How automation in merchandise planning, buying

How automation in merchandise planning, buying, and distribution, can help brands capture higher sales during the festive season/Effective Automation Techniques to Upgrade the Retail Industry

As another covid year is nearing its close, the festive season is upon us. Consumers are about to go on their annual festive binges, giving into impulses, bulk buying gifts and scouring the offline and online for outfits. An important and trying time for the retail industry, where their supply chain and sales platforms are put to the test. Globalization and digitization of the trade have created quite a competitive online market, and while brands do manage to retain their loyal consumers, capturing and realizing new customers can present to be a behemoth of a challenge when competing with thousands of online brands. The high inflow of orders challenges the limits of dispatch and delivery mechanisms of the retail industry. Where companies like amazon offer express and one day deliveries, a great many orders are lost to not being able to handle timely deliveries. On top of all this, creating an encaptivating line of products with the perfect allure of the guaranteed purchase decision, becomes harder and harder with each new technology that hits the market.

The goal of a business is pretty simple, make sales and then increase sales. Globalization and the internet revolution have opened up an insanely large consumer pool. In a world where personalization of your bathrobes is not out of the ordinary the branding techniques need the upgrade of the personal touch. The customer is smart and relies heavily on their google searches and online reviews to make the best buying decision.The retail industry retains a large audience offline, however, the mass migration to everything digital inspires advancement in techniques of managing sales and  delivery. With an easy one click access to everything a consumer could want for, thanks to online marketplaces, digitizing and automating operations is a crucial business move in generating a buzz and servicing customers.

Benefits of Automating Processes and Workflow in Retail
Most stores struggle to target, capture and retain customers while creating a unique offering. It is no secret that customers have thousands of options to pick from and losing them to a different brand’s carefully crafted marketing strategies is quite commonplace. Automation in processes of merchandise planning, buying, and distribution can help close the gap between customer initiation and conversion into sales. This also offers companies the opportunity to study the data collected from their platforms and utilize it to create a better customer service experience. Here are some areas of automation that are revolutionizing the ecommerce industry:

1. Easy management of SKUs
Why struggle to keep records of every piece of merchandise when automation can simplify things? Keep records digital and implement software management systems to analyze inventory so you stock right at the right time to ensure that your business’ financial objectives are met effectively and efficiently. Planning inventory in advance goes a long way in helping brands realize their profit goals and the steady flow of goods keeps customers from exploring another option.

2. Smart Notifications
Running a business online comes with the wonderful advantage of being able to collect massive amounts of data. This data can provide useful information about customer preferences, their dislikes and engagement. More and more people opt in for receiving notifications from their favorite brands because it gives them a sense of being treated like royalty. Using simple algorithms businesses can ensure that their customers receive notifications about products that will interest and engage them.

3. Automated product facing and placing
Automating product facing and placing can be achieved using simple algorithms that can be integrated with any existing tech infrastructure to create an added layer of preferential checks before displaying merchandise to a user on an app. If customers see products they usually buy or are interested in they may be keener to buy again.

4. Employee performance tracking
By automating workflows, businesses can ascertain that all aspects of the processes are continuously being recorded and can be monitored easily in real time. These workflows can be extended into employee management systems to track performance, align incentives and plan trainings. Such software systems can also help maintain transparency so employees do not feel that anyone is receiving unfair treatment. Software can also be developed to perform tedious tasks to so that employees are not overworked and their time can be focused on handling more important activities such as wooing customers, developing strategy and helping the brand grow.

5. Better Social Impact
Creating a brand that people closely follow and come back to can be a big challenge in the competitive ecommerce market. Automating processes and workflow can help businesses plan their actions in advance, thus allowing for greater flexibility in monetizing key events such as the festive seasons. Festival sales can offer brands the opportunity to circulate old inventory at discounts while still creating room for fresh purchases by piquing the customers interest using ads and in app suggestions.

6. Customer Engagement
The most important goal of any business is keeping the customer happy. Making a customer happy with quick response times, seamless handling of grievances and claims, engaging product notifications and general accessibility to merchandise goes a long way in establishing brand loyalty. Retail companies must create platforms that are easy to maneuver and helpful to their customers throughout the process of purchase. Delivery and payment mechanisms should be simple and replete with options for any kind of customer.

The Road Ahead
The offline operations of the retail industry are not going away anytime soon. However, there is no denying the fact that a lot of people find software and technology as reliable judges when it comes to making buying decisions. Through simple applications of logic to existing systems, brands can achieve a lot of success while ensuring continuous and preference-based customer engagement. Establishing automated workflows can also ensure better employee performance and satisfaction. Businesses stand to benefit a great deal from simplifying their approach and automation offers a simple solution. In the long run techniques of machine learning and data vision can aid in strategy planning and development. But the most crucial step today is accepting the technology and, utilizing it effectively to meet business goals so that brands can hop onboard the train to technological advancement.