What: Coresight reviews how retail still needs to get the basics right.

Why it is important: retailers are facing the necessity to evolve and reinvent themselves, but, prior to this, they need to make sure their operations are efficient.

This report by Coresight Research examines the key challenges that retailers face with in-store operations and inefficiencies around out-of-stocks, pricing errors, promotional execution, planogram compliance, and inventory allocation/assortment planning. Based on a survey of 150 U.S. retailers, the report finds that:

1) Over 90% of retailers experience significant challenges across these areas, resulting in an average 4.5% revenue loss.

2) The biggest obstacles are product pricing errors, lack of real-time inventory visibility, misplaced items, and overstocking/understocking.

3) Around 40% of retailers lose at least 6% in gross sales due to these inefficiencies. Over 70% lose more than 5% operating margin.

4) Around half of retailers are investing in store intelligence technologies like AI/data analytics, automated inventory tracking, price optimization to address these issues. More plan to invest soon.

The report highlights the billion-dollar sales opportunity for retailers by solving in-store operational challenges. It underscores the urgency for leveraging technologies to enhance efficiency, reduce losses, optimize pricing/promotions, and deliver superior customer experience to gain a competitive edge in today's dynamic retail landscape.

The state of in-store retailing: opportunities to redefine operations