Value clothing retailer River Island has undertaken a massive training programme for its checkout staff, alongside the complete upgrade of the PoS terminals throughout its 200 stores.

The strategy is to train staff at a central point rather than remotely, as has been advocated by many EPoS and training software suppliers.

More than 2,500 staff are being trained in the new JDA WinDSS PoS software, which also includes upgrading to Chip and PIN payment processes, in anticipation for roll-out next summer.

According to River Island project manager Steve Cassidy, the training is one of the biggest parts of the upgrade budget. ‘Any delay in the training will have a knock-on effect on the profitability of the project,’ he said.

River Island staff created the training programme in-house, but hired training and change management consultants First Friday to audit the training manual and to co-ordinate the project’s internal communication throughout the stores.

A remote training strategy was out of the question for the retailer because the course was four days long and re-quired access to the PoS prior to it being installed in the store.