提升零售价值：智能运营的影响

Workflow optimizationdrove revenue growthand profit improvementsof up to 1.8 percentagepoints over the last year Introduction Retailers, from mass merchants to e-commerce platforms, are investing heavily in workflowoptimization and are reporting higher revenues, profits, and customer satisfaction as a result.For these established organizations, intelligent operations are foundational: targeted investments inkey technologies—from mobile computers to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning—helpthem achieve real-time visibility into their workflows, generate actionable insights from robust datamanagement processes, and cut inefficiencies and errors at scale. To understand how workflow improvements translate to financialbenefits, Oxford Economics and Zebra Technologies surveyed400 retail decision-makers from around the world, then appliedeconometric analysis to their responses to measure businessperformance. Our research focused on several key workflows—including inventory management, checkout operations, taskmanagement, order fulfillment, and loss prevention—and foundsignificant levels of progress and payoff. Retailers that focused on improving inventory management,for example—an area of particular concern for the industry—reported, on average, higher top- and bottom-line impactsover the last year compared to those that did not, including1.8-percentage-point higher revenue growth and 1.5-percentage-point higher profitability.1 Our report takes a deep dive into two workflows in need ofimprovement: inventory management and loss prevention. In-depth interviews with leaders from the industry make clear thatthe benefits of intelligent operations are not limited to a singleworkflow or even a single organization—these benefits generatesignificant value for the entire retail supply chain, a complex,interdependent system spanning manufacturing, transportationand logistics, and retail organizations all working together to meetcustomer demands for high-quality products and timely services. Intelligent operations integrateadvanced technologies likeAI, automation, and data withhuman expertise to optimizebusiness processes. In fact, organizations across the retail supply chain thatreported meaningful workflow improvements saw, on average,2-percentage-point higher revenue growth and 1.7-percentage-point higher profitability than peers over the last year. Retailers are looking for ways to optimize workflows Customer experience is the organizing principle around which retailers focus other business goals andoperational decisions, including investments in automation technologies. “Automation is not the endgoal—it’s a means to an end,” says one strategy and operations director at a grocery and e-commerceplatform based in India. “We deploy it thoughtfully to enhance our core mission: delivering the rightproducts to the customer swiftly and reliably, thereby elevating overall customer satisfaction.” Using technology is a clear priority for retailers in our survey.They report allocating, on average, 69% of their IT budgets todevices, software, and other technologies used to automateworkflows. Still, workflow automation takes on differentmeanings for different organizations. Nearly half define it as theuse of digital technologies to streamline workflows and eliminatemanual tasks, while 41% emphasize the use of both devicesand software to improve productivity and efficiency. Just 5%primarily see automation as the use of advanced analytics andAI/ML to optimize decision-making and operational performance. This range of definitions might be explained by the industry’sunderdeveloped data management systems: nearly two-thirdssay data analysis is performed only in select areas or remainslimited and siloed. Roughly one-third report more advancedcapabilities like automated process for data managementacross multiple business functions or the use of AI fororganization-wide insights. Improving data management processes is a crucial step towardoptimizing workflows and meeting business goals for the nextthree years. In addition to improving customer experience andsatisfaction, cited by roughly half as a top business priority,retailers are focusing on inventory accuracy and management,product and service quality, and operational efficiencyand productivity. of IT budgets are allocatedto devices, software, andother technologies used toautomate workflows Employee resistance to new ways of working, skills shortages,and high training costs are among the industry’s largest barriersto improving workflows, but investing in tools to make operationsmore intelligent can help ease some of these workforcechallenges. “Employees are increasingly recognizing howautomation tools help them work smarter, boost productivity, andtap into new dimensions of their potential,” says the strategy andoperations director at the grocery and e-commerce platform. Fig. 1: Retailers are prioritizing customer service and inventory accuracy over the next thr