The Warehouse has confirmed that workers’ jobs would be impacted by a number of changes it is considering making to improve its online shopping experience.
The Warehouse confirmed it is considering closing 11 in-store online fulfilment centres and consolidating them into a single, central facility, which it says would better suit customers’ changing shopping behaviours.
“The rationale for the change is to ensure customers have a more seamless experience,” Henderson said.
“Currently they receive different packages for their online orders but by centralising fulfilment we anticipate only a single package will be required.”
The company has also proposed changes to its customer engagement centre and announced that it may move part of its call centre services overseas.
Tanya Henderson, The Warehouse’s general manager for corporate communication, said the proposals are still in the consultation phase, but should they be pushed through, the company would re-deploy many of its fulfilment workers to other stores or to its Auckland distribution centre, where jobs have opened up.
The proposed changes to the customer engagement centre are intended to improve response times and service levels, the company said, particularly as customer interaction volumes increase.
“The proposed changes to the way the centres operate include increasing service hours and adding flexibility, particularly around scaling up peak periods such as Christmas,” The Warehouse said.
“This will address the continued strong online customer growth, which requires ongoing flexibility to manage customer demand and make use of new technologies.”
Part of the proposal will see customer enquiries being handled by either Wiri or Hamilton Customer Engagement Centres and in some cases by a global partner.
“Our team members are currently providing feedback to the proposals and this will be considered before any decisions are made,” the company said.
The Warehouse is piloting a new labour operating model and rosters in eight of its stores to see whether it improves the in-store customer experience.
“The updated labour operating model reflects the changing patterns of customer behaviour, particularly as online and omnichannel gain importance for customers shopping habits,” The Warehouse said.
The pilot, which is scheduled to commence in June, will test changes to roster hours and assess their impact.
The company anticipates the changes will enable a more consistent customer experience in-store, support better store planning, improve job satisfaction for their teams and ensure a fairer allocation of available hours for team members.
