StretchLearn Course

Run A Store That Actually Makes Money

Store setup, POS, merchandising, shrinkage control, staff scheduling, and the unit economics behind every brick-and-mortar decision.

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Beginner9 hr 30 minSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

A retail store lives or dies on operational discipline that most owners learn the expensive way, after a slow season, a failed inventory count, or a payroll bill that ate the month's profit. This course replaces guesswork with the working systems real retailers use: a deliberate floor layout and POS setup, merchandising that earns its square footage, a shrinkage program that protects margin, traffic-based scheduling that controls your largest controllable cost, and the unit-economics math, from sales per square foot to GMROI, that tells you whether the store is healthy. By the end you can open, staff, stock, and steer a brick-and-mortar store using numbers you can defend.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Lay out a store and choose a POS system that fit your format and budget

Merchandise the floor to raise sales per square foot and average transaction value

Build a shrinkage-control program that protects gross margin from loss

Schedule staff against forecasted traffic to control labor as a percent of sales

Calculate retail unit economics including margin, GMROI, and break-even

Run a weekly operating rhythm that keeps the store profitable and on plan

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: Store Setup, Layout, and the POS System

Before a single sale, the physical store and its systems have to be built right. This module covers choosing a format and floor layout that move customers and goods, then selecting and setting up the point-of-sale system that runs the operation.

3 lessons

Store Format and Floor LayoutContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

Choosing and Setting Up Your POS SystemContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Receiving, Stockroom, and Inventory AccuracyContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: Visual Merchandising and the Selling Floor

The floor is where assortment becomes revenue. This module covers visual merchandising that draws customers and lifts basket size, planogram discipline that earns every square foot, and pricing and promotion mechanics that move product without destroying margin.

3 lessons

Visual Merchandising That SellsContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Planograms and Earning Your Square FootageContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Pricing, Markdowns, and PromotionsContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: Shrinkage Control and Loss Prevention

Shrinkage is a direct subtraction from gross margin, and most of it is preventable. This module defines shrinkage and its sources, then builds the physical, procedural, and cultural controls that protect inventory from external theft, internal theft, and process error.

3 lessons

Understanding Shrinkage and Where It Comes FromContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Building a Loss-Prevention ProgramContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Cash Handling and Transaction IntegrityContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Staffing, Scheduling, and Retail Unit Economics

Labor is the largest controllable cost and customers are won or lost by who is on the floor, while the unit economics decide whether the whole store works. This module covers scheduling staff against traffic, the metrics that measure store performance, and the profitability math that ties it all together.

3 lessons

Staff Scheduling Against TrafficContent · 50 min

LMS Access

The Metrics That Run a StoreContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Brick-and-Mortar Unit Economics and the Operating RhythmContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

retail operationspoint of salevisual merchandisingshrinkage controlstaff schedulingsales per square footGMROIstore layout