The retail industry is facing a challenge of sorts in terms of changing customer expectations and the need to provide high user satisfaction. RPA is one of the technologies that can offer an optimum solution to the retail industry.
Today, retailers have to operate on multiple levels to reach the customers on-the-go. The brick-and-mortar stores are complemented with the digital interfaces of e-commerce stores that can be viewed across device platforms. To ensure the convergence of real and virtual works seamlessly, RPA, along with a robust retail testing strategy, should play a crucial role. Here are the four areas where RPA can address the challenges of the retail industry.
- Supply chain management
It includes, among others, inventory monitoring, shipment, and tracking order status. With RPA, the logistics process can be automated leading to better collaboration between suppliers, vendors, distributors, and customers. It can lead to cost optimization and reduction in waste thereby offering better levels of customer satisfaction. - Store planning and inventory management
One of the high selling points to increase sales is to arrange the retail store with help of RPA according to customer preferences. This enables retailers to refurbish their stores to fit customer expectations, enhance customer experience, and boost profits. - Customer support
To provide 24/7 customer support, many retailers are opting for automated bots. These bots can respond to a large number of customer queries such as tracking orders and payments, providing updates on product launches, discounts, price change, and the like. - Data analytics
RPA algorithms processing a large set of data obtained from multiple sources in real-time can help to predict the changing market trends and give retailers the insight to craft a risk mitigation strategy like optimizing stocks or incorporating retail test automation in the value chain, among others. These insights can throw light on the hidden trends, customer dissatisfaction, and the steps to be taken to retain them.
