Retailers spend 300 hours a year fighting work admin, study finds
The average retail business is spending nearly 300 hours each year consumed with admin in their day-to-day jobs, according to new research.
The study, from Brightpearl by Sage, who polled over 1,000 businesses, found that on average, retailers are spending an average of 5.7 hours weekly, 24 hours and 38.6 minutes monthly, and approximately 296 hours and 3.2 minutes annually on these tasks.
On average, they’ll wade through hundreds of admin tasks a month – with the study highlighting that working with spreadsheets, managing invoices and billing, analyzing sales reports, and stock replenishment are amongst the most despised manual jobs.
Of those polled, 66% of businesses said their work admin is increasing, with the burden having gotten so bad that seven in 10 respondents admitted they feel ‘totally overwhelmed’ by the amount of work admin they have to do.
Meanwhile, for 67% of respondents the knock-on effect of mounting admin means taking work home for the weekend because they can’t stay on top of it.
It has proven to be such an issue for 29% of retail employees they had to resort to taking annual leave in the hope of catching up.
Brightpearl product marketing director, Mark Hook, said: “The amount of admin we have to deal with in our work lives is immense. Retail businesses across the UK are really being suffocated by mundane tasks like order processing, invoicing, and inventory management, which is draining productivity, overwhelming staff and stunting growth.
“Rather than firefighting admin during the week – and increasing at weekends – retailers should be looking to reduce the admin burden by automating as much of their operation as possible.”
Brightpearl’s research also revealed that almost two-thirds (64%) of businesses believe that investing in automation tools would enhance their speed and efficiency, particularly in ecommerce, merchandising, and warehouse operations — sectors currently overwhelmed by admin tasks.
However, the adoption rate remains low in key areas. Only 38% of UK online stores automate their order processing, 31% automate email marketing, 26% automate inventory management, 22% automate returns, and a mere 15% automate their tax processes.
Hook added: “People don’t realise this, but many repeatable, and frankly, boring work tasks can be automated. Retailers should focus on automating everything from order fulfilment and returns, to inventory management, shipping, and tax. By automating repetitive tasks, retailers can save a significant amount of time and reduce the admin headache they are facing, freeing up valuable time for businesses to focus on growth and innovation.
“With so many online brands looking to reduce costs at pace, automation can also have a significant impact on overheads, and can make fast growth much more manageable.”
Join Brightpearl by Sage’s upcoming webinar where leading brands reveal how retail automation can save you 300 hours a year. Details are here: https://events.goldcast.io/
MOST HATED WORK ADMIN TASKS:
1. Filing away/clearing out emails
2. Logging data
3. Updating databases and documents
4. Anything involving spreadsheets
5. Completing tax returns
6. Financial administration
7. Handling returns
8. Managing payments and invoices
9. Sales reports and performance metrics
10. Inventory management and stock replenishment
