We’re living in an era that has seen profound technological advances change the face of retail. Just a decade ago, Instagram and Afterpay were barely in their inception phase – now, it’s hard to imagine any B2C business not taking advantage of these tools.

As new tech continues to emerge, it’s becoming increasingly clear that businesses keeping pace with progress are setting themselves up to thrive, while those struggling to keep up will inevitably fall behind.

To date, there has been a focus on technologies that enhance retailers’ abilities to sell, by creating seamless online experiences for customers. Today’s consumers are enjoying better standards of e-commerce than ever before – recent figures show 56 per cent of Australians now prefer to make purchases online, while 85 per cent are likely to purchase more at the digital checkout in 2021 over last year. Retailers’ prior investment in going digital has well and truly paid off.

So what’s next? For retailers, the next point of focus will be on their own people, rather than remaining wholly fixated on the customer journey. We’re going to see more retailers adopting technologies to improve the human experience within their businesses. This area has traditionally been somewhat overlooked, but there’s a strong correlation between a fantastic customer experience and a positive working environment for staff. A happy workforce is a successful workforce – and sales results will speak for themselves.

Compared with other industries, retail has so far been slow to adopt technology that will improve the employee experience. Many haven’t yet implemented simple solutions – such as mobile apps allowing staff to check rosters, claim expenses or access their payslips – even though these tools have been available for years. Others find themselves hamstrung by clunky, non-integrated systems, or rely on complex Excel spreadsheets where a simple automation would do a better job. These businesses will find it increasingly difficult to adapt, and will be held back by inefficient labour costs and high staff turnover without having any real visibility as to why this is happening.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to play a huge role in gathering staffing insights that employers can harness to make better decisions. All-in-one workforce management software such as Roubler enables a unique depth of insight, providing aggregated real-time data to drive automation. For example, AI-informed smart rostering could draw on mental health analytics, sales results, employee availability and modern award requirements. It could then roster employees based on the time of day they perform best, with the team members they work well with, all while remaining compliant – and ultimately increasing profitability.

The uptake of emerging AI technologies in workforce management will increasingly dictate success. Most retailers predict demand based entirely on guesswork – making business-critical decisions without the proper data to support them. Machine learning has the potential to automatically and intuitively understand demand based on everything from weather events to unexpected lockdown announcements, and build rosters accordingly.

Upcoming features in workforce management technology will include analytics relating to mental health, revealing trends in employee satisfaction across a retailer’s entire workforce. Businesses will be able to view employee mental health trends across various stores and locations, allowing management to take action before problems become too entrenched.

AI is already changing the game, with workforce management technology moving ahead in leaps and bounds. By adopting systems that include every stage of the employee lifecycle – from recruitment to rostering, time clocking and beyond – retailers will gain access to a new breadth of data. Computer analytics can join the dots to help managers drive the success of their workforce, and ultimately the success of the business as a whole, reducing the admin burden on HR and payroll teams.

Brick-and-mortar retail is going to stick around for a long time and in-person shoppers are going to expect more boutique experiences from the people behind the counter. This is why the future of digital innovation for retailers is going to involve a renewed focus on the in-store team and on empowering staff to thrive and perform at their best.

Those making a move now to adopt effective technologies are those setting themselves up for long term success. Retailers need to take advantage of current solutions to springboard themselves into the years to come, making sure that they can adopt new advances as they continue to emerge.

Dr Alan McCabe is the Chief Technology Officer at Roubler, where he is responsible for driving software innovation. With a PhD in artificial intelligence, he has a particular interest in helping retailers create efficiencies across their workforces by harnessing the latest machine learning and automation techniques.

Find out more about Roubler’s all-in-one workforce management solution here.