The survey by Sapio Research, covered more than 100 online retailers.
- 83% believe that automation will drive future online retail growth.
- More than 75% respondents said they were handling up to 50,000 orders per day, with this rising to 75,000 orders per day for some during peak periods, putting pressure on warehousing and delivery.
- Some 45% are sure that a lack of staff to fulfil orders was a key hurdle to meeting delivery schedules while 42 per cent highlighted order errors.
- 74% of respondents have less than half of their warehouse management processes currently automated.
- 49% cent are planning to further reduce manual warehouse processes before their next peak spell.
- Majority of online retailers marked that customer expectations on delivery have risen significantly over the last five years, and 59% of those admit that meeting these expectations is the biggest challenge they face.
- More than 75% beleive that increased warehouse automation would help them improve their customer service capabilities.
- 48% are planning to change their order fulfilment processes in the future with 49% believing that increased automation will enable them to handle orders more quickly and efficiently during peak periods.
- In addition 41% said it would help them to respond to orders more quickly
- 38%said it would help reduce picking and packing errors.