Most retail businesses that are carrying too much labour cost are not overstaffed overall — they have hours in the wrong hours. Cutting headcount across the board reduces cost briefly and damages service permanently.
Start with demand: hourly transaction data by store, by day, for a full trading cycle. Overlay the non-selling tasks that must happen and the tasks that only feel like they must happen. Almost every estate finds several hours a week of back-office work that adds nothing.
Then rebuild the shift patterns around the peaks, protecting cover at the moments that drive conversion and average transaction value. Managers need the model explained rather than imposed, because they are the ones who will defend it week to week.
Hold it in place with a weekly rhythm: planned versus actual hours, sales per labour hour and a service measure, reviewed by area managers with the same seriousness as the sales number.