How Vans simplified store execution ahead of peak season

Retail execution breaks down when information lives off the sales floor. For Vans, that risk was growing as store communication became fragmented and increasingly desktop-bound.

Operating roughly 450 stores across multiple concepts, Vans needed teams to execute with speed, clarity, and consistency. Instead, critical updates were trapped in back-office systems, pulling managers away from customers and slowing response during peak periods.

At the National Retail Federation's Big Show (NRF 2026), Cris Testerman, Senior Director of Retail Operations at Vans, joined Erin Valade from YOOBIC to share how the brand replaced fragmented tools with a single mobile execution layer, just weeks before holiday.

What operational challenge was Vans trying to solve?

Vans needed to close a widening gap between HQ strategy and store execution caused by audience-agnostic, desktop-based tools.

Critical information existed, but it was not accessible in the flow of work, making execution slower and harder to validate across stores.

Before YOOBIC, store teams relied heavily on SharePoint. Every store received the same information regardless of concept, role, or relevance, creating structural friction at scale:

• The desktop trap
  The vast majority of content was accessed via back-office desktops, pulling managers off the sales floor and away from customers.
• Forced relevance filtering
  Stores had to work out for themselves which updates applied to them, increasing cognitive load during already busy trading periods.
• No execution validation
  HQ had no consistent way to confirm whether messages were seen, understood, or acted on without manual follow-up.

The issue was not effort or engagement. It was signal dilution.

Why did Vans launch just before peak season?

By rolling out weeks ahead of the holiday, Vans embedded the platform into daily operations rather than positioning it as another system to adopt later.

Instead of waiting for a quieter period, Vans focused the rollout on workflows stores could not function without. Daily task management, execution tracking, and mobile communication were prioritised over broader feature adoption.

As Testerman explained:

“How do we set it up where they have no choice but to engage? Stores had to adopt YOOBIC. They wouldn’t have been able to function without it.”

Adoption shifted from encouragement to dependency.

For more tips on how to prepare your teams for high-traffic periods, check out our Strategies for Peak Season Execution Playbook.

How did targeted communication change execution?

Stores only saw updates relevant to their role or format, increasing confidence in both sending and receiving information.

Previously, mid-week changes during holiday, such as promo updates, often required district managers to call stores individually to ensure messages landed. With YOOBIC, updates could be pushed directly to the floor, targeted by audience, and acknowledged in real time.

Because irrelevant posts were filtered out by design, HQ could communicate more frequently without overwhelming teams. The result was faster pivots and clearer execution.

What unexpected behaviour emerged in stores?

Once execution lived in one place, task ownership naturally moved closer to the floor.

Although the rollout focused on centrally driven execution, managers started assigning tasks locally, tracking follow-up, and using YOOBIC as a day-to-day management tool.

This behaviour was not mandated. It emerged organically, showing that when execution is simple and visible, accountability decentralises without added process.

How did Vans improve visibility without adding admin?

Vans centralised execution data into a single mobile workflow, giving leaders visibility without increasing workload for store teams.

Previously fragmented processes were consolidated into one place where execution could be captured, reviewed, and acted on in real time.

Two workflows saw immediate impact:

• Store visits
  District managers moved from a cumbersome, multi-tool process to structured mobile capture, making visits faster, more consistent, and easier to follow up.
• Visual verification
  Stores uploaded floor set photos directly into YOOBIC, creating a central, searchable repository that replaced manual uploads and file chasing.

As Testerman put it:

“Trying to dig through them to find what you need was insane. It’s crazy how much easier it is now.”

Leaders gained reliable visibility across hundreds of stores, without adding steps for the field.

How is Vans using frontline insight to shape execution?

By reducing communication noise, the brand made it easier to ask store teams focused questions and act on the answers.

With fewer irrelevant updates competing for attention, Vans could deploy one- or two-question mobile surveys without disrupting the sales floor. This allowed merchandising and product teams to test assumptions directly with associates actively selling the product.

In one example shared during the session, frontline feedback revealed that customers were buying a product for reasons different from HQ expectations. That insight led to a shift in how the product was positioned internally, informed by the people closest to the customer.

What can retailers learn from Vans’ approach?

Vans showed that simplifying how information reaches the floor can unlock faster execution, better insight, and stronger adoption, even during peak season.

With store manager adoption firmly established, Vans is now focused on deeper associate engagement and faster access to information. Priorities include refining content cadences, expanding into cross-functional workflows such as safety audits, and exploring AI to reduce time spent searching for operational answers.

The lesson is not about adding more tools or content. It is about removing friction between a question and the right action.

FAQs

What operational problem was Vans trying to solve?

Vans needed to fix a disconnect between HQ strategy and store execution caused by desktop-based, audience-agnostic communication tools. Information existed, but it was not accessible in the flow of work, making execution harder to prioritise and validate across stores.

Why are desktop-based tools ineffective for retail store execution?

Desktop-based tools pull managers off the sales floor and slow down decision-making. When information is locked in back-office systems, store teams spend more time filtering relevance and chasing updates instead of serving customers.

How does targeted communication improve retail execution?

Targeted communication ensures store teams only see information relevant to their role, location, or format. This reduces noise, speeds up response times, and increases confidence that critical updates will be acted on.

How did Vans improve visibility across stores without adding admin?

Vans centralised tasks, store visits, and visual verification into a single mobile workflow. This gave leaders real-time visibility across hundreds of stores without adding extra steps or manual reporting for store teams.

Why did Vans roll out new execution tools before peak season?

Rolling out before peak season made the platform operationally essential rather than optional. By focusing on business-critical workflows, Vans ensured adoption was driven by daily need, not training compliance.