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Industries

Scratchie for Retail

Instant recognition and easy speak-up for frontline teams: reward the safe, positive work you want to see more of.

The retail challenge

The retail sector represents Australia's second-largest employer, facing extraordinary challenges with 60% annual employee turnover and 63% of managers considering leaving their positions. Manual handling injuries from lifting stock and rearranging displays lead workplace safety concerns, followed by slips, trips, and falls in busy retail environments. The industry's predominantly young, part-time workforce requires constant training and engagement, while dealing with difficult customers adds psychological stress that drives high turnover. Post-COVID changes have intensified these challenges, with staff managing new health protocols while adapting to omnichannel retail operations and increased customer service pressures. Scratchie transforms retail workplace culture by making safety compliance and customer service excellence immediately rewarding. The platform recognises staff for maintaining clean, hazard-free sales floors, properly handling heavy merchandise, and successfully de-escalating tense customer situations. Through gamified challenges that balance sales achievements with safety priorities, Scratchie helps retail teams stay engaged during peak periods like holidays and sales events. The instant feedback system is particularly effective for the industry's young workforce, who respond well to digital recognition and peer acknowledgment. By creating positive reinforcement for both safety behaviours and exceptional service, Scratchie helps retailers reduce costly turnover while building teams that are both productive and safety-conscious.

Why it matters

Safety and retention

The retail sector employs 31 million Americans (20% of workforce) with 60% average turnover, reaching 75.8% for hourly positions, where 72% who leave abandon retail entirely. Safety concerns include customer confrontations, security incidents, heavy lifting injuries, and holiday season stress, with COVID adding enforcement conflicts and mental health impacts. The highly diverse workforce spans department stores to specialty shops with significant seasonal fluctuations and 4.3% monthly separation rates. Workers seek recognition for sales achievements, customer service excellence, inventory management, and visual merchandising efforts during high-traffic periods. Scratchie's platform provides real-time sales performance acknowledgment and customer service rewards that directly impact the bottom line. Retail workers receive instant recognition for loss prevention contributions, product knowledge mastery, and handling security situations professionally. The system accommodates seasonal workforce surges with rapid onboarding and engagement features, while multi-format customization serves various retail environments. Through seasonal performance competitions, team challenges for department goals, and safety compliance badges for proper lifting techniques, Scratchie helps retain the 44% of frontline workers considering leaving by demonstrating their value beyond transaction processing.

The products

How Scratchie helps

Scratchie Rewards

Instant recognition that actually works

The Need: Your team does great work every day, but most of it goes unnoticed. Traditional recognition programs are slow, complicated, or forgotten entirely.

The Solution: Scratchie Rewards lets supervisors recognise good work instantly with digital scratch cards. Spot something positive, scan a QR code, and your team member gets an instant reward on their phone. It takes 30 seconds and creates a moment of genuine appreciation.

The Outcome: Teams that feel valued work harder, stay longer, and care more about quality. It's that simple.

Convo Card

Instant recognition that actually works

The Need: Your frontline workers see problems and opportunities every day, but most never speak up. Traditional reporting is a hassle, and nobody wants to be seen as a complainer.

The Solution: Convo Cards make it easy and rewarding to share observations. Workers can quickly report hazards, suggest improvements, or start important conversations—right from their phone. Add photos, voice notes, or just a quick message. Every contribution earns recognition.

The Outcome: Problems get fixed before they become incidents. Ideas flow from the people who know the work best. Your workplace gets safer and smarter, one conversation at a time.

Ready to make work a win?

See Scratchie on your own sites in a 30-minute demo, or grab the free app and try it with your team today.

Book a demo Get the app