The trends that will shape trade marketing in the coming years — is your company ready?

If one phrase sums up the coming trend for trade work, it is digital transformation. Streamlining processes through digital tools is an increasingly widespread norm, and it brings new and higher standards of quality, along with new benchmarks for execution, compliance and response to the market — that is, agile, dynamic moves. On top of that, digital transformation rests on something no activity, and least of all field work, should ever lose: flexibility and the ability to adapt to change. 

Research by Blue Yonder among 300 senior retail and e-commerce executives shows that in 2021, 50% planned to fully automate their distribution centers to strengthen their position with customers. E-commerce has not stopped growing and, alongside it, so has automation of distribution networks. Today 14% of retailers have automation at their distribution sites and 21% expect full automation within the next 12 months, which is the 50% growth we mentioned.

The question of retail automation looks decisive: 64% of retailers currently offer online purchase services, with click and collect and a contactless shopping experience. Another important point is modern distribution options. According to an analysis by Teamcore, emerging micro distribution centers will double over the coming years, driven by an emphasis on customer-centered distribution. That obviously means a larger and more scattered network of stores to supply. 

The challenges, then, are real-time inventory visibility and organization. In the reports cited, 36% of retailers named as a priority the need to implement real-time improvements in inventory visibility and management. For 51%, the problems come from stockouts at distribution centers, and that is the point to strengthen in order to drive higher sales and margins across every channel.

The answer to these challenges lies in the same dynamic movement that drives them: digital transformation. With a geo-management tool such as GDW Trade, GoDoWorks empowers companies and equips their marketers to steer improvements in their work and take intelligent action grounded in clear, consolidated, up-to-date information.

Streamlining processes strengthens field productivity and improves the management of inventory, prices and promotions and the location of staff, improving every aspect of supply in order to meet retail's demands. 

At GoDoWorks, we work alongside the companies that today, more than ever, need to steer their processes toward that higher productivity.