We Have a Critical Problem in Retail

Hello friends, and thank you for your early support of OSSY, or as a follower of Retail Pride or Retail in America…we couldn't do any of this without you! 

We believe the need to disrupt how the retail industry hires, engages and connects has never been more urgent.  

We would even call it critical to its future success.  

That's a big statement....why? 

On April 14, 2023, WWD published an article by Kanika Talwar titled "Heading into Summer, Retailers Remain Concerned Over Staffing, Other Issues."  

The final sentence is: "While the macroeconomic environment continues to present new challenges; organizations realize that their frontline staff plays a vital role in their growth and customer acquisition." 

Simultaneously, Chain Store Age/McKinsey published a full report titled "Overturning Turnover." 

One alarming statistic from the McKinsey report is that frontline managers are 1.75 times more likely than frontline workers to consider leaving the retail industry altogether. Citing near-identical reasons to those shared by frontline employees, retail managers also struggle with a lack of support from their colleagues.

"These managers must recruit, interview, and train new employees while finding ways to motivate team performance and coach individual careers."

So where does that leave us? From what we hear and read, there are a lot of problems out there to solve, but nobody has created a solution. 

Until now. 

Because you have to have worked in retail to truly understand why these frontline managers are so frustrated, and why the turnover is so high.  

And after decades of leading the field teams for some of the industry's most influential brands and spending the last year on the road listening to hundreds of these people, we get it. 

We are building OSSY to solve three of the biggest problems: 

For Candidates

Sometimes a candidate needs help to figure out where to start a new retail job search. At OSSY, they will discover new job opportunities with great brands fully invested in their success. Plus, it's the only digital platform for everyone that works in retail to meet those colleagues and mentors they need for career growth. 

For Retail Brands

Ongoing concerns about staffing? OSSY is revolutionizing how retailers are matched with top talent in a transparent, predictable, and significant cost-saving way vs. traditional recruiting. A candidate's decision to leave a job may start before they even accept it based on their interview experience. We are here to solve that. 

Coming late 2023: For Solution Providers

A successful brick-and-mortar retail business requires three things: Proud, well-trained, and engaged people working for a retail brand rooted in strong cultural values fueled by great technology. When one of these is missing, it doesn't work.  

Solution providers need to meet retailers. And retailers need to meet solution providers. Sounds simple enough? But it’s not. OSSY is the digital forum to meet the retailers you need to know.

Big goals? Definitely. But for the millions of people who work in the retail industry and for the trillions of dollars it adds to our economic growth in the US, they are goals worth pursuing. 

Be part of the solution...tell your friends and colleagues to sign up today at the link below and be the first to know when we take off in a few months.

Let’s do this!

Ron Thurston and Roi Perets

Founders