Since adopting eduMe, Crate & Barrel has:

• Seen over 80,000 lesson completions within 3 months 

• Achieved a 90% training completion rate

QUOTE - OVERALL COMMENT ON THE SOLUTION

Crate & Barrel, a U.S. retail giant renowned for its design-led homeware and customer focus, found themselves in a situation that demanded a new approach to frontline enablement. With over 8,000 employees across 100 stores, the company needed a way to ensure every associate -  regardless of email status, device ownership, timezone or branch  location - received training relevant to their role's goals.  

In the face of an omni-channel retail environment and thousands of product SKUs, leaders in the organization recognized that their store network needed simpler access to Product Knowledge Training, Behavioral and Systems Training - particularly in light of large-scale initiative to shake up their commerce tech stack.

As a result, Crate & Barrel set out to build a system that connected stores, standardized training quality, and supported their entire frontline through every stage of the employee lifecycle - from pre Day-1, to promotions and beyond. 

To do that, they partnered with eduMe.

Crate & Barrel’s Challenge

The company's existing training processes were not suited for the level of alignment needed across Crate & Barrel's dispersed retail workforce.

QUOTE - PAIN OF THE BEFORE STATE

Most store associates did not have corporate email addresses, which made reliance on mass announcements unfeasible. Information was often cascaded through already time pressured managers, with verbal dissemination creating a visibility gap for HQ, and uneven knowledge distribution store-to-store.

Legacy training tools in use by the company - and the time taken to author content on them - decelerated the time between the identification of a training need and knowledge landing in the hands of store associates. End-to-end training production times were further bottlenecked by lengthy SME feedback and review processes, which pushed launch times out, affecting business agility.

Product knowledge was shared in long sessions which made information difficult retain and impossible to revisit. Given tens of thousands of ever-growing and updating product SKUs retailed by the company, and the frequent changes to communicate around them, the length and infrequency of sessions posed issues.

Ultimately - Crate & barrel sought a way to better unify knowledge across a national workforce. This pain was made all the more acute by a looming project involving the overhaul of the technologies that made up their commerce stack. This change alone would require rigorous Systems Training for thousands of frontline workers. 

eduMe’s Solution

The goal was clear: create an always-on training layer personalized by location and role, that supplemented in-person training, integrated with the company's existing tech stack - namely HRIS Workday - and supported the entire employee lifecycle - from new hire to ongoing development.

In eduMe, Crate & Barrel found a training platform designed for speed, accessibility, and consistent delivery across a large retail footprint.

Crate & Barrel's Four-Pillared Frontline Training Strategy 

QUOTE - SOMETHING PERTAINING TO ONE OF THE SPECIFIC POINTS/FEATURES BELOW

1. Providing each associate with a branded home for learning, across their lifecycle

Crate & Barrel’s frontline associates access eduMe through a fully branded Knowledge Hub that feels like an extension of the company’s own systems. Training is displayed by category, and is presented in a format that mirrors the brand’s clean, design led identity. 

Behind the scenes, each associate’s experience is personalized. An employee in one store may see different lessons than another, based on role, department or location. This relevance is powered by eduMe’s deep, 360 integration with Workday across HCM, Learning, and Recruiting. A continuous, bidirectional sync ensures that users, groups, and attributes in eduMe always match what exists in Workday, without requiring manual upkeep or audience segmentation from Crate & Barrel’s teams.

eduMe’s AI Chatbot allows associates to ask questions conversationally and receive instant answers - using published lessons, guides, and approved company materials as its knowledge pool. Instead of scrolling through long modules to find a single detail, employees can locate what they need in seconds, improving knowledge retention and on-the-floor efficiency.

2. A multi-stakeholder, multi-directional approach to sourcing training 

eduMe enabled Crate & Barrel to shift to short, social media style lessons that feel familiar to a modern retail workforce, encourage repeat engagement, and break down complex topics into digestible, tap through moments.

eduMe AI helped accelerate the creation of this content. Existing SOPs, system guides, and process documents were translated into concise microlessons, reducing production timelines and helping training teams keep pace with frequent updates across products and systems.

Content creation also expanded beyond the L&D team. With eduMe’s simple creation tools, store level SMEs and on the ground influencers could contribute to the development of new lessons. This bottom up approach surfaced practical expertise from across the organization while easing bottlenecks and increasing authenticity.

3. Multi-channel delivery, bolstered by a robust L&D-led internal comms campaign 

Reaching every associate required a mix of eduMe’s native delivery tools and Crate & Barrel’s existing communication channels. Associates could access training directly through the Workday app without separate logins or additional systems. The company also placed branded eduMe shortcuts on shared in store iPads, allowing associates to access training with SSO in seconds. QR codes were placed throughout stores to support contextual, moment of need learning, such as quick product refreshers or system navigation guidance.

Notably, launch was supported by a strong internal communications campaign, led by the L&D team, which helped drive awareness and adoption. Senior leaders were briefed early, stores received printed collateral, and in person visits supported teams through the initial launch. Crate & Barrel rolled out eduMe gradually through a staggered release, using real time store feedback to refine the experience before expanding to the full network. This created smoother change management and helped associates build confidence with the new system.

4. Better synchronized, more visible performance data

eduMe’s integration with Workday ensured Crate & Barrel’s training data flowed directly back into their primary system of record, giving the business one unified view of completion and engagement. This eliminated the need to compare reports across disconnected tools and provided teams at HQ with a real time picture of how training was landing across stores.

Managers on the ground also played a critical role. Through eduMe’s performance dashboards, store leaders could see which lessons had been completed, where engagement lagged, and what topics needed reinforcement. This visibility allowed stores to adjust quickly, close knowledge gaps, and feed insights directly back to L&D, creating a more connected and data informed cycle between frontline teams and headquarters.

The Results

Crate & Barrel saw immediate and significant improvements in both training engagement and operational efficiency.

Within the first three months of adoption, employees completed more than 80,000 lessons, demonstrating high engagement and strong adoption of the new learning experience. Training content became faster to produce and easier to distribute, allowing the company to support large scale systems changes with confidence.

QUOTE - HOW EDUME HAS POSITIVELY SHAKEN UP  C&B'S TRAINING APPROACH, IN A NUTSHELL

The company also established consistent, always available learning across all stores, creating a digital layer that supported and strengthened in person training. The seamless access through Workday and in store devices meant associates could complete training during shifts without disruption.

Managers gained the ability to monitor completion, identify gaps, and reinforce training more effectively, leading to improved alignment across stores and departments.

The initiative also laid a foundation for future programs. Crate & Barrel now has the infrastructure to expand eduMe into corporate onboarding, leadership training, and upskilling on large and complex tools such as Workday itself.

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