Retail Zipline Unveils New Compliance Features to Keep Retail Workers Safe, Up to Date and Working In Sync As Stores Reopen

Retail Zipline, the leading communication and execution platform for retailers, today announced new compliance features in response to the pandemic’s impact on retailers. With these new features, Retail Zipline ensures that policies and procedures from HQ are seen, understood and completed on time by stores, with the reporting HQ needs for compliance. L.L. Bean, a leading multi-channel merchant of quality outdoor gear and apparel, is among the first companies to adopt this new technology across its 54 stores in 18 states across the United States.

For the past five years, leading retailers including Hy-Vee, BevMo!, Lush Cosmetics, Cole Haan, The LEGO Group, and TOMS have used Retail Zipline to smoothly execute in-store operations. Now, brands can also easily make sure that health and safety regulations are implemented as stores begin to reopen.

“The health and safety of our customers and employees is our top priority,” said Corey Bouyea, Senior Manager of Store Operations at L.L. Bean. “Retail Zipline has given us a seamless way to communicate new processes, policies and protocols to our stores as they reopen. In addition, we’ve been able to launch a robust store reboot certification process that leverages Zipline’s Surveys functionality, allowing us to track compliance, capture photos and “certify” our stores for reopening from our home office in Maine. As a result, our ability to communicate, educate our teams and track what’s actually been done in stores has improved tenfold – ensuring record high compliance.”

The global COVID-19 pandemic prompted retailers to adopt new operations virtually overnight. Every new procedure comes with strict health and safety regulations, leaving retailers scrambling to ensure compliance in stores. But even before the pandemic hit, only 29 percent of direction sent to stores was being properly executed by store teams. Today, it’s more important than ever that store associates are receiving accurate information from HQ and maintaining standards that can ultimately save lives. 

Developed with feedback from operations and retail store leaders, Retail Zipline’s new features ensure retailers can quickly and easily communicate rapidly changing local health and safety measures with stores and track their compliance. 

The platform offers:

• Easy publishing. Send messages to the fleet in seconds, freeing up valuable time for communications managers to tailor messaging to specific roles or locations. Easy targeting and distribution list management (by location and role) mean only the teams who need to know are alerted, without distracting the rest of the fleet.
• Health and Safety Surveys. Ask employees to confirm they have read and understand critical communications. Or, use surveys as a tool for associates to report on personal health and whether they have been exposed to the virus. The responses are time-stamped and rolled up to headquarters to ensure compliance.
• HQ-Level Visibility. A birds-eye view for headquarters shows which stores are meeting COVID-19 safety standards and which ones might need additional support or training.
• Resource Library. Employees can quickly locate in-store protocols like the physical space for social distancing and files on health education in one central location. The files auto-filter by geographic region so individuals only see what is relevant to their specific shelter-in-place laws, but can easily search for additional documents, removing the noise and making it easy to provide each state the info they need about health and safety guidelines, without the clutter.
• Task and compliance management: Managers can share information in a digestible, engaging and personalized way so employees know what they need to do, and when. Auditing features track compliance of stores and can even verify who read critical messages.

“Most brands are struggling because they share vital information across stores with antiquated methods like email or unauthorized messaging apps. They really have no way of knowing whether specific safety instructions are being followed. In a pre-COVID world, it might have been okay to miss a memo, but now, customer and employee safety depends on stores receiving, following, and actioning off of priority information,” said Melissa Wong, CEO and co-founder of Retail Zipline. “We know companies face substantial risks if they can’t send important information to the fleet and validate that tasks are being done – so we had to help.”

To learn more about Retail Zipline’s new compliance features and see a quick video, visit: https://info.retailzipline.com/product-compliance

About Retail Zipline:
Retail Zipline is the leading communication and execution platform for retailers. Built with the complexities of retail in mind, Retail Zipline helps HQ streamline and coordinate communications with the field, in a way that makes store teams happier and more productive. The company’s goal is to improve the lives of one million retail employees by 2025, and the platform is already used by leading brands such as L.L. Bean, Hy-Vee Inc., Lush Cosmetics, BevMo!, LL Flooring, Cole Haan, The Lego Group, TOMS, Torrid and others. Retail Zipline is a 100% distributed company with employees across North America and Europe. They are backed by leading venture capitalists including Emergence, Serena Ventures, and Hillsven Capital. To learn more, please visit retailzipline.com. 

About L.L.Bean, Inc.:
L.L.Bean, Inc. is a leading multichannel merchant of quality outdoor gear and apparel. Founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean, the company began as a one-room operation selling a single product, the Maine Hunting Shoe. Still family owned, Shawn Gorman, great grandson of Leon Leonwood Bean, was named Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2013. While its business has grown over the years, L.L.Bean continues to uphold the values of its founder, including his dedication to quality, customer service and a love of the outdoors. In the past five years, L.L.Bean has donated over $6 million toward conservation and land stewardship. L.L.Bean operates 34 stores in 16 states across the United States, along with 25 stores in Japan. The 220,000-sq. ft. L.L.Bean retail store campus in Freeport, ME, is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and welcomes more than 3 million visitors every year. L.L.Bean can be found worldwide at www.llbean.com, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.
 

Contact Information

Maggie Philbin

Vice President

VSC for Retail Zipline

Zipline@vsc.co