Retail
Homing in on fraud One example of a large and growing problem is return fraud. Up to 15% of returns are fraudulent, and UK losses due to return abuse total £1.3 billion a year, according to a Retail Economics report. Retailers can use process intelligence to pinpoint fraud by identifying customers who repeatedly return items or products that are sent back unusually and frequently, enabling business leaders to act swiſtly. Reducing fraud and abuse in the returns process can save millions or even billions over the long haul. Process intelligence can be a valuable tool in this context, as
returns processes involve a significant amount of data, multiple systems, and numerous interrelated processes. PI can offer much more than simply spotting fraud: prevention teams are using it to identify the break points that can trigger returns in the first place, helping to cut losses and keep consumers happy. Insights from process intelligence help retailers avoid abandoned baskets and ensure customers receive the ‘perfect order’ every time.
Closing the operations gap Improving customer service is a key aim across the industry, a task that requires constant attention and improvement to not only keep pace with competitors but also to stay ahead. Having a clear connection between front, middle, and back office processes presents a way to deliver this, with a bonus side effect of increased visibility across all systems, also allowing for more effective defence against cyber-attacks. It all starts with unified commerce. Retailers are oſten dealing with hundreds of tools and technologies, sometimes even offline spreadsheets. Integrating this into a process flow, end-to-end across the entire value chain, is nirvana for a retailer. Tat is the opportunity before us. With a single point of truth drawing in data from all relevant sources, decision-makers can have real-time visibility into the location of products and customers. Tis enables them to deliver a consistent brand experience, regardless of where shoppers are in their shopping journey. To achieve this, retailers need centralised order management
and to integrate everything from order processing to customer data into it, so consumers can order online, pick it up in-store, and find the best prices, promotions, and benefits. It’s all about decreasing friction, with AI, data, and analytics providing the opportunity to truly understand the purchaser and offer ‘hyper-personalised’ services. Tis can mean tailored product recommendations, targeted marketing messages, and custom promotions, all based on real-time data insights. Once retailers truly understand product demand, the data from
process intelligence can help drive merchandise strategies and ensure stores are neither overstocked nor understocked, meaning they can reduce waste (for example, by preventing food from going to landfill) and also ensure consumers are satisfied at every stage. An example of this can be seen in the IKEA retailer Ingka Group. Teir north star in the pursuit of customer satisfaction has been creating the ‘perfect order’, flawlessly fulfilling a customer’s purchase, from taking it correctly to delivering the right product on time. With millions of process variants identified across its 170 million sales orders, Process intelligence proved to be a crucial tool in transforming its sales orders, helping to identify undesirable steps from the purchasing process, like failed click-and-collect pick-
www.pcr-online.biz
ups, mapping the root causes and then ensuring fixing one issue doesn’t cause another to pop up somewhere else in the customer journey. Te outcome for Ingka Group has been the development of a continuous improvement loop, which has been rolled out to several departments within the business, all with the customer at the centre.
AI agents are the future of retail AI agents can help retailers delve into the data unearthed by process intelligence and provide a much-needed boost in efficiency. For consumers, convenience and speed of delivery remain among the biggest demand drivers: this means that vendors who don’t have their order processes in check can be leſt behind. AI agents are particularly powerful in streamlining such processes. One large global consumer goods company built an AI agent to extract payment terms from PDF contracts, compare them to terms in purchase orders and invoices, and recommend actions to accounts payable clerks. AI agents can also simplify the process of bringing data into systems, automatically addressing issues with orders and alerting staff where necessary. Agents can help retailers automate workloads, and with Process
Intelligence, businesses gain the understanding needed to do this effectively. By harnessing real-time information from the company, AI agents can help make teams more efficient, for example, by dealing with blocked orders and other day-to-day issues. Understanding the way processes truly work and how they interact is crucial to achieving AI-driven digital transformation.
A smarter shop Process intelligence provides retailers with a foundation for delivering digital transformation, creating a unified system that helps identify fraud and build trust. With real-time insight into highly complex operations, leadership teams can identify and plug revenue leaks, as well as make faster decisions on how to deliver value to customers. Process intelligence is also foundational in unleashing the power of AI for large retailers, allowing agents to uncover new efficiencies and cut waste and delays across the organisation. Te retail industry has historically been hindered by unruly data; the time for a smarter, more integrated approach is now. As the retail landscape continues to evolve at breakneck
speed, embracing tools like process intelligence is no longer just beneficial; it is a strategic necessity. Te ability to connect systems, diagnose inefficiencies, and act on real-time insights empowers retailers to remain competitive, reduce losses, and deliver the seamless and personalised experiences that modern consumers expect. With fraud prevention, operational agility, and AI-powered development working in tandem, process intelligence establishes a foundation for a more resilient and customer-centric future. Leading brands are already using it to extract greater value
from their data and bridge the gap between insight and execution. Whether the goal is to ensure the perfect order, optimise inventory, or automate routine processes, the outcome is clear: a smoother shopping experience that builds trust and encourages loyalty. For retailers seeking to succeed in a time of ongoing disruption, the first step is to understand their operations and make smarter decisions with greater speed and clarity.
July/August 2025 | 45
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
