Retail department store Kmart service millions of customers across Australia and New Zealand each day in over 240 stores.
The flagship retailer has utilised safety app iAuditor for over five years, incorporating their mobile checklists into a number of activities within their business.
iAuditor is a free digital inspection software that provides visibility and insights to help raise safety and quality standards across an organisation. iAuditor allows you to create checklists, assign actions, and monitor real-time analytics.
Kmart has been using iAuditor to review loss prevention, conduct business audits, and manage operational processes across its retail stores.
The impact of Covid-19 on Kmart
In the initial stages of the pandemic, Kmart’s store assessments were paper based, resulting in the process being difficult to replicate across multiple teams, slow to change as conditions unfolded, and made the inspection process unnecessarily lengthy and time consuming.
Kmart relied heavily on feedback from state and store teams, and it was difficult to understand how Covid-19 initiatives were performing across all locations.
As the pandemic unfolded, it was clear that their stores needed to assess their compliance for Covid-19, and iAuditor’s digital checklists were introduced to streamline inspections, reporting, and keep customers and team members safe.
iAuditor allowed Kmart to circulate reports on compliance, and quickly address any issues identified in stores, all with the touch of a button.
iAuditor’s role in supporting Kmart stores
Setting up the iAuditor mobile app was really simple. An audit template was created, and the team behind iAuditor, SafetyCulture, rapidly created several new store accounts to quickly support Kmart’s transition.
Monitoring items such as physical distancing, hand washing, and sanitization of highly trafficked spaces was made easier with this new digital tool, as it enabled Kmart to roll out the checks quickly across all stores.
Using digital checklists has allowed Kmart to conduct inspections at a much faster pace than before the pandemic. The increased speed has been critical in the response to mitigating the risk of transmission.
Overall, Kmart have completed over 14,250 inspections in their stores to respond to Covid-19 initiatives and continue to utilise the app as the pandemic evolves.
The benefits of digital checklists in retail
Mobile inspection apps are essential for retail store checklists for a number of reasons.
Being able to access real-time data across a variety of different locations helps to maintain accuracy and reliability when reviewing compliance data.
The ability to store information in the cloud means large sums of data can be easily modified, collated and distributed at the touch of a button. Reports can be customised according to specific management requirements, making them digitally accessible and more hygienic for teams.
As Covid-19 guidance is ever evolving, retail stores have to work hard to keep up to speed with current regulations. This can mean sectioning off parts of a store, increasing the frequency of sanitisation, or revising physical distancing markers.
The ability to manage all of this information in fast, editable templates means that issues can be spotted instantly and rectified on-the-go, allowing for a faster response time to any critical areas that need attention.
Lastly, navigating closures and reopens during the pandemic is retail’s central challenge, and customers need to feel that measures are stringent enough for them to feel safe.
Implementing digital checklists with comprehensive data means that data can be easily published online and visible to customers. The exact lengths that each store has gone to in order to protect customers and remain Covid-19 free is available for all to see.
iAuditor by SafetyCulture is available to help you manage the challenges of operating through a pandemic. Explore the iAuditor range of ready-made Retail checklists or browse the Covid-19 response hub for Retailers now.
