someone else.

The Many Benefits of Outsourcing Project Management

Outsourcing project management can be a serious game changer for any serious business. Changes, upgrades, and similar large projects are a fact of life, so why not lean on the extra experience? An external project manager can give you a fresh take, maintain objectivity, and save you a ton of money.

The only thing is that you need to find a project management solution you can trust to deliver. At Resource POS, we’re industry leaders when it comes to point of sale and similar projects. We can help take your business to the next level, so contact us today.