Retail workforce reimagined: The transformative power of AI
8 minute read
The workforce imperative: how AI is reshaping retail jobs, productivity and performance
We surveyed 250 retail leaders across the UK, France, Germany, United Arab Emirates and the US to understand how AI is transforming roles, skills and operating models across the sector.
This report explores how AI is reshaping retail jobs across stores, head offices and supply chains. Drawing on original research with senior retail leaders, it examines where tasks are already being augmented or automated, where human judgement remains critical, and how the balance between people and technology is likely to evolve over the next decade.
Crucially, it highlights the strategic choices retailers must make today to unlock productivity gains while maintaining trust, engagement and capability across their workforce.
What you can learn from this report
•How leading retailers are using AI to rebalance workloads, reduce low-value tasks and free up employees to focus on higher-impact activity.
•Where AI adoption is delivering the greatest productivity returns today, and which parts of the retail workforce remain most dependent on human judgement and customer-facing skills.
•How to identify tasks that should be automated, augmented or retained as human-led to protect service quality, governance and brand trust.
•What the rise of AI means for skills, training and workforce planning over the next five to ten years, including how retailers are building AI-ready capabilities.
•How retailers can deploy AI responsibly, ensuring productivity gains do not come at the expense of employee engagement, culture or organisational resilience.
Key report insights
•By 2035, the share of tasks that could be automated or augmented by AI varies sharply by function, from 37% in leadership roles to 73% in digital and technology operations.
•On average, retailers currently allocate around 30% of transformation budgets towards digital and AI-led initiatives, with online and hybrid retailers investing significantly more than store-led peers.
•68.8% of retailers (net balance) expect to increase AI investment over the next two years, rising to 74.8% over the next five years as adoption accelerates.
•Retail Economics’ modelling shows productivity growth (sales per employee) accelerating from 4–6% per year in 2025–2030 to 6–9% per year in 2030–2035 as AI matures.
