Automation in the Retail Industry

Within the innovation processes of companies in the Retail Industry, there is a commitment to technology. It is not just a matter of e-commerce but directly affects the consumer experience in physical stores and the different communication channels. 

It is a fact that is attaining strength in retail companies and translates into significant technological investments to automate sales processes and consumer relationships.

Although in the beginning, retail companies were looking for tools to control stock, manage sales, payments, Etc., nowadays, consumers' demands have changed. Today, consumer demands have increased, making it necessary to implement systems to place orders faster online. Improve customer service, check the status of products, keep financial or asset control, electronic process invoices, and develop e-commerce, among many other features, which entail the need to digitize and make greater use of increasingly complex technologies.

For example, retail warehouses manage many products arranged in different packaging, sizes, and positions, so they must appropriately all processes optimized to avoid errors and ensure the availability of goods to customers. One form of Automation is the permanent inventory (in real-time), which avoids interruptions in the preparation and dispatch of orders and the organization of each warehouse.

Read also: The power of customer experience design.

One of the main elements of Automation is the push for omnichannel options at every point in the buying process and customer relationship, from information search to after-sales service.

Advantages of applying Automation in the Retail Industry

• Operational efficiency: We avoid reprocessing, even in the company's different departments at the warehouse level, since it is possible to manage the input and output cycles of the products with minimal intervention from the operators.
• More incredible speed: Thanks to Automation, certain sales, marketing, and service processes can be executed in less time or kept active in the background to help the executive manage another type of task. For example, speeding up:

Web page queries, such as locations, schedules, Etc.

For example, in payment processes at Walmart, each person can pay for their products individually without needing to wait in line to go to a cashier.

• Increased credibility and trust: Each retail store prepares many orders with different references, and in various presentations, with other destinations.
• Space optimization: An essential part of Automation in the Retail Industry is that you can leverage technology for storing and listing products with systems that tell you where each product is in a precise manner.
• Customer tracking: As much as to measure the number of customers entering the store, as to know what they think about the products, the place, the service, and their behavior, Automation is necessary to be capable of having access to information; this will allow you to provide a better shopping experience to users in the different sales channels.
• Evolution in payment methods: Automating payment methods in retail stores allows the customer to pay inside or outside the store, pay in advance, or use any payment method and make any mobile device a point of sale.
• Visibility of ROI: The structuring and Automation of the processes make a project of this type have a recoverable initial investment.

Most consumers believe that Automation can help solve the most uncomfortable aspects of their in-store experience, such as long checkout lines, difficulty finding in-store and out-of-stock products, even customer service inquiries via websites, and more.

For example, a study shows that 59% of consumers who have previously visited stores with automation technology say they would be willing to stop shopping in non-automated physical stores and switch to automated ones, a percentage that increases to 67% among the 22-36 age group.

In the Retail Industry, sales peaks are very noticeable due to seasons and special dates, such as:

• School start
• Christmas
• Children's / Mother's / Father's Day
• Black Friday
• Cyber Monday
• Among others

It is important to note that each season entails differentiated strategies and communication for users.

Benefits of Automation in specific processes of the Industry:

• Automated communication of promotions, new products, and more.
• Efficient customer service inquiries for locations, branches, schedules, contacts, and more.
• Monitoring movements in e-commerce platforms for tracking and communication of abandoned carts to direct efforts to recover the sale with promotions or direct messages to the user to close the deal.
• Centralization of information and data storage for management analysis.
• Measuring user purchase behavior for managing and administering loyalty plans for customers, partners, and VIP customers.

You may be interested in How to be successful in Customer Experience design?

With this, we conclude that retail Automation is constantly changing and growing to adapt to new market demands. Technology is an ally for retailers because it allows them to optimize the management of departments in stores to operations and provide better customer service. In retail warehouses, it is positioned as the first option to achieve greater productivity, accuracy in customer service tasks, customer experience, storage, and order preparation.

If you want to learn more about automating your processes, Imagineer has trained personnel to advise you in this process and help you establish methodologies and methods to increase your sales.