The ultimate guide to building a fully automated supermarket (part 2)

1: Automate warehouse management procedures   A very obvious step to embrace automation is to digitize warehouse management. The Warehouse Automation Global Market Report 2022 says that the warehouse automation market is expected to grow by $31.03 billion in 2026. In fact, warehouse automation is becoming a trump card for retailers that want to leg up the aggressively evolving competition. Now let’s understand what automating warehouse management means. It starts with investing in a warehouse management system to automate manual processes, capture data, and manage inventory control operations. At the very basic, this solution speeds up order fulfillment and helps you keep track of your sales. Warehouse management system (WMS) software are of two types. A standalone WMS and an integrated one. An integrated WMS is usually an add-on from an Enterprise Resource Planning system such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP. A WMS optimizes 6 important warehouse operations. These include order receiving, put away, storage, order picking, packing, and shipping. The software integrates all this information into one system for complete visibility and tracking. 2: Invest in an Inventory management system Any grocery retail business looking to scale must leverage an automated inventory management system as its go-to instrument. Of course, manual operations appeal to companies early on since the most important thing on the list is to avoid nonessential expenses. But automation is the only way out when inventory levels rise, and processes become more complex. Investing in an inventory management system is essential for retail automation. This platform provides grocery retailers real-time inventory data at all stages and locations. Besides tracking inventory, it also forecasts demands and automatically updates the database. Another important feature of an inventory management system is stock visibility. It lets you know what inventory you have and where it is located. This gives businesses an accurate view of the inventory for optimal order fulfillment, reduce shipment turnaround times, and minimize stockout problem. 3: Automate stock procurement and replenishment Reordering products in time and ensuring satisfactory lead time while maintaining cost-effective inventory levels is a huge challenge. An effective stock replenishment strategy requires careful planning and a healthy inventory management strategy. To automate procurement and replenishment operations, investing in a vendor portal is a smart idea. It provides real-time visibility into product movements and customer’s needs. It automates traditional ordering processing using data from suppliers' and customers’ sides. This data includes sales, product transfers, and inventory levels. It reviews this information and sends inventory replenishment recommendations based on some set objectives. Once these recommendations are approved, it automatically sends the purchase orders to the supplier, and the cycle continues till the order is shipped. With such an efficient procurement replenishment system, a business can ensure higher in-stock percentages, strengthen relationships with distribution partners, increase sales and reduce operational costs. 4: Automate financial operations Automating financial operations is just as important as any other business function. When the financial processes are functioning efficiently, decision-making becomes faster. Besides automating tedious tasks like invoice generation, expense allocation, payroll and bookkeeping, you can also automate back margin calculations and allocation and reduce the chances of human errors.