About the Client

A Ukranian-based shoe and apparel retail company, Intertop operates 136 stores across the country throughout 27 cities, with a number of stores in other countries as well. Since the opening of its first store in 1994, the company now stocks 14 brands, including Clarks, Geox and Armani Exchange, and in 2004 launched its own brand, Braska, which has since sold over a million pairs of shoes. Expanding their scope beyond footwear, in 2019 Intertop launched its first clothing collection, Poustovit x Intertop, created in collaboration with the Ukrainian designer Lilia Pustovit.

For more than 20 years, Intertop has been a pioneer in the national fashion industry, and one with creativity, innovation and corporate social responsibility at its core. 

In honour of the 2020 Olympic Games, and in celebration of art, sport and fashion, Intertop released a collection of T-Shirts dedicated to Olympic sports. Featuring original prints with works from notable Ukranian artists, the pieces were displayed as part of a special exhibition at the National Art Museum of Ukraine. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the collection’s pieces went towards supporting the Olympic team of Ukraine.

A retailer with a strong environmental focus, one of the brand’s missions has been to develop a culture of walking and an active lifestyle. To emphasize the importance of physical activity and nature walks, Intertop opened the first interactive Ecotrail in Ukraine, supported by the country’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. To accompany this initiative, Intertop designed and sold limited brand merchandise, with all proceeds going towards a second Ecotrail in Ukraine. With multiple impactful CSR initiatives, the company has always had a need to align its employees and clients around its mission and vision.

The Challenge

The retail landscape is changing, and business models are evolving. Today, not only do companies need to be proficient in the buying and selling of their products, but also harness additional modern capabilities such as online fulfillment, home delivery and retail data analytics. COVID-19 has significantly impacted the retail landscape, resulting in a surge in e-commerce shopping and the need for innovation and continuous improvement of the customer experience. 

Given this ever-shifting and rapidly evolving landscape, how could Intertop drive sales among the e-commerce competition? How could Intertop boost employee loyalty, retention and engagement that have a direct impact on the shopping experience of the customers? As the lifeblood of a company, how can employees become more actively involved and connected with the company’s mission and KPIs? 

Additionally, given their sheer volume of employees (more than 1000), and retailers being geographically dispersed, Intertop recognized the need for a system that had all incentives and recognition information, as well as training, hosted in one place. 

In the journey of a Sales Associate, effective training, as well as timely motivation and recognition, are both integral components. Yet, as a company with both in-store and multichannel sales, how could Intertop empower its employees across geographies to reach new heights and overachieve their KPIs?   

The Solution

Rallyware worked with Intertop to develop Intertop Galaxy (taking inspiration from futuristic space travel, whereby Sales Associates and Supervisors step into the shoes of a spaceship crew and embark on an interstellar journey – showing that the sky’s the limit and there is a lot of space for growth). 

Through an entirely automated onboarding process, new Sales Associates were provided with the necessary tools to get started, including product knowledge and soft skills. And by focusing on very clear and engaging micro-steps, the ongoing training was simple and straightforward. Combined with the individual employees’ performance data, learning and engagement became highly personalized and thus hyper-efficient in driving desired behaviors of the workforce by delivering the right learning and business activities to the right associate, and at the right time.

Yet how do employees know if their efforts are paying off, and how well they are performing? Helping them reach their goals and sales targets, employees were visually presented with  their personal progress, as Intertop Galaxy presented real-time results – employees were able to view their sales results in their personalized widgets, where results were instantly updated and displayed live.

In line with Intertop’s forward-thinking mindset, this innovative approach is a shining example of how the company took concrete steps towards driving sales in retail and empowering their employees. 

A second part of the solution consisted of  automated personalized employee incentives and recognition programs. When implemented correctly, such programs are a robust leadership tool that reward staff for their contributions to the success of a business, and, in retail, are among the top factors that play a key role in achieving business heights, while also boosting employee morale and contributing to a strong company culture. Recognition for a job well done is key to keeping tenured employees engaged – boasting a strong employee base; some Intertop employees have been with the company since its inception in 1994.  

In terms of incentives and recognition, employees were able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, as they were rewarded with internal currency points (‘Intercoins’), which could then be used as additional discounts for the purchase of merchandise. By tying the virtual points on the platform to the real-world awards, the company was able to impact and drive desired behaviors of its workforce.  

Additionally, Rallyware’s Customer Success expertise and Analytics Suite provided actionable insights – helping Intertop discover what their employees find most interesting and engaging as well as the best practices in sales enablement in the retail industry. 

The Results

Since its implementation in May 2020, Intertop Galaxy has provided employees with the personalized incentives, tools and confidence to do their best work, driving a notable increase of 19% in in-store sales performance. 

Additionally, success was not just limited to in-store sales, and extended into the digital realm. As a result of the implementation of Intertop Galaxy, and seeing more employees actively engaged in learning as well as incentives and recognition initiatives, the company saw a 16% boost in online sales. 

Armed with sales results easily viewable in personalized widgets, employees were able to meet their goals and deliver on key sales targets, as the platform implementation resulted in a 51% increase in the completion of sales goals. 

Contributing to a robust company culture, Intertop’s personalized incentives and recognition initiative was a hit with employees (who doesn’t enjoy a job with perks included)? Increased engagement was evident, as employees shared photos of their store purchases with others through the company’s Telegram messaging group, promoting it in such a way that led to even higher platform adoption. 

In a time when many work environments are disrupted, prioritizing how employees are treated and supported from day one is imperative. Organizations are working hard to maintain employee wellbeing, foster a strong company culture and provide an excellent experience, and Intertop is no exception. Taking a personalized and data-driven approach, Rallyware helped Intertop reach their goals of building a clear and efficient onboarding program, as well as contributing to heightened employee engagement and increased sales productivity. A true example of innovation in the retail industry, Intertop Galaxy helped the Intertop sales team remain focused, motivated, and deliver tangible results.