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I have had so much fun this month interviewing some of our clients on how they got into retail, what they loved about the industry in the beginning, and what keeps their passion churning for retail, after all these years (see below for more on that).
Those conversations, along with a new Gallup study that looks at whether staffing isssues are eroding the customer experience, have brought back my own early retail memories, and how I have carried out the key lessons I learned early on throughout my career.
I was destined to be a retailer from an early age. My father was president of a paint and wallpaper retail chain of stores, based in my hometown of Baltimore. This meant most Saturdays my brother Stephen and I accompanied him to his flagship store. We would mingle with the staff and help them mix paint, climb the high library ladders for supplies, and, if we were, lucky talk to customers. The mornings always ended with lunch brought in by my dad for the staff. I could tell it was one of my father’s favorite moments with his team. They respected him and his leadership, and I admired him for the way they showed appreciation for his efforts and how he treated everyone.
My brother, seven years older than me, entered retail first as an assistant manager, store manager, and eventually a district, regional, and VP of stores. When I was a teenager, he hired me to sell shoes at his downtown shoe store after school and weekends. That’s when I really got hooked on retail. It’s where I learned about UPTs, reading customer cues, and the guidepost for selling: Make every moment count! Never come out of the backroom with just one pair of shoes! I learned early on that pleasing customers and finding the shoes that were the perfect match (even dying them to match if necessary) was a thrill that energized me.
Today’s environment has thrown up numerous challenges and barriers to delivering that kind of customer experience. Through direction that is being cascaded down from corporate offices, leaders are asking teams to do more with fewer people, tighter budgets, and expanded responsibilities. The result isn’t disengagement—it’s strain.
Some compelling, stop-and-think statistics from the Gallup survey should get every retail leader’s attention. In Q3 2025:
- 43% of U.S. employees strongly agreed they feel personally responsible for customer experience.
- Only 23% strongly agreed their organization consistently delivers on customer promises.
Retail Teams Still Care
I don’t believe this is a motivation or commitment problem, nor do I think it is a “people don’t care like they used to” or generational problem. Call me Retail’s Pollyanna, but I still believe people want to do their best work. Sometimes, though, even when we don’t mean to, we send out messages or create SOPs that inadvertently prevent that from happening.
In our work at MOHR Retail, we spend time with assistant managers, store leaders, district leaders, and executives across the country, and what we see every day aligns with the data. Retail teams care deeply about their customers, but they are also absorbing:
- Ongoing staffing compression
- Expanded responsibilities
- Reorganizations accompanied with shifting priorities
- Budget reductions
- Increased performance pressure
You Can’t “Care” Your Way Out of Understaffing
One of the most telling findings in the study is that staffing continues to rank as the number one barrier to delivering exceptional customer experience. Customer experience does not collapse overnight. It becomes inconsistent. And inconsistency erodes trust, both internally and externally.
The study also reinforces something we’ve been talking about for years: the relationship between employee engagement and customer experience and how tightly linked they are. Engaged employees are significantly more confident in their organization’s ability to deliver. They are clearer on expectations. They feel supported. They believe their work matters.
Engagement is not built through slogans, messaging, or cheerleading; it is built through clarity, support, reinforcement of the efforts and behaviors you want to see more of, and realistic alignment between expectations and capacity.
When burnout rises, motivation declines. And when motivation declines, execution becomes inconsistent. All of that directly impacts the customer experience.
The reality, of course, is that retail is unlikely to return to an environment of surplus staffing and excess capacity anytime soon. And in the meantime, the pressure persists.
The Question Is How Leaders Respond To It
Read on for some specific tips and action steps to lead more effectively in a constrained retail environment.
The encouraging news in this study is that accountability remains high. Your employees still feel responsible for delivering quality. That is a powerful foundation. But accountability without structural support eventually turns into exhaustion and burnout, and the consequences can be far-reaching, affecting your teams, your customers, and your business.
Retail teams still care. The question leaders must answer is this:
Are we creating the conditions that allow them to succeed and do their best work everyday?
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