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According to a recent study by wearable technology developer ProGlove, up to 36.5% of retail leaders looking to automate expect to benefit from new technologies within two to five years. The Chicago-based company surveyed more than 1,000 retail management professionals in the U.S., U.K. and Germany for its “Leadership Insights for Retail Warehouse Management” report.
Our survey results show that retail leaders have conservative expectations when it comes to automation adoption. Only 11.5% of respondents said they expect to benefit from automation within the next two years.
ProGlove also found that 26.6% expect returns within 5 to 10 years, while 8.6% expect it to take more than 10 years. According to the company, this data shows that retailers are having a lot of patience when it comes to investing in technology.
The study also showed that there is a lot of room for growth and optimization in automation, the company said. Nearly one in five (19.3%) of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with their current automation initiatives.
Almost half (44.2%) said they were somewhat satisfied, while only 6.3% were very satisfied with robotics and automation.
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What do retailers expect from automation?
When asked what they thought would help retailers save, they gave a variety of answers. About 25.3% said they expect to improve productivity through human augmentation and chose human-machine collaboration as a key target area.
An equal number of respondents emphasized the need for new software, and 17% said they were looking to robotics and automation to improve productivity.
Retailers also gave mixed responses about how much they expected to increase productivity. More than a third, 35.4%, expect productivity to increase by 21 to 30 percent, while 30.6 percent expect it to increase by 11 to 20 percent.
Overall, 55.3% responded that they expect an increase of more than 20%. According to ProGlove, this shows that retailers see investing in technology as a valuable path to increased productivity.
“Automation presents a complex environment for retailers,” said Stefan Lampa, CEO of ProGlove, in a press release. “While there is potential for efficiency, our research highlights the critical role of human-machine collaboration. “Retailers seek synergies by leveraging technology to augment their workforce, not replace it.”
ProGlove discovered challenges to automation adoption.
Automation integration remains a challenge for 15.6% of survey respondents, ProGlove said. To put this into context, a similar percentage (14.6%) responded that they were having difficulty integrating their mobile commerce platform.
ProGlove said respondents' biggest challenge was understanding data and recognizing patterns while running analytics. This suggests that retailers are struggling to extract insights to uncover inefficiencies across their operations.
The report also looked at fluctuating warehouse workforce numbers. ProGlove said the results demonstrate a mix of stability and change within the industry. This is because over the past five years, leaders have seen a pattern of headcount growth in certain tiers while workforces have remained stable in other tiers.
Over the next year, 15.3% of leaders expect staffing levels to decline by up to 10%. Meanwhile, the same percentage predicted a 10% increase in staffing levels. Additionally, 33.9% expected staffing levels to remain stable.
Munich, Germany-based ProGlove said the report shows cautious optimism regarding automation within the retail sector.