The overall goal of the project was to promote the development of skills and soft skills among retail workers, with a specific focus on communication in an international context. The specific objectives of the project were: 1.Create awareness among retail workers about the importance of soft skills and communication skills in an international sales environment. This objective aims to raise awareness among workers about the importance of these skills to succeed in the industry. 2.To provide a self-assessment tool to assess competence levels in soft skills and communication skills. This tool helps workers understand their current skills and identify areas where they could improve. 3.Offer online courses that enable retail workers to develop their skills in a flexible manner tailored to their specific needs, including English proficiency and communication on an international scale. 4.Encourage the active participation of retail workers in non-formal and online learning paths, promoting continuous learning in the sector. 5.Create networking opportunities for retailers, facilitating them to connect with each other to share experiences and knowledge. 6.Stimulate the creation of a European network between manufacturers and retailers.
The needs addressed by the Talk Retail project emerged from the necessity to ease the shift of traditional retailers from physical shops to e-commerce. The needs became even more prominent during the COVID19 pandemia, with more and more traditional shops being put in a risky position. In fact, it emerged more clearly that for any business to survive in the retail industry, international and online sales were vital, in order to open a wider market segment. Therefore effective international communication skills, either English and communication soft skills appear to be must learn competences to be spent in this new business dimension, so to ease this transition. With this project the Consortium wanted to address the following needs for workers in the retail industry: - Need to improve their English communication skills - Need to improve their international communication skills + soft skills - Need for lifelong learning opportunities that adapt to their needs and their pace/time of study - Need for social media strategies for international networking - Need for opportunities to build a network with other SME's in the retail industry around Europe.