Running a retail business comes with its own set of challenges that tend to be similar regardless of which industry you’re selling products in. Although some of the tasks will require your utmost attention initially, there are many things that can be greatly streamlined if not completely automated in the long-term. Automation may seem like a shortcut for cutting corners without consideration to quality, but in actuality, there are many tools and techniques that will let you reduce tedious daily obligations without sacrificing the end result or customer experience. With that said, here are 4 different types of automation that almost all retail businesses can benefit from:

1. Packaging Automation

Packaging items is a relatively simple yet time-consuming task that tends to take up a considerable amount of manpower and employee hours. Fortunately, nowadays there are advanced machines and products that are specifically designed to facilitate packaging automation, so you can save quite a bit on payroll and speed things up significantly by joining this wave. Of course, this also helps by freeing up employee hands so that they can be more productive in other areas, so it’s a great way to enhance workflow in any retail store or warehouse that regularly ships products.

2. Marketing Automation

Reaching out to prospective customers and your existing client base to promote more sales and brand awareness is a key part of encouraging expansion. Luckily, there are many ways to automate routine marketing tasks such as updating social media, sending out follow-up emails, organizing customer contact information, and distributing/promoting published content. Thus, it’s best to conduct a thorough evaluation of your current marketing process to determine if there are any steps that could be automated to reduce the workload for yourself and/or your employees.

3. Email Automation

Responding to emails can take quite a bit of time out of your day unnecessarily, especially if you find yourself answering similar questions repeatedly. Of course, most of us are already using some sort of mass mailing technique to send messages to a large number of contacts at once, but if you haven’t started doing that then it’s definitely time to start looking into email automation tools.

4. Support Automation

Providing support and guidance to existing customers and prospects can be a burdensome and repetitive duty, which is where automated chat windows and/or comprehensive interactive FAQ sections come into play. A good way to use these tools is to compile a list of all the questions your support agents have been asked in the past 30-60 days and then create an auto-response system that can recognize the question/problem and present an applicable resource or solution automatically.

The Value of Automation

All retail businesses should look for ways to reduce payroll and free up employee time. Logically, automation is the best way to create a foundation for saving the company time and money on menial tasks that undoubtedly need to be done on an ongoing basis. Adversely, a lack of appropriate automation slows down productivity, inhibits expansion and drains payroll.