Interesting report on retailer confidence

Thinking about the recent Lotterywest survey of retailer confidence, salesforce has released a results of a study undertaken in partnership with the Australian retailers Association:

New research reveals retailers remain confident in the face of economic uncertainty

Retailers prepared to retrain sellers for a new reality of rising inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and regulatory uncertainty, according to new research from Salesforce

Australia, 12 December 2022 – Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, today released the fifth edition of its State of Sales Report, in partnership with the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), which reveals 83 per cent of ANZ retailers have strong confidence in their organisation’s ability to close deals despite changing social and economic conditions.

The report, which surveyed nearly 8,000 sales professionals worldwide including 135 sales leaders, managers and representatives who work in the retail and consumer goods sectors across ANZ, uncovered how sales teams are adapting to evolving external challenges and customer demands to drive efficiency, productivity, and success now for their business.

It found 78 per cent of ANZ sales leaders say selling is harder than it was two years ago, with unpredictable market conditions, competition with other businesses, and changing customer expectations amongst the biggest challenges to sale’s teams overall goals.

Yet despite ever-changing market conditions, retail sales professionals are prepared for the future. Eighty-two per cent of sales professionals are very confident in their organisations growth strategy over the next year, with 81 per cent feeling confident that on the whole their organisations are able to retrain or reskill their sales workforce for today’s new economy – with a renewed focus on productivity and efficiency.

Commentary on the report
Jo Gaines, Area Vice President for Retail and Consumer Goods, Salesforce said:

• “Today’s retailers are adjusting to a world that is more competitive, complex and resource-constrained driven by external factors like rising inflation, supply chain challenges and changing regulations. However, those that modernise their tech stack and leverage new technologies like artificial intelligence can create a more productive workforce that better understands who their customers are beyond a single moment in time.
• “This alongside improved cross-functional alignment between sales and marketing, customer service and sales operations is enabling efficiencies and freeing-up sales reps to focus on what they were hired to do: focus on the human side of selling and build meaningful relationships with their customers.
• “In the face of uncertain economic times, short-term sales opportunities are taking a back seat in favour of long-term relationship building. In the year ahead, retailers must focus on fostering customer loyalty to drive recurring sales and consistent growth.” 

Paul Zahra, CEO, Australian Retailers Association said:

• “The world of retail is evolving at an ever-increasing pace and sales professionals know better than most the importance of meeting the customers where they are. The pandemic accelerated changes and shifts towards omnichannel retail and demonstrated that those willing to harness technology and innovation to meet their customers needs were able to be resilient in the face of crisis.
• “Retailers who used the past few years to consolidate their technology strategy are now reaping the benefits of sophisticated systems set-up to support growth and success.
• “Post-pandemic, we face fresh headwinds – compounding economic strain, supply chain and resource challenges and labour shortages as well as the impact of climate change on customer sentiment and product and service offerings. It’s important for retailers to consolidate their learnings from the pandemic and to continue to listen closely to their customers and feedback from their sales teams to help navigate through what is bound to be another year of intense challenge – but momentous opportunity.
• “The ARA predicts Australians will spend a record $66 billion in the November to December pre-Christmas trading period this year, up 6.4% on last year’s spending. The higher numbers are driven largely by price increases as well as stronger food and hospitality spending, as Aussies enjoy their post-pandemic experiences. While these are great results, it’s important to acknowledge that price increases are a factor in these numbers and are also driving Australians to spend to get in ahead of inflation.
• “Despite the record sales numbers expected in the tail-end of 2022, retailers need to be preparing for an uncertain 2023. Agility, future focus and maximising efficiency are key skill sets needed within retail teams. Focus needs to remain customer-centric, as loyalty and retention are imperative to success in the coming years.”

Key findings:

• Retailers feel stifled by a complex and competing sales environment: Companies are moving away from high-risk growth strategies in favour of modest and consistent growth. Globally, 42% of respondents say company-wide sales strategies and selling techniques have completely changed since the pandemic, with a focus on value-based communication that aims to solve a customer’s or prospect’s biggest challenges. 
• Operational efficiency is taking on growing importance: Sales ops are expanding into a more strategic role, tasked with enabling sales reps to spend more time in customer conversations. Retailers say data-driven tactics, improving training on tools and technologies, and improving data accuracy and quality are amongst the most important factors to drive growth over the next year.
• Artificial intelligence key to enabling a productive workforce: Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more entrenched in day-to-day activities, with 45% of retailers saying AI has been a major improvement in the use of sales reps time, prioritisation of leads (41%), and gaining an understanding of the competition (39%). 
• Employers are focused on improving the staff experience: Retailers are looking to upgrade training and benefits to set employees up for success. But new headcount is limited – the turnover of sales professionals over the next 12 months is expected to be 26%. 
• Retailers strive to meet rising customer expectations: Customers are looking for sales reps to meet them wherever they are, regardless of channel: this includes ecommerce platforms, social media networks and personal assistants. Currently retailers connect with customers on an average of 10 channels, with email (86%), phone (86%) and social media (85%) being the most commonly used. 

 

Methodology
Data in this report is from a double-anonymous survey conducted from Aug. 24, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2022. The survey generated 7,775 responses from a range of sales professionals from across North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. All respondents are third-party panelists.

About Salesforce
Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360° view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com/au.

For more information
Download the full State of Sales report.