Shelf stocking is an essential role in virtually any retail business. While a significant part of this position includes filling shelves, it can also refer to the process of organising and replenishing the boxes of stored goods in the warehouse or back room. Effective shelf-stocking techniques prevent merchandise from being arranged haphazardly, which can hinder sales, while ensuring stock is always available for purchase by customers. Shelf stockers could also be responsible for reordering stock when supplies run low, whereas in larger retail establishments, stock replenishment might occur automatically with an automated inventory management system.

Merchandising can be another aspect of shelf-stocking roles, which is a part of the retail marketing process that entails product selection as well as visually displaying the products. Merchandising determines the product mixture, shelf position, as well as building and creating attractive signage and displays. When merchandising is done effectively, it attracts customers to the displays of merchandise, which often leads to purchases.

How iPlace Recruitment Can Help

Finding the right hires for shelf stocking positions is difficult at the best of times due to the late afternoon and early evening starts and late evening finishes. These working conditions certainly aren’t suited for everyone, as it affects both their sleeping patterns and their social lifestyles. And thanks to rising wages and lower rates of unemployment, many retailers have recently been faced with an unprecedented hiring shortage, especially for shelf stocking positions.

Empty aisles create unhappy customers. That’s why as an employer you need to fill shelf-stocking positions as fast as possible with the best talent available. But recruiting for hard-to-fill positions like shelf stockers can be a challenging process that requires updated strategies and a fresh approach. Through a combination of traditional techniques of recruiting such as position advertising with a more modern approach like building online strategies and tapping into employee networks, we can help you succeed in filling your shelf stocking roles fast and efficiently.

Our recruitment methods are always driven by relationships, rather than simply filling roles in order to meet KPIs. We get to know our business clients, and then individually meet with each candidate to ensure that we always match each shelf-stocking position with the candidate who is most suitable for your company culture.

What Should Shelf Stocking Candidates Look For In An Employer?

The job of a shelf stocker generally revolves around receiving, moving, storing, unpacking, and ultimately stocking goods on the shelves of retail stores or supermarkets. Specifically, your duties as a shelf stocker will most likely include breaking down large packages and deliveries when they arrive; sorting through and marking off all items; and using cages on wheels to move everything around the store so as to allow stocking the shelves, according to coding systems. Shelf stockers require the ability to work efficiently as part of a team, which makes excellent communication skills a highly desirable skill for many employers.

What Should Employers Look For In A Shelf Stocking Candidate?

As the saying goes, ‘retail is detail’. So, the candidate should be confident in the accuracy of their shelf-stocking abilities. The right hire should also preferably have experience with the types of merchandising displays used by your company. Experience setting up end-caps if applicable to your store would be a bonus, as would understanding how to properly follow planograms which have been designed by management or manufacturers of more premium products. Ideally, the right candidate understands the importance of attention to detail in all areas, such as price errors and document discrepancies, as these issues can greatly impact customer satisfaction. For those companies who stock shelves on the cusp of closing the store, previous experience encountering and handling stressful situations involving customers smoothly is a bonus.

Contact iPlace Recruitment Today

Our highly skilled recruitment specialists use a mixture of local knowledge, market expertise, as well as our candidate database to find exceptional candidates for shelf stocking positions in a wide variety of retail companies. We are so confident in the effectiveness of our recruitment process for temporary, contract and permanent roles that we offer a six-month guarantee that we have made the right choice. Contact iPlace Recruitment today for assistance with your next shelf-stocking hire.