The Initial Position

Retail businesses are increasingly having to adjust to new trends in customer behaviour. Customers are demanding higher quality, better service and they are demanding new products at intervals that are becoming shorter and shorter.
At the same time the product development are constantly bringing new technologies, materials and products on to the market. This process is continuing at a rapid pace, as is evident in the electrical/electronic sectors and also in the
branch food. This means that retailers are being forced to keep up with these developments.

With this in mind, specialist personnel have to acquire the necessary knowledge and then keep abreast with the latest developments. Otherwise they cannot provide customers with the advice they need. This service is one of the cor-
nerstones of the retail sector and forms the basis for a company’s success. Product knowledge is one of the key areas of competence for specialist personnel in the retail sector, many of whom are women.

Instruction and training have to be coordinated effectively to meet these demands with the aim of providing the required information to the sales personnel “just in time” at any place. In addition, this knowledge system has to be flexible enough to keep pace with the dynamic developments in this field. At the same time the system has to be open to include sales experience gathered by specialist personnel.

The Solution with EvoLearn

EvoLearn is a project being sponsored by the EU and it is directed at supporting retail companies. Training specialists from 8 European countries are involved in developing the project solutions.

The aim of EvoLearn is partly to develop modules for certain goods so that these modules can be accessed via the Internet. They can be downloaded from anywhere and can be updated at any time. The modules not only include knowledge about products, but also sales arguments, service hints or crossselling potential.

In addition the system is developing a field of learning, which provides specialist personnel with the opportunity of using learning materials adapted to specific needs, while taking into account their previous knowledge.