How can retailers and brands better drive sales of products on retail sales floors? This is a key question that retailers and brands ask themselves each day. Especially with the impact of showrooming and e-commerce on physical store sales.

One way to improve physical store sales is to provide sales associates with product knowledge. According to research conducted by Marshall Fisher of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, “employee knowledge and customer perception of product availability have by far the strongest impact on customers’ overall store visit satisfaction rating.”

Additionally, Fisher states that “the overwhelming importance of sales associates’ knowledge of products, brands and prices suggests that customers greatly value the role of employees as experts helping them to make decisions on prices, brands and product features.” Fisher and team also found that store associates who received customer satisfaction ratings (product knowledge is included here) of 8 or higher (on a scale of 1-10), had at least a 10% increase in sales over the store’s deseasonalized average.

Read the full study: “Retail Store Execution: An Empirical Study.”

So what does this mean for retailers and brands? A great way to increase sales is to provide product training to store sales associates and watch the sales increase!