Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, a world-class provider of smart, innovative, and agile retail technology solutions and services, releases findings from recent research conducted in collaboration with Retail Dive’s studioID team.

A 2024 survey of 530 global retail leaders offers insights into their operational and talent challenges, front-end retail system needs, and technology maintenance opportunities. Respondents agree that the right retail technology will help them significantly improve store operations while enabling them to respond to trends in their geographic areas and micro-verticals.

The survey results reveal four significant findings that are critical for retailers as they shape future decisions.

Finding #1. Technology can create better experiences for employees and shoppers. Overwhelmingly, surveyed retail leaders agree that better retail technology significantly improves three areas:

1. Automation of mundane and manual tasks for employees (90%)
2. Employee retention (88%)
3. Shopper experience (88%)

“Retail employees are rarely in their roles because they want to become better technologists,” says Al Bennah, services portfolio director for Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. “They want to excel at providing customer service. Technology just happens to be a tool they can use to do that. Sometimes, when store operations go sideways, workers who should be focused on delivering excellent care are forced into managing technology instead. This can negatively impact retention if they don’t enjoy this part of their job.”

Finding #2: Retailers face several challenges to operational improvement. Budgets aren’t hindering retailers from enhancing operations. Instead, nearly 40% of respondents identified staff scheduling as the top area for improvement to boost efficiency. Other major challenges include inefficient inventory management, outdated technology, and lack of automation.

“The right software can help you identify the root cause of an issue so it can be resolved quickly and improve operations,” says Sameer Mohile, product line management director for Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. “When this software is backed by remote agents who are always monitoring your system performance, then issues that occur with your store’s systems can be tracked and resolved even faster.”

Finding #3. The majority of retail executives agree that talent challenges impact operations. Among the 87% of respondents who say they battle talent challenges, hiring wasn’t top of mind. Instead, these leaders believe their top opportunities center around educating and empowering the workers they already employ. This could indicate that most leaders understand the benefits of retaining qualified staff vs. investing in frequent recruiting and hiring. Instead of hiring, retail executives point to talent retention and turnover, onboarding and training, developing expertise among existing employees, and motivating existing employees as their top talent challenges.

Finding #4. Retail executives lean heavily on staff training and technology to improve employee productivity. More than half of respondents say they invest in two areas to help team members get more high-quality work done in less time:

1. Training/education (62%) 
2. New technology (55%) 

Bennah says this combination of training and technology can help build confidence, which is an important piece of the employee retention puzzle. “An augmented-reality training platform, for example, can interject common hurdles an employee may face in their day-to-day operations into a virtualized space where they can practice what to do and how to do it,” he explains. “Even during training, they’re primarily focused on delivering value to their customers.”

To download the full survey report, titled, “The Operational Excellence In Retail Survey,” and explore additional information and details about the results, visit https://resources.industrydive.com/the-operational-excellence-in-retail-survey

Survey Methodology

The survey, conducted by Retail Dive’s studioID in collaboration with Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, was taken by 530 retail leaders in 11 countries in August 2024. Respondents were asked about operational and talent challenges, front-end retail systems, and technology maintenance.