How Technology Enables Retailers to Invest in Community-Centric In-Store Experiences

Grocery retailers are facing a fundamental tension: consumers want faster, more efficient shopping experiences—yet they're simultaneously seeking deeper connections with the stores they visit. The retailers succeeding in this environment aren't choosing between operational efficiency and community engagement. They're using the former to enable the latter.

This dynamic is playing out in stores across the country, where community-centric programs are becoming a key differentiator. But executing these programs consistently requires more than good intentions—it requires operational precision.

The Business Case for Community Investment

Community-focused retail experiences are delivering measurable results:

• 85% of BOPIS shoppers make additional purchases when they visit the store for pickup—suggesting that any reason to bring customers in-store creates incremental revenue opportunities. (Capital One Shopping. (2025). Buy Online Pick Up In Store (BOPIS) Statistics. Retrieved December 2025, from https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/buy-online-pick-up-in-store-statistics/)
• 73% of frontline workers report being pulled away from primary duties to fill coverage gaps—meaning community programs often compete with basic operational needs. (Logile, Inc. (2025). 2025 Labor Planning & Optimization Report. Retrieved from Logile survey via third-party platform Pollfish. https://www.logile.com/resources/blog/retail-labor-plans-fall-short-on-the-front-line)
• 77% of retail associates say their store regularly loses sales due to poor scheduling or staffing decisions—highlighting how operational gaps undermine both service and special initiatives. (Logile, Inc. (2025). 2025 Labor Planning & Optimization Report. Retrieved from Logile survey via third-party platform Pollfish. https://www.logile.com/resources/blog/retail-labor-plans-fall-short-on-the-front-line)

The challenge is clear: retailers want to invest in experiences that differentiate their stores and build customer loyalty, but labor constraints and operational inefficiencies make consistent execution difficult.

Featured Customer: Lowes Foods Community Table

Lowes Foods, a regional grocer operating across the Carolinas and Virginia, has built community engagement directly into its store design through the Community Table—a physical gathering space positioned at the center of each store.

The Concept

• Physical table built from reclaimed wood sourced from barns, factories, and train stations across the South
• Central store placement emphasizes the retail store as part of the community
• Event programming includes cooking classes, wine and cheese tastings, local farmer and vendor sampling, and family-friendly activities
• Unique origin story for each table—the Clemmons, NC location features pine from two Nash County barns built in 1946 and 1952

The Operational Reality

Running community-centric programs requires dedicated labor hours:

• Staffing events such as cooking classes and tastings
• Coordinating vendors including local farmers, wineries, and small businesses
• Supporting execution through setup, customer engagement, and breakdown
• Maintaining consistency across locations and throughout the year

For retailers already facing labor challenges—where 51% of stores are short-staffed during busy periods most of the time—community initiatives often become unsustainable without operational improvements elsewhere.

How Labor Planning Technology Enables Community Investment

Retailers who successfully sustain community programming have typically solved a prerequisite problem: running core operations efficiently enough to create capacity for differentiated experiences.

Accurate Forecasting Creates Predictable Capacity

• 15-minute demand forecasting allows retailers to anticipate traffic patterns with precision
• Task-level labor modeling ensures staffing accounts for all work requirements—not just register coverage
• Event-aware scheduling incorporates community programming into labor plans rather than treating it as an afterthought

Result: Community Table events can be staffed intentionally, without pulling associates from checkout or floor coverage.

Optimized Scheduling Protects Associate Engagement

Community programs depend on engaged frontline workers. Current labor challenges undermine this:

• 82% of associates report feeling overwhelmed due to inadequate staffing levels
• 80% of associates say unpredictable schedules add stress to their jobs
• 31% of workers are actively considering quitting due to poor scheduling

Retailers investing in fair, predictable scheduling—built with associate input and optimized for both coverage and wellbeing—create conditions where frontline teams can participate in community initiatives without resentment.

Execution Visibility Ensures Consistency

Community programming fails when execution is inconsistent. Modern task management systems address this by:

• Assigning events to specific associates with clear accountability
• Tracking completion to ensure programs happen as planned
• Escalating gaps when staffing issues threaten scheduled events
• Providing visibility to store and regional leadership on program execution

Result: Community events become a reliable, measurable part of store operations rather than an inconsistent "when we can get to it" effort.

The Strategic Advantage

Lowes Foods' Community Table represents more than a marketing community—it's an operational commitment that requires:

1. Labor capacity to staff events without sacrificing core operations
2. Scheduling precision to plan community programming into weekly labor models
3. Execution accountability to ensure events happen consistently across locations
4. Associate engagement to deliver authentic, enthusiastic customer experiences

Retailers who achieve this combination gain a competitive advantage that e-commerce cannot replicate: a store experience that feels like part of the neighborhood.

Implications for Retailers

Grocers seeking to invest in community-centric programs should consider the following:

Operational Prerequisites

• Audit current labor efficiency: Are stores consistently staffed to demand, or are gaps creating reactive scheduling?
• Assess associate engagement: Do frontline workers have capacity and willingness to support community initiatives?
• Evaluate execution consistency: Can stores reliably execute non-core programs, or do they get deprioritized under pressure?

Technology Enablers

• Demand-driven forecasting that accounts for event-related traffic changes
• Integrated scheduling that includes community programming as part of labor allocation
• Task management that tracks community event execution alongside operational tasks
• Analytics that measure community program ROI and associate engagement impact

Strategic Considerations

• Start with operational excellence: Community investments are unsustainable without efficient core operations
• Build community into labor models: Treat events as planned work, not discretionary extras
• Measure and iterate: Track which programs drive traffic, engagement, and loyalty

Conclusion

The question facing grocery retailers isn't whether community engagement matters—customer behavior makes that clear. The question is whether operations are efficient enough to sustain it.

Retailers like Lowes Foods demonstrate that community-centric programs are achievable when supported by precise labor planning, optimized scheduling, and consistent execution. The Community Table works because the operational foundation makes it possible to staff, execute, and sustain.

Technology doesn't replace the human connection that makes community programs valuable. But AI-driven workforce optimization creates the capacity—in labor hours, associate engagement, and execution consistency—to invest in what differentiates a store from a transaction.

For retailers seeking to build community into their in-store experience, the path forward starts with operational precision. Efficiency and community aren't competing priorities. Done right, one enables the other.

Logile's AI-driven Connected Workforce platform helps grocery retailers align forecasting, labor modeling, scheduling, and execution—creating the operational foundation that enables investment in community-centric programs.

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