State-of-the-art retail training centre opens at Liverpool One
A new state-of-the-art retail training centre has opened at the Liverpool ONE. Academy ONE will offer a range of retail qualifications to help retail staff improve their competencies in key areas such as customer service, sales techniques, and visual merchandising.
The centre will also deliver the Mary Portas Masterclasses, which help independent shop owners to learn new skills, attract customers and improve their shops with an injection of creativity and vision.
Lorna Dainton, retail sector lead for Academy ONE, said: “The visitor economy sector as a whole in Merseyside is expected to generate a minimum of £2.1billion and 37,000 jobs by 2020. Currently, however, retail is not a high performing sector in terms of productivity. Retailers can therefore gain significant business profit and growth by developing their workforce to adopt more efficient and effective working skills and practices. Academy ONE is in a strong position to help address this through the delivery of well skilled staff and a high performing workforce.
Cllr Joe Anderson said: “Academy ONE is a great investment in the training and development of the Liverpool city region’s retail workforce. The retail sector and visitor economy is such an important part of the city and businesses need to get their offering right. Liverpool is known for its warm welcome but Academy ONE will greatly enhance our retail offering and customer service levels to both outside visitors and shoppers from our own region.”
Academy ONE is a retail training alliance between Liverpool ONE, the National Skills Academy for Retail and North West training provider Scientiam. Scientiam has invested more than £170,000 in the in the project which has already helped upwards of 50 Merseyside long-term unemployed to come off benefits and find permanent employment in the retail sector. Retailers currently working with Academy ONE include Asda, Debenhams and TK Maxx.
