Here’s how FOX Retail Group saved 90% of its communication budget

Key Takeaways:

FOX Group is a publicly listed company with a sales floor area that covers approximately 200,000 square meters, in 637 different stores and over 7,600 employees. across 6 FOX Group store brands. Under its umbrella, you’ll find globally recognized brands such as American Eagle, MANGO, BILLABONG, CHILDREN’S PLACE, and many more. The group offers 11 Franchise operations of international retailers that operate stores in 15 countries.

Most of FOX’s 5,500 employees are deskless and don’t have regular access to a company email or company portal through a desktop device. 

One of the biggest and most costly challenges facing the FOX operations team is: How to effectively communicate company procedures and basic training to its branch employees?

Before using Connecteam’s employee app platform, FOX’s preferred method of communicating training and procedure manuals with its locations was to print, ship, and deliver manuals and employee pamphlets on the back of delivery trucks.

“ Thanks to Connecteam’s all in one mobile app, our communication became fast, efficient, and trackable and served different parts of the organization.”

Communication: a cornerstone for retailer operation

Running a big, complex operation, and managing an extensive workforce is not an easy task, and it starts with robust, timely, and ongoing communication. FOX Group communicates everything to its employees from updates on seasonal deals and offers, to visual marketing instructions and all the way to working protocols and procedures.

But communication comes with a cost: cost of design, cost of printing, and cost of delivery and distribution. Whether it’s the new sale guidelines or an update to an existing protocol, it takes time to distribute and involves a significant expense.

The digital leap that resulted in a 90% cost reduction

In April 2017, FOX Group turned to Connecteam looking for a better way to communicate with their 7,600 employees in multiple locations. They were on the hunt for a communication solution that would allow them to target a specific audience of their employees, whether it’s an entire brand chain, a specific store, just the leadership teams, or the full-workforce.

Shortly after subscribing to Connecteam, FOX Group started communicating daily with their teams using Connecteam’s all in one mobile app. Communication became fast, efficient, and trackable and served different parts of the organization: The visual marketing team sends guidelines to store managers, HR updates employees and managers alike and addresses frequently asked questions, training leads communicate materials, tips, and guides, and the leadership team sends out high-level updates.

Cost reduction didn’t lag behind: only two months later(!) FOX Group experienced a 90% saving on its communication budget resulting from eliminating almost completely the need for printed and distribution of communication materials and transforming its employee protocol book to digital.

Communication? Just the beginning.

Two years later, FOX Group is still enjoying Connecteam’s benefits, and for much more than just communication. Some examples for its extensive use include:

• Onboarding new hires, including all paperwork, protocols, and keeping track of a new hire’s progress.
• Day to day operations such as store opening checklists or inspection reports for supervisors.
• Read and sign documents for accepting the company’s code of conduct, uniform agreement, etc.
• Training courses and materials are available at a click.
• Franchise specific content  – tailored content per brand.
• Employee wellness and benefits.

A success story: an innovative approach in a cost-conscious environment

As a market leader and the number one retailer in the Israeli market, FOX Group is known for its innovative thinking and operational excellence. Their success story with Connecteam shows the advantages that digital transformation holds for retailers, and how its innovative spirit helped it secure a competitive cost-saving advantage in a very cost-conscious environment.

How Connecteam helped

Connecteam’s Launch Pad allows managers to create assets such as courses, surveys, or workflows and then quickly deliver them to their workforce via the mobile app. For FOX, Connecteam offered the perfect solution to their internal communications needs.

The new way:

• The HR manager creates a branded employee app in 15 minutes using Connecteam.
• The manager then uses ready-made templates as a base to quickly create procedure manuals, training modules, and other business assets.
• Once downloaded, the employee app provides all procedures, training, and other assets available on the employee’s phone.

FOX was able to lower the cost of delivering procedure manuals to their employees by about 90% using Connecteam’s platform for employee app creation. The FOX employee app eliminated the need for printing and shipping procedure manuals, which made up the largest chunk of operational costs.

What can we learn from it

if you manage deskless employees we want you to take away a few suggestions from this success story:

1. Find a cost-effective way to communicate with your employees using mobile devices.
2. Find a comfortable and enjoyable way to communicate using mobile phones your employees already know and love.
3. Measure the performance of your new tool and compare to see if you are, in fact, creating a more effective way to collaborate, run your operations, and develop your employees’ skill set.