Dive Brief:

• GNC, an international health, wellness and performance product retailer, has announced that it has partnered with ePath Learning Inc. to provide employee training and development programming to its staff.
• The company will train more than 9,000 GNC retail, franchise and distribution employees in more than 50 countries using its LMS. The cpmany says it believes that a large part of retail success comes down to how knowledgeable employees are in the products and services they're selling and how well those employees engage with their customers.
• Catering to a millennial workforce, the LMS will offer training and information using tools the generation is accustomed to consuming, including mobile. More relevant formats promise to help the company deliver training more quickly and more conveniently to their associates. 

Dive Insight:

In the fight to keep brick-and-mortar stores viable, many employers are looking to improve their employees' knowledge base to better serve consumers. As competition from e-tailers heats up, retailers believe they can leverage product knowledge and customer care to better serve (and, ultimately, retain) consumers. Retailers like Walmart, for example, are piloting robots that stock shelves to free up associates to provide a higher level of customer care.

Retail workers represent 10% of the 16 million workers in the labor force. The ability to engage and retain employees, especially those in younger generations, may depend on a company’s ability to coach and mentor them — a top priority for this demographic.