Retail is among the various sectors that suffered an economic impact and that reinvented themselves during the pandemic. The closing of physical commerce and the increase in online consumption left no choice for the segment’s businesses, but to run for e-commerce, marketplaces and delivery applications. As a result, online stores expanded by 75% in 2020, according to Mastercard’s latest Recovery Insights report.

“This accelerated movement, however, highlighted several gaps in the sector that could be filled by automation and innovation along the way. As everything indicates that the digital transformation of retail, as well as several other segments, must be permanent and continuous, there is still a long way to grow”, suggests Paulo Lima, CTO of Guiando.

Check out a selection of five retail areas listed by the specialist that would benefit from automation:

1) Management

Control, security, cost reduction, improved service and increased productivity. The list of benefits of implementing a good management system in a retail player is long. “Before choosing an ERP, however, it is necessary to understand if it meets the needs of the business, if it is easy to integrate with other systems and how the supplier’s support works“, guides Lima.

2) Service and means of payment

With the pandemic, customer service became less physical. In return, the demand for customization has increased without precedent. In online commerce, buying without difficulty, speed and error-free is valued. The use of chatbots, for example, has grown a lot in recent years. In addition, automation tools help to produce reports and cross-check data to increase inputs on consumer behavior and desires.

“Another determining factor for shoppers is the means of payment, which have become more digital and contactless, such as NFC (by approximation) and payment links“, he observes.

3) Accounts Payable

Although it often goes unnoticed, Accounts Payable can be a great source of overspending. In most companies the processing and payment of invoices is still done manually, which facilitates uncontrolled, human errors and errors and, consequently, increases the incidence of fines, interest and cuts in services. “The intelligent automation of invoice collection, analysis and payment generates increased visibility and productivity in companies. This market is still emerging in Brazil, but it already has tools that have made life easier for professionals in the sector“, he says.

4) Logistics

An important pillar for retailers is to ensure excellence in deliveries. Today, the consumer wants to see the same speed with which he completes the purchase reflected in the entire logistical process. Thus, investing in logistics technology means being ahead in the retail market. Among the trends for the sector is, for example, the use of blockchain for tracking the supply chain. “Centralization of information, reduction of costs and time, and increased satisfaction of the end customer are benefits of automation in this sector”, says the CTO.

5) Marketing

With the digitization of retail, communication is also practically all shifted to online, where consumers are bombarded with information all the time. Retailers have the challenge of optimizing their B2C marketing campaigns to attract the largest number of customers within this logic. In this strategy, automation also comes in to help. “It is possible to personalize messages for customer segments, schedule e-mail shots to recover abandoned shopping cart and measure campaign results in an easy and objective way”, concludes Saulo.