One of the best ways to improve the customer shopping experience is by employing more associates to help them, regardless of whether they are positioned as greeters when customers enter the store, salespeople to assist them or cashiers. Many merchants know this, which is why they are hiring new employees, according to a new report from Kronos.

According to the recently released Kronos Retail Labor Index, hiring increased by 7 percent year-over-year in February, hitting 4.2 percent. However, the supply of retail applicants has dwindled, with the number of applications declining by 1.3 percent – a 6 percent year-over-year decline.

"Retail firms in the Kronos sample have faced modestly tightening hiring conditions in recent months, as the pool of applications for each hire made has contracted," said Chris Varvares, senior managing director and cofounder of Macroeconomic Advisers, a firm that analyzes the report.

In addition to hiring more employees, many merchants are hoping to further bolster store operations by employing new technology. Some choose to equip their associates with iPads to look up product inventory, while other use retail software to expedite the checkout process.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 at 10:27 am .