The Power of Robotic Process Automation in the Retail Businesses in a Post-Pandemic era

2020 was a challenging year for the retail industry. Retailers adopted robotic process automation (RPA) to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

The retail market in the aftermath of the pandemic

Here are some facts from Alvarez & Marsal and the Office for National Statistics.

• In 2020, the e-commerce industry saw a 36% increase, the most significant growth in recent years.
• The retail market declined by 1.9%, which is the lowest annual growth rate of all time.
• Most EU consumers report an increase in online shopping for essential household goods such as homeware, electricals, food and grocery, and apparel.
• Nearly 30% of EU consumers say they are willing to shop online even after the pandemic.

People developed new behaviors and habits as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. These include self-isolation and social distancing. As more people shop online, they are increasing their retail spending.

Six steps to automate post-pandemic retail business processes

A recent Braincorp research shows that 64% of retailers will consider automating their retail processes by 2021, including 77% of large retailers.

These are the six most popular use cases for robotic process automation in the retail industry.

1. Return operations for goods. It is possible to almost completely automate returns of goods, mainly if they were purchased online. Software robots can quickly review these requests and determine when and where the goods will be delivered.
2. Document Management. RPA allows automated creation and sending of invoices, tax forms, management of service provider contracts, applications, and services, and routing documents between departments. RPA can gather all document transactions and organize them in an ERP.
3. Customer support. RPA can update client databases, generate receipts, and accept orders. They can also transfer orders to a shipping center. Client notifications can be sent using chatbots. It can be done without the need for human assistance and any disruptions caused by administrative errors.
4. Supply and demand management. Bots are able to analyze data from warehouses and retail outlets and reconcile them, as well as manage the delivery of goods. Bots can schedule pick-ups at retail outlets for non-liquid goods and issue orders to ship goods to the points they need.
5. Consumer Behavior Analysis. Bots can analyze the buyer's journey on a website, recall them and manage product cards and categories to create relevant offers. Bots can also collect prices and products from other websites to compare offers.
6. Logistics and Supply Chain Management. RPA automates communication among customers, suppliers, and distributors. This includes text and email notifications for orders that are being booked, shipped, delayed, or delivered.

Implementation and benefits of retail automation

RPA can provide a significant advantage to a business after a pandemic. It brings the following benefits:

o Frees up time for communication and creative tasks.
o Document errors are eliminated, and confidentiality and security of data and documents transmitted is respected.
o RPA is not expensive, and it performs tasks that an average person would typically do.
o It works well with legacy systems and does not require any critical infrastructure or systems changes.

It is important to choose the right RPA partner. FastPath Automation is a trusted UiPath Partner and is available to help you.