The relevance of SOPs for Dark Stores

In the dark store business model ( https://www.yourretailcoach.ae/dark-store ), everything has to be fast - quick internal operations, quick deliveries, quick customer service, and a fast and glitch-free shopping app. But how are these outcomes possible? Speedy and impeccable processing is the answer. Every function, process, and operation involved in order fulfilment has to embrace this approach. It applies to the business-IT applications in use, delivery, customer support, operations, procurement, marketing, and analytics. If any one of these functions fails to keep up with the required speedy standards, it shall have a bullwhip effect on the others. This could disrupt the entire value chain. The ultimate effect of this reflects in adverse customer experience and negative reviews and feedback. Coming back to the remedy, a robust operational planning approach is required to secure the levels of agility and accuracy required in dark stores. And Standard Operating Procedures ( https://www.yourretailcoach.ae/services/sop-development/ ) play an instrumental role in achieving the much-needed operational superiority in dark stores.

Technology has made the dark store business model possible ( https://www.yourretailcoach.ae/dark-store ). Therefore, the first area to focus on is building the right IT infrastructure. This includes the shopping website/mobile app, ERP solution for CRM and other business functions, applications for back-end order fulfilment processes, etc. For IT to work for a business, the right IT solutions must be selected first. And to select the right solutions, the right specifications have to be generated first. This depends on how each of these business-IT applications is required to run. These instructions and specifications come from the SOPs. SOPs define how a particular business process or operation has to be carried out. When this information is available, it becomes easy to identify and customise the business-IT solutions. SOP-guided business applications enhance the efficiency of processes by up to 30% and reduce error rates by almost half.

Every business enterprise functions in unique ways in the light of its broader business objectives. This has ramifications on how the business processes and operations are carried out. Having established processes help ensure that the requirements at the operational level are maintained. SOPs provide ( https://www.yourretailcoach.ae/services/sop-development/ ) this much-needed operational blueprint. Having such an operational blueprint ensures that employees 'performance and activities are guided by what is required for the business to achieve its broader objectives.


SOPs are crucial for new employees in adapting to the new ways of working in a new organisation. Whenever new employees join an organisation or new processes/process changes are introduced, it is important to ensure that operations do not slow down and the value chain is not disrupted. Employees take time to pick up new ways of working. To improve the learning curve, businesses need to focus on providing the right assistance to their employees in the form of SOPs and the necessary training and supervision.

Businesses spend on software platforms and people to enhance the efficiency of their front and back-end processes. This is eventually aimed at achieving elevated customer/client experience, higher conversion rate, increased sales, higher profitability, etc. Process experts from the field of retail consulting services know that SOP is the ingredient that helps businesses bring people, processes, and technology on the same page. When SOPs are implemented, employees know what needs to be done. It becomes easier to identify and implement the right business-IT solutions. The entire business becomes a process-oriented enterprise with optimum utilisation of resources.

Providing a seamless experience to customers is one of the key requirements for dark stores. This term 'seamless experience' is a repeatedly-heard one but its intricacies go much deeper. A simple instance of this is a customer receiving notification of 'out for delivery' but the delivery executive has not moved a millimetre on the GPS. The reasons could be genuine but if it could have been avoided, it should have been avoided. The need is to analyse these gaps, find solutions, and incorporate them into the SOPs. For example, if the delivery van encountered a problem, was the element of periodical van maintenance included in the SOPs?

SOPs simply on paper are as good as not having them. If using or accessing the SOPs is difficult, then there are problems with the process and methodology of defining the SOPs. Accessing SOPs should be as simple as calling 'Alexa'. Coming to the reading and comprehension, SOPs should be developed ( https://www.yourretailcoach.ae/services/sop-development/ ) keeping in mind their audience. They need to be user-friendly with more visual representations with the features of quick access and easy navigation.

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