It is a well-known fact that automation is bringing significant change to many industries — and the retail industry is no exception.

Retail automation relates to the technology that provides retail businesses — whether online or brick and mortar — with the ability to streamline repetitive, manual processes that usually require lots of time and resources. The adoption of the practice can, in fact, affect nearly every aspect of a retail business, with solutions found in inventory management, order management and fulfillment, and so forth.

 

A Growing Market

Delivering a wide range of benefits to retail businesses’ doorsteps, it is no surprise that the industry is expected to see tremendous growth during the coming years.

Valued at nearly €10 billion in 2018 already, the retail automation market is now projected to increase its current €12.75 billion to more than €20 billion by 2026 — following a 9.7% CAGR during the forecast period.

 

Retail Automation Trends

Even though e-commerce was growing at a steady rate already, the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant boost when it comes to e-commerce sales — accelerating the reshaping of the retail industry:

• E-commerce sales increased by 32.4% during 2021.
• Brick and mortar sales decreased by 3.2% during 2021.
• 56% of customers have tried new retailers during the pandemic.

 

Other trends that are playing a huge role in the development of retail automation include:

• An increased interest in omnichannel retail marketing.
• The implementation of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.
• The ongoing automation of marketing and automatic purchases.

 

Retail Automation Benefits

Even though automation can be costly at first, its ROI is easily achieved over time and will be of great benefit to your company in the long run. Here are some of the main benefits of retail automation:

• Increased accuracy
• Reduced labour costs
• Improved customer experience

 

To read more about these benefits as well as a number of additional ones, please head over to Meili Robots. In their latest article, you can also read about how retail automation works exactly, some examples of retail automation, how it can help address some of the major challenges in today’s market, and much more.