The retail industry is undergoing a transition. Today, retailers try to be more agile and innovative to serve their customers better and bounce back from the devastating effects of Covid-19.
The pandemic taught us that technology could be the most significant enabler for retail businesses.
Technology will continue shaping the market, from creating holistic omnichannel experiences to empowering sales professionals and departments with cutting-edge commission management tools.
5 challenges and opportunities for the retail industry
1. Artificial Intelligence or AI-powered platforms
AI-powered platforms can automate mundane tasks and help with customer service, inventory management, marketing, and pricing.
Sales professionals in the retail space often manually deal with commission calculation, sales, and inventory management. This manual work guzzles time they could spend gainfully.
AI can expedite the processes and make them more error-free, allowing the sales staff to do their core tasks.
2. Omnichannel experiences
As e-commerce grows, the importance of omnichannel experiences is becoming apparent. Brands must provide seamless customer experiences across all channels to thrive in this competitive environment.
Consumers are already looking for a unified brand experience (both online and offline), personalization, convenience, and speed when shopping across channels.
As retailers expand their offerings (e.g., voice assistant devices) and broaden their product lines (e.g., online only), they must ensure all channels integrate seamlessly. This way, all channels will enhance the overall customer experience and brand perception.
3. Blockchain-based payments and loyalty programs
Blockchain is a distributed ledger that can record transactions. It can also create digital wallets, tokens, and currencies.
The technology offers many benefits for retailers. It provides security through encryption and data immutability, allows for transparency in transactions, and reduces the risk of fraud because it removes the need for intermediaries.
While these benefits are promising, blockchain still has some limitations that users must overcome before widespread adoption.
4. Labor force concerns
The retail industry is facing several labor-related challenges. The availability of qualified workers is already an issue, and this trend is only likely to continue.
As we analyze the market's current state, we see a need for new technologies and platforms that will help retailers train their employees more effectively and improve existing processes through automation.
5. Automation
To automate the sales commission management process, you need to gather some data, like:
- How many sales reps are on your team?
- What is the total gross annual revenue of your company?
- How much money did each agent make last year in commissions alone (not including base salary)?
Bringing automation into aspects such as commission calculation, analytics, reporting, commission payments, goal tracking, and access to historical records gives the sales team deeper insights. It also helps them receive accurate and timely payments.
Retailers will need to focus on innovative strategies to remain competitive
The retail industry exists on innovation. If a retail business does not stay relevant and competitive, it could lose business.
Retailers will need to find innovative ways to stay current with their customer's needs while also driving sales, and they will face different challenges in the coming years. However, they also have an excellent opportunity to use technologies such as AI, blockchain, and automation.
Real-time commission management and tracking for retail businesses
Blitz is a proven solution for businesses in the retail industry. It offers an automated platform to keep track of sales performance and pay bonuses based on KPIs while solving complex commission schemes.
Stop working in spreadsheets and eliminate manual errors. Blitz centralizes all the information about regions, sales reps, and branches so you can keep all the data you need in one single place.
Additionally, Blitz integrates seamlessly an effective and future-ready sales management platform with legacy systems, such as ERPs and POS.
Start automating your commission calculation and payments while allowing sales managers to keep track of their sales performance and adjust and generate KPIs.
Ready to learn what Blitz can do for your business? Start today