Automation in retail industry helps to redefine the business
models and broadens the value chain. This helps to create better organizations
in terms of profit levels and coordinated efforts. The margins in the retail sector
are in danger and the costs including the raw materials and labor costs are
increasing drastically. And simultaneously the customer expectations have also
gone up. There are many broad-based types of research conducted on this topic of
introduction of automation in the retailing sector. These show that various
activities that were performed by people at earlier times can now be performed
by machines. There is a need for large investments in this area.
The pressure is being driven by competition and huge
investments are still required in this sector which has led to an increase in wages
on behalf of labor. Retailers are now using the automation in order to
increase the margins and reduce the expenses on wages to labor. These pressures
are consistent.
The problems are internal, not external: there are problems
in the management of the retailers which has led to slow implementation of the
automation in the whole retailing process. The main issue is the lack of skills and
capabilities. The inertia of business is the biggest challenge in this sector. The
main problems which businessmen feel are of budgets and financial planning. The
growth issues are the main bottlenecks in the process. In a case one is already
implementing the technology then one can never lag behind. The traffic in these
processes always helps to gain consumers insights. Artificial intelligence
has increased both the benefits to the companies as well as the customers.
Advanced planning systems can automate historical
analytics and have significantly reduced the need to plan the merchandise and
save a lot of time and make better decisions. These help the merchants to focus
on more important activities and achieve the goals effectively and efficiently.
Robotic
process automation in Retail can also make human resource practices effective and efficient. The recruitment can be
streamlined using automation and this will help to have better people at
the right places leading to proper and timely goal achievement. This helps in the creation of a cross-functional team and a web-based tool to hire good
workers.
Supply chains are also benefitted from the automation
processes. The robots can store and transport goods effectively and
efficiently. These are even necessary for security purposes and
surveillance issues. In order to achieve the goals, the operational methods need
to be reformed. The organizations must be without much layers and authoritative
structures which means that flat organizations must be preferred. This will
make the employees successful and responsible. Real-time analytics will help to
have faster decisions. Efficiency is the key higher the efficiency higher will
be the target achievement. The opportunity to deploy more hours to valuable
activities increases efficiency. There must be skill development programs
in order to improve retailers and supply chain management systems.
All people must prepare themselves for automation as the
future has arrived. Addressing such issues must be the top agenda of the
retailers.
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