Retail automation a core goal for many merchants

Industry Insight

Operating a competitive eCommerce business is complex, with merchants having to deal with a number of different tasks, ranging from inventory management to customer service. It’s a labor-intensive and time-consuming job, and is often difficult to perform with a limited amount of resources.

For this reason, many retailers are looking into automation software that can help take some of the pressure off of management and make strategic and operations planning more straightforward. The wavering economy has challenged merchants, many of which are already dealing with tight margins, and retail software automation is the solution that provides them with the greatest cost savings.

For example, recent data collected by VDC Research suggests cost savings are the No. 1 draw of automation solutions. However, this eCommerce technology offers further benefits to retailers as well. Many merchants were quick to note that automation solutions enable them to improve general operations and customer empowerment, bolster sales, ensure industry and government compliance as well as synchronize their sales channels.

Technology is not new to the retail scene, particularly when it comes to all the hardware and software that has to be integrated at the point of sale (POS). However, implementing the right software automation can further strengthen these more traditional retail solutions. As retailers (either pure eCommerce or brick and click retailers) continue to implement new technology, regardless of whether it’s a mobile POS or some other piece of hardware, automation solutions will enable merchants to use these tools to the maximum extent of their capabilities.

Software such as SaleWarp’s Storefront Management System are critical to automating recurring time-consuming (yet mission-critical) tasks, such as inventory and catalog updates, order processing, fulfillment, shipping and customer notifications to name a few.