The emerging transition to online shopping and digital transformation is transforming the retail industry. Retailers that want to achieve competitive advantage in this fast-evolving business landscape should allow innovation to thrive and become more agile toward digital technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Blockchain, Augmented Reality, and Intelligent Automation (IA).
Intelligent Automation with RPA and AI capabilities can reshape every phase of the retail journey, redefine the customer experience, and boost innovative businesses. According to McKinsey, 30% to 40% of manual labor-intensive processes in the retail industry can be automated.
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The need to adopt Intelligent Automation in the retail industry
The retail industry is entering the era of technological innovation – with Intelligent Automation playing a pivotal role in offering tremendous opportunities for retailers to unlock the true potential of business. IBM’s research shows that 2 in 5 retailers are already adopting Intelligent Automation and that figure is expected to double within the next 3 years.
Those businesses utilizing intelligent Automation are experiencing an array of benefits:
- Reduce cost: Implementing Intelligent Automation can help retailers save up to 40%, according to a study by PwC.
- Enhance efficiency: Intelligent Automation can increase operational efficiency by 79%, according to a report by IBM.
- Boost customer experience: Adopting Intelligent Automation can increase customer experience by 66%, as stated in a report by IBM.
- Increase sales: Intelligent Automation can help retailers enhance sales by up to 7%, according to a survey by Forrester.
- Improve accuracy: Automating invoice processing can reduce 50% of errors, as indicated by a study by Ardent Partners.
6 best use cases of Intelligent Automation in the retail industry
Accounts payable
Using Intelligent Automation, retail businesses can automate the accounts payable process, allowing for smooth operation.
- IDP to scan invoices, extract data, and enter it into the system, preventing manual data entry
- RPA to automate duplicate checking, payment approvals
- AI/ML to analyze payment data and track invoice and payment status
Inventory management
Intelligent bots can enhance inventory management, allowing for reduced stockouts, and waste reduction. A study by McKinsey shows that adopting automation in inventory management can reduce inventory levels by up to 30%, contributing to cost savings and enhanced efficiency.
- AI/ML to analyze historical sales data and current demand patterns, and predict the optimum amount of inventory levels, enabling retailers to prevent stockouts
- RPA to order the right amount of items automatically
- RPA to alert suppliers when stocks are running low
Demand forecasting
Intelligent automation can enable retailers to generate accurate demand forecasting, leveraging greater decision-making in retail. A study by Capgemini reveals that leveraging automation in demand forecasting can significantly increase forecast accuracy by up to 30%.
- IDP to gather, organize, and extract real-time data from various documents
- AI and ML to predict demand for products more accurately
- RPA to send key information based on analysis to businesses for better decision-making
Customer service
Intelligent automation facilitates retailers to provide superior and personalized customer service with AI-led chatbots powered by RPA.
- Interact with customers throughout the shopping process with more personalized and contextually relevant responses
- Analyze customer sentiment with Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms
- Understand customer requests and provide recommendations according to their browsing and purchasing history with AI/ML
- Provide 24/7 customer service
Invoice processing
Intelligent automation can automate invoice processing, reducing repetitive and error-prone tasks, and facilitating employees to focus on more innovative projects.
- IDP to monitor incoming invoices
- RPA to extract relevant data from invoices, and enter the extracted invoice data to the centralized database
- AI/ML to cross-check invoices against purchase orders and alert relevant staff in case of a disparity
Customer analysis
Intelligent Automation implementation in the retail industry can provide accurate insights into shoppers’ needs and behaviors. Retailers can take advantage of the data to facilitate personalization and customized marketing that are valuable to the shoppers.
- RPA to collect customer data from various sources and every touch points
- AI/ML to analyze the customer data and generate detailed customer persona
- AI to generate recommendations based on customer profiles and needs during their journey
Start your automation journey with akaBot!
akaBot (FPT) is the leading automation solution in Vietnam, providing comprehensive solutions for more than 3,500 businesses in 21 countries worldwide. akaBot’s solutions can be applied to a wide array of fields such as banking, retailing, manufacturing, logistics, etc.
Aspiring to become a world-class digital transformation services provider, akaBot has developed digital platforms and solutions by leveraging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and Machine Learning (ML), helping businesses around the globe to accelerate their digital transformation journey.
The case study below will reveal how a business operating in the retail industry can achieve significant success with akaBot.
Challenges
- 1.8M invoices per year with 100% of manual work for processing
- 75 full-time accountants (180,000 working hours per year) for invoice-processing
- High employee turnover at Finance and Accounting Service Team
As a branch of the leading retail corporation in Asia, Central Retail in Vietnam (CRV) faces the huge workload of processing 1.8M invoices per year, which takes 180,000 working hours per year of 75 FTE in the Finance and Accounting service team. Besides, the tedious tasks might lead to an increase in employee turnover year by year.
Solution
CRV decided to adopt akaBot’s RPA solution to automate matching supplier invoices with the goods tracking system.
Results
- Automate 75% of the invoice-matching process
- Reduce operational time by 50%
- The invoice processing speed also doubled compared to manual processing before, corresponding to 1.8 million invoices/per year
- Save 90,000 hours/year
- Save $500,000 within 5 years
To redefine innovation, achieve operational excellence, and drive revenue, and growth, contact us today.
References
Retail Intelligent Automation: Use Cases & Case Studies in 2023
Retail Automation: 7 Ways Your Business Could Benefit
Intelligent Retail Automation in 2023
How Intelligent Automation Is Transforming The Retail Industry and Unlocking Bigger ROI
akaBot (FPT) is the operation optimization solution for enterprises based on RPA (Robotic Process Automation) platform combined with Process Mining, OCR, Intelligent Document Processing, Machine Learning, Conversational AI, etc. Serving clients in 20+ countries, across 08 domains such as Banking & Finances, Retails, IT Services, Manufacturing, and Logistics…, akaBot is featured by Gartner Peer Insights, G2, and ranked as Top 6 Global RPA Platform by Software Reviews. akaBot also won the prestigious Stevie Award, The Asian Banker Award 2021, etc.
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