Zebra Technologies Corporation a global leader in digitising and automating workflows to deliver intelligent operations, today published new findings that suggest progress gaps among retailers across order fulfilment and omnichannel, workforce task management, and point of sales and checkout operations.
The expansion of ways to buy, ship, and collect items has raised the bar for order fulfilment, often from the same physical stores that serve walk-in customers. But according to new insights from the Impact of Intelligent Operations study by Zebra and Oxford Economics, over half (57%) of all retailers indicate further improvement is still needed.
It also found that AI adoption in fulfilment lags its perceived importance, with expectations about AI-enabled orchestration continuing to outpace current adoption. For retailers still seeking improvement:
- 31% identify AI as important to achieving their goals.
- Only 15% cited AI as a technology that contributed to their progress, among those reporting meaningful gains over the past two years.
“We know technology moves fast, and it’s hard to keep pace, especially with today’s advances in AI,” said Mark Thomson, Director, Retail Industry Solutions EMEA, Zebra Technologies. “Sometimes aspiration and execution diverge. I think the gap is likely wider than these statistics indicate.”
As fulfilment activity moves into stores, managing workflows has become more complex, balancing customer service, restocking, and promotional execution. Despite its importance, progress in task management has been uneven:
- Over half (54%) of retailers recognise progress is still needed.
- Forty-nine percent of retailers who are still seeking improvements identify increasing the time associates spend with customers as a priority.
- Among those reporting progress, 63% cite higher task completion rates, yet a mere 12% mentioned improvements in time associates spend with customers.
The contrast suggests a structural constraint where a lot of retailers need to improve, while other retailers are executing tasks more consistently but have not yet unlocked additional time for deeper customer engagement that supports a positive, personalised experience.
Checkout should be the culmination of a frictionless shopping experience, with staffed checkouts providing a final customer interaction with retail workers. Two-thirds of retailers report meaningful improvements in point of sale and checkout workflows over the last two years.
Among those, 63% cite improvements in transaction speed and accuracy and 46% cite reduced customer wait times, while the systems responsible for inventory accuracy and financial reconciliation seem harder to advance, according to the report.
“Navigating multiple vendors is a challenge, business cases take time, and success requires change management,” said Thomson. “But retailers are clear that elevating the customer experience is built on a connected frontline, comprehensive inventory visibility, and intelligently automated workflows.”