Rolling out a new Volunteer Management System (VMS) across a retail network can feel like a big job, especially when you’re balancing busy stores, dedicated teams, and long-standing routines.
At Volunteero, we’ve worked with charities of all sizes who’ve taken the leap and successfully brought our platform into their retail operations. Drawing on their experiences, we’ve pulled together this guide to help you make your own rollout smooth, stress-free, and successful. You’ll find our best-practice advice for planning, piloting, and scaling your rollout, along with practical tips to keep your teams confident, your stores supported and your volunteers smiling.
Set the Foundation 🗂️
Rolling out a new VMS in retail isn’t just a technical process, it’s a people process. How you prepare your organisation, your stores, and your volunteers before you even start the implementation will have a huge impact on how smooth the process will be. Here’s how to set the right foundations from the start:
1. Address the Change Head-On
We get it, change can be daunting. This is especially true in charitable retail settings, where staff and volunteers may have been operating in the same way for years. Introducing a Volunteero will inevitably shake up established routines, so it’s vital to face this reality early.
Think carefully about how to introduce the change to your teams. You know your people best: will they respond better to gradual updates over time or a single, well-prepared presentation at a team meeting? Once you decide, lock in your communication plan and get started.
Keep your reason for change front and centre. Share why Volunteero is being introduced, how it will support your organisation, and the specific benefits for staff and volunteers. People are far more likely to get on board when they understand the “why” and feel confident about the support available. Address fears, answer questions, and be transparent from day one.
2. Involve Your Stores Early
It might sound obvious, but the people who will actually be using Volunteero, your store teams, need to be involved from the start. Their insights will help you avoid blind spots and build a rollout plan that works in practice, not just on paper.
Resist the temptation to only involve the stores that you think will embrace the change. There’s true value in hearing from those who are more hesitant and tech reluctant; it allows you to spot potential challenges early and problem-solve before they become major roadblocks.
3. Streamline Your Staff Support
Rolling out a new system without a strong support structure is a recipe for frustration. Think about how staff will get help during the transition, whether that’s quick-reference guides, a centralised helpdesk, or peer “Volunteero champions” in each store. The easier it is for staff to get answers, the faster adoption will happen. The Volunteero support team can help you with more complex queries but others should be helped by staff.
4. Choose the Right Pilot Store(s) and Stagger the Roll Out
A pilot store serves as your proving ground, so choose one that’s busy enough to test the system thoroughly but open to experimenting with new approaches. Stores that embrace the challenge often provide richer feedback, helping you refine your rollout before expanding. A successful pilot not only demonstrates tangible benefits but also builds confidence across the organisation. Rather than launching everywhere at once, which can overwhelm teams, stagger your rollout. Start with a small group of stores, refine your approach, and consider hosting in-person visits, such as volunteer lunches before go-live, to create space for questions and setup support in a relaxed environment. Allow each location time to adapt before moving to the next.
The Volunteero Set-Up 💻
Set up Store Profiles
Each retail location will be set up in the system as a “Client.”
Add each store as a client, select it as an organisation and add the store with standardised naming (e.g., “Gosforth High Street Store”)
Populate the profile fields to include store-specific information e.g. address and contact onsite phone number, this will be automatically linked to the mission.
Create custom tags for the store if needed easy filtering and sorting e.g. region, things they sell etc.
Mirror Existing Rotas with Missions and Shifts
Most stores rely on routine volunteer patterns. To make this work in the system, you’ll create a Mission for each store and build recurring shifts that match your existing rota.
Step 1: Prepare Your Mission Template
You’ll need two things to create a mission:
Client: your store locations.
Mission Template: you can call this Retail Volunteering, Shop Volunteering, Store Support, or any name that suits your organisation.
Configure all your settings at the mission template level.
Important: Turn ‘on’ the shift feature.
Add a report template with the questions you want answered after each shift (e.g., shift duration, issues, items needing replacement, number of customers served). Keep it short or detailed, whatever works for you and your volunteers. This data will give you valuable insights.
Link the report template to the mission template.
Step 2: Create the Mission
Select the client (store) and the mission template.
Build your recurring shifts to match the store’s existing schedule.
Remove shifts for bank holidays or other store closures.
If another store uses the same schedule, clone the mission and swap the client, this automatically duplicates the mission, mission description and shift pattern.
Step 3: Assign and Share
Give volunteers access to the app.
Assign long-term volunteers to their regular slots.
Allow other volunteers to self-serve by claiming or requesting available shifts.
Step 4: Track and Review
Use your insights dashboard to track volunteer activity, review feedback from shift reports, and spot patterns or trends that help you improve scheduling and store operations.
Training & Roll Out Tips and Tricks 💡
Rolling out Volunteero isn’t just about logging into the dashboard. it’s about making sure your people can use it confidently from day one. These tips will help you make training store-friendly, speed up adoption, and keep momentum going.
1. Use Store-Friendly Training and Language
When introducing Volunteero, the secret to building confidence quickly is to speak your team’s language. Match each feature to the terms your staff and volunteers already know, it makes the system feel instantly familiar and far less intimidating. We can’t change our official Volunteero terms, as they’re used consistently across all the organisations we work with, from dog rescues to air ambulances to befriending projects.
Volunteero Term | Store-Friendly Description |
Client | “Your retail store” |
Mission | “Volunteering tasks at your shop” |
Recurring Shift | “Your usual rota setup” |
Assign Volunteer | “Add a name to the shift slot” |
During training, walk through real-life store examples so it’s not just theory:
“Let’s add Jane to the Wednesday afternoon shift, just like she’s been doing for the past year.”
Show them how to create shifts, assign volunteers, and make quick updates in the system, all within scenarios they already understand. By framing Volunteero as a familiar extension of their existing processes, you’ll make the learning curve feel more like a gentle slope than a steep climb.
2. Speed Up Adoption with Familiarity
Don’t overhaul existing routines immediately. Start by replicating current processes inside the system so it feels like a natural extension of how they already work.
Once staff are comfortable, introduce other features:
App & email reminders to reduce no-shows.
Volunteer self-signup for open shifts.
How to leave shifts (for holidays or schedule changes)
The Chat Feature (for engagement and quick shift swaps)
3. Track Progress and Celebrate Wins
During rollout, monitor engagement and adoption:
Use dashboards to track shift coverage, hours logged, store-by-store activity and app engagement.
Highlight high-usage stores as “early adopters” in newsletters, volunteero chat or team calls.
Share quick testimonials from managers or volunteers about what’s working well.
Suggested Rollout Plan 📌
Phase 1 - Pilot
Select a small group of stores, varying in size, location, and tech confidence.
Train staff on how to use the platform and prepare resources for volunteers (we have ready-made drafts you can use).
Set up client profiles and missions, then grant volunteers access to the app.
Collect feedback from these pilot stores to refine the process before wider rollout.
Phase 2 - Further Roll Out
Expand the rollout to additional districts or regions.
Train more volunteers and staff in these new stores.
Use “Volunteero Champion” stores from Phase 1 to help train and mentor new stores.
Share success stories, best practices, and tips from the pilot phase.
Phase 3 - Full Network Launch
Provide app access to all remaining retail volunteers.
Host monthly check-ins or office hours for ongoing support.
Start optimising based on usage data (e.g., open shifts, no-shows, volunteer activity trends).
Track volunteer hours and other key metrics via the Insights page.
If you’ve recently started or completed your own retail rollout and have additional tips, we’d love to hear them. In addition, if you have any questions or want some more specific recommendations, please reach out to the team on the support button.