Pivotal Retail Group partnered with Ross Stores, Inc. to assess problems the retailer was experiencing when remodeling their stores. In its current state, Ross was completing store Refreshes in a cyclical manner and experiencing inconsistent staffing, decreased planning and execution ramp-up time, and a gap in sourcing and retaining superior talent based on the on again, off again nature of the project.
In the new state, Pivotal offered a solution that allowed for year-round project execution support across multiple departments. This solution consisted of a 40-person support team located in-house at the corporate office. As opposed to keeping a cyclical staff on board, this new staff was retained year-round and was able to support multiple projects and departments as the Refresh project went through execution lulls.
The team assisted with three main aspects of the project – planning, coordination, and quality.
For planning, the team updated as-builts and analyzed prototypes to create the proposed (or go-forward) floorplan. Using this plan, the team purchased fixtures, signage, and all project materials. Once the items were ordered, the coordination team tracked the fixture shipments and delivers, paying special attention to items that were backordered or had shipping delays.
During execution, the special team of coordinators served as the point of contact for the installation contractors, store managers, and project stakeholders at the corporate level. The team was able to provide real-time issue support and resolution.
Finally, after the project was complete, the Pivotal team of onsite project managers provided daily reporting for management and resolution of any execution issues. The managers visited each store individually and conducted in-store audits for completion of 100% of all stores.
This team assembled by Pivotal provided speedier and more consistent project closeout. Ross Stores experienced a 20% year-over-year growth during the span of the 5-year long project. As a whole, the Pivotal team was able to complete 1900 stores in five years.