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With all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season driving talk of strong sales numbers and a healthy retail sector, some of the problems facing the industry tend to fall by the wayside. Chief among these: the ever-increasing amount of clutter found littering store aisles, as Business Insider recently detailed.
Reports of Retail Clutter Go Viral
At least two notable instances of extreme clutter clogging up the aisles at major retailers have emerged in recent months.
According to a November KXLY report, a JOANN craft store in Spokane, Washington, was the scene of a significant mess when a sea of unpacked boxes dominated aisles and storerooms alike. Shoppers described the scene as hectic, with barely enough room to navigate a cart throughout the floor space. Employees explained that they just didn't have the time to unload and organize all the merchandise.
"I think five times a day I'm answering the same question about the boxes. Corporate doesn't want to give us hours, so we can't take the time to actually get stuff out," store manager Peggy Sue said of the situation at the time.
Calling for corporate to allow the store to close for a day to sort out the inventory, she continued, "I'm at a point where I am tired of seeing my coworkers crying and working themselves to the point where they are physically sick and tired." The situation escalated to the point where the fire marshall was called to make sure that the boxes didn't "pose a threat to customers."
Additionally, in September, per The Daily Dot, Target found itself in the crosshairs on social media after a video profiling an extremely disorganized and untidy store went viral. U-boats, pallets, and boxes were strewn across aisles, mostly brimming with unopened products.
“As a former Target employee, this really hurts my heart seeing a store look like this,” video creator Charles Frank said as the camera caught several instances of extreme disorganization. “The fact that Target’s OK with letting their stores look like this instead of just staffing their stores ... [is] upsetting.”
The video racked up over 1.3 million views as of Dec. 20, and commenters were extremely critical of the store's condition.
"Charles, you really need to start thinking more about the needs of investors and the board members! If Target hires more people, then how will the executives keep their quarterly bonuses!" one user sarcastically quipped.
@thecharlesfrank Oh @target 🥲 #target #targetaudience #shopping #sad #dobetter #fyp #foryou ♬ original sound - TheCharlesFrank
The Retail Clutter Epidemic Is Spreading, But Why?
As Business Insider pointed out, clutter by way of excessive boxes or other disarray was typically constrained to discount and dollar store shopping experiences, but it has since expanded scope to include many other major retailers outside of this segment.
While dollar stores typically work with fewer staff members — and thus, less labor is available to receive inventory and conduct merchandising — this business model seems to have caught favor with mainstream retailers. Understaffing is frequently cited as one primary cause driving the retail clutter problem.
Cost-cutting in terms of labor is also detrimental to operations more broadly, but investors may not immediately see the negative impact of these measures. Neil Saunders, RetailWire BrainTrust member and managing director for GlobalData Retail, weighed in on this score.
"It can be tempting for retailers to cut labor costs in order to juice profit. However, the problem with cutting front-line staff is that it often has a negative impact on the customer experience which, in turn, ultimately compresses sales. So the cuts end up being a false economy," Saunders wrote in an email to RetailWire.
"In response to declining sales, the reaction is to cut labor some more. This is when you get a vicious circle of decline that can be hard to break out of," he added.
A second issue, as Business Insider reported, was a simple lack of space. Storage rooms take away from valuable sales floor space, and the vast majority of product needs to be shown to customers in order to sell. Logically, it makes sense for retailers to focus on making every inch of floor space count when it comes to merchandising. However, a balancing act needs to take place between visual appeal, breathing room for customers and staff, and showing as much product as possible. Some retailers do this well, and others, like those mentioned above, struggle.
Finally, as Saunders pointed out, management expertise can sometimes make the best out of a bad situation.
"There will be some store managers that have very strong operating disciplines, and they will not allow things to get out of control," Saunders said. "And there will be some store managers that are much more lax."