In the ever-evolving retail landscape, retailers are grappling with mounting pressure to meet customer demand for discounted deals and swift delivery, particularly during sales seasons. Despite this, a notable decline in holiday season sales in late 2023 prompted certain retailers to question whether shopping seasons have passed their prime.

In Singapore, it was reported that some retailers along Orchard Road have noticed a quieter year-end, with thinner crowds and the traditional holiday season spending splurge missing in action. Half of the sales representatives reported a decrease in December sales compared to the previous year.

Furthermore, while labour shortages are becoming less common, they still remain a persistent problem for many retailers in Asia-Pacific (APAC). In Singapore, an overwhelming nine in 10 retail employees expressed concerns about a shortage of labour, with 48 per cent ‘somewhat agreeing’ and 45 per cent ‘strongly agreeing’ to the issue.

Retailers today must navigate the challenge of accomplishing more with limited resources. This includes efficiently managing returns, providing top-notch customer service, and optimizing available inventory.

Meanwhile, a new era of omnichannel commerce challenges retailers to seamlessly manage multiple fulfillment channels to keep up with consumer expectations. Shoppers increasingly combine online and offline shopping, blurring the lines between online and offline retail. While omnichannel shopping causes challenges for retailers, most shoppers prefer options.

According to Zebra’s 16th Annual Global Shopper Study, nearly eight in 10 shoppers globally and in APAC favour a blend of online and in-store shopping, while 75 per cent of global and 72 per cent of APAC shoppers choose to shop with online retailers that have a brick-and-mortar location.

Other surveys also show that around 48 per cent of shoppers browse in physical stores before buying online, while around 49 per cent browse online before buying in a physical shop.

In tandem with this evolving retail landscape, consumer expectations have also ascended to new heights. Today’s shoppers expect a seamless omnichannel experience where they get to enjoy the convenience of easy returns and self-checkouts no matter where or how they shop.

Also Read: How Pomelo tackles the problem of high product return with its O2O retail experience

To overcome headwinds such as labour challenges and shifting consumer expectations, it is key for retailers to invest in cutting-edge technologies to help sustain profitability while providing positive shopper and associate experiences.

Surpassing shopper expectations: Navigating the omnichannel experience

Shoppers today seek a seamless experience in-store — this includes favouring digital payment and checkout options for convenience. The COVID-19 pandemic and a national drive for a cashless society have accelerated the adoption of electronic payments in Singapore — a growing majority of consumers are opting to pay for goods and services using their cards or mobile phones.

According to the same Zebra study, 28 per cent of APAC shoppers prefer pay/checkout anywhere, and 74 per cent of APAC shoppers say that self-checkouts help improve their experience.

Managing online and in-store returns adds another level of complexity. As omnichannel shopping continues to grow, the volume of returns increases along with it. Around seven in 10 global and APAC retailers surveyed in Zebra’s study say the pressure is mounting to improve the efficiency and expense of managing online orders, returns, and the fulfilment process.

With technology, retailers across all categories can monitor sales trends to better prepare for surges in consumer demand and cope with returns. Prescriptive analytics, real-time inventory visibility, and workforce management tools are vital to retail operations, helping stores and warehouses ensure they have the right people and inventory in the right places at the right time to offset the impacts of uncontrollable industry disruptions, such as the current omnichannel squeeze that retailers are facing.

Also Read: The canary in Singapore’s retail coal mine is ‘kiasu’

Keeping up with retail

The speed of change in the retail landscape is not slowing down anytime soon, but the technology available to retailers is also quickly advancing. As retailers add more digital channels that require fulfilment from store shelves, such as buy online and pick up in-store (BOPIS), having an accurate inventory count becomes imperative.

By strategically investing in the right mobile devices and software, stores can complete smart cycle counting on a more regular cadence without increasing headcount or diverting associates from delivering exceptional customer service.

A growing trend among retailers involves deploying technology once reserved for the warehouse or back of the store to the front of the store. For instance, Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has been gaining popularity among apparel, sporting goods, and electronics retailers. Employing RFID tagging, helps streamline inventory management for weekly or even daily counts and can also help facilitate faster returns processing and inventory reshelving.

In order to enhance store productivity, it is crucial for intelligent inventory and workforce management solutions to work together. This visibility into sales data and the movement of goods across the supply chain allows retailers to leverage data to assign tasks to the right associates at the right time.

Ultimately, these solutions help merchants make better procurement and labour scheduling decisions to ensure they can always keep up with consumer demand, whether shopping online or in-store.

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