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As the retail industry continues to grow, so does the need for automation due to the increased quantity and magnitude of operations.
Indeed, research reveals that up to 40% of retail activities can be automated, and 75% of retailers have seen advances in productivity, revenue, and operational costs due to digitalization, particularly with the use of AI in CRM in retail.
Source: McKinsey
Modern retail CRM systems have evolved beyond simple contact management to become business intelligence platforms that:
- Unify omnichannel customer experiences across physical stores, e-commerce, and mobile touchpoints
- Leverage AI-driven predictive analytics for demand forecasting and inventory optimization
- Automate complex retail workflows from supply chain to customer service
- Provide real-time business intelligence for data-driven decision making
- Enable personalized customer journeys at scale across all touchpoints
Explore the key features of CRM in retail, the benefits of CRM software in the retail industry, and help businesses in choosing the best CRM in retail software.
1. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM solution designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It is known for its simplicity and intuitive design, making it easy for sales teams to manage their pipelines and customer relationships.
Key Features:
- AI Sales Assistant: Enhances efficiency by identifying patterns, recommending high-potential deals, and suggesting next actions to prioritize.
- Predictive Lead Scoring: This method uses AI to score leads based on their potential to convert, helping sales teams focus on the most promising leads.
- Call Data Entry & Collection Automation: Automates the entry and collection of call data, reducing manual workload and ensuring data accuracy.
- Real-Time Monitoring: Tracks customer interactions and CRM in retail data continuously, providing real-time insights and updates.
- Advanced Compliance Management: Helps ensure compliance with industry regulations and standards, maintaining data security and privacy.
Pricing:
- Starts from €14.90 per user/month.
- Free trial available.
2. Creatio
Creatio combines CRM with business process management, letting retailers design custom workflows without coding. The platform handles sales, marketing, and service in a single system, but its real strength lies in workflow automation for complex retail operations.
Key Features:
- No-code workflow builder lets you map out processes visually. If a customer returns an item, the system automatically checks inventory, updates the refund status, notifies the warehouse, and triggers a follow-up email – all without writing code.
- 360-degree customer view pulls data from every touchpoint: in-store purchases, website behavior, support tickets, and email campaigns. When a customer calls, your agent sees their complete history instantly.
- Marketing automation runs multi-channel campaigns based on customer behavior. Someone abandons a cart, they get an email after 2 hours and a push notification after 24 hours. The timing and channel mix adjust based on what works for each customer segment.
- AI-powered lead scoring analyzes which prospects are most likely to buy based on browsing patterns, past purchases, and engagement with marketing. Sales teams focus on high-value opportunities instead of cold leads.
- Mobile-first design means store associates access customer data and complete transactions from tablets or phones on the sales floor. No need to walk customers to a checkout counter.
Pricing: Starts at $25/user/month (Growth plan). Enterprise pricing varies based on customization needs.
3. Salesforce Sales Cloud
Salesforce Sales Cloud is a CRM platform that provides sales and customer relationship management tools. It is part of the larger Salesforce ecosystem, which includes a wide range of business applications.
Key Features:
- Einstein GPT for Next Action Recommendations: This tool provides AI-driven suggestions for the next steps in the sales process, helping sales representatives prioritize their actions.
- Call Data Entry & Collection Automation: Automates the capture and synchronization of relevant customer and sales information from emails and calendars, reducing manual data entry.
- Conversation Mining: Analyzes sales calls to uncover trends and customer sentiments, providing insights that help refine sales strategies and address potential issues.
- AI-Powered Email Generation: Auto-generates personalized emails using CRM and external data, making it easier for sales reps to send follow-ups and introductory emails quickly and effectively.
- Low-Code Development: Allows users to customize and extend the CRM platform with minimal coding, enabling faster deployment and easier updates.
Pricing:
- Starts from €25 per user/month, billed annually.
- Free 30-day trial available.
3. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management
Microsoft’s retail solution combines CRM capabilities with robust ERP functionality.
Key Features:
- Natural language queries for business insights and automated report generation
- Integrated with Office 365 and Azure cloud services
- Power Platform for low-code customizations
- Built-in ERP functionality for financial management
- Copilot AI for natural language interactions
- Multi-tenant cloud architecture
Pricing: Starts at $65/user/month Free Trial: 30 days
4. Zoho CRM Plus
Zoho’s suite approach provides value by bundling CRM with complementary business applications.
Key Features:
- Zia AI Assistant for voice-activated CRM interactions and intelligent insights
- Suite of 45+ business applications
- Global retail operations with localized pricing and taxation
- Extensive field, layout, and workflow customization options
Pricing: Starts at $35/user/month (CRM Plus bundle) Free Trial: 15 days
7 key features of CRM in retail
1- Sales and inventory forecasting
Companies can use CRM to forecast sales and inventory levels. For example, based on past sales trends, the system can forecast sales for the coming quarter. It can also predict the inventory needs based on sales projections and current inventory levels. This guarantees that companies always have enough stock and avoids overstocking or stockouts.
Additionally, businesses can design and manage campaigns that target specific products or categories directly through CRM. For example, if the CRM identifies a slow-moving product, companies might launch a promotion to increase sales.
2- Logistic operations automation
Automating logistic operations makes shipping, processing refunds, and providing customer assistance easier. For example, after a transaction, a CRM in a retail system can generate shipping labels, update tracking information, and manage return requests. This feature helps avoid human errors and saves time in the logistics process.
3- Store operations automation
Companies can use automated tools to analyze daily sales, manage employee schedules, and generate targeted marketing campaigns. For example, suppose the CRM in the retail system reveals that a given store location has a larger customer volume on weekends. In that case, businesses can adjust employee schedules to ensure they are adequately staffed during peak hours.
4- 360° customer view
This provides a comprehensive picture of each customer’s interactions with the brand. Customer information, including contact details, purchase history, preferences, complaints, and interactions with marketing campaigns, can be accessed from a single source. This feature offers sales and marketing teams personalized insights, such as recommending a new product to a customer based on previous purchases.
5- Low-code no-code development
Low-code/no-code development allows organizations to customize the CRM solution without extensive coding knowledge. It often involves drag-and-drop interfaces and prebuilt modules. For instance, companies could use this feature to create a custom report that shows sales by product category for each store, or design an online customer service survey.
6- Reporting & analytics
This feature helps generate actionable reports and insights on customer behavior. For instance, analytics could show that customers in a certain age group prefer a specific product category. Based on this data, you can create targeted marketing campaigns for this demographic, increasing sales and customer satisfaction.
7- Customer service management
This feature allows companies to manage all customer service interactions through various channels, such as phone, email, and chat. It ensures that all customer inquiries are tracked, managed, and resolved promptly.
For instance, if a customer sends an email asking about a product, the CRM in the retail system could automatically route it to the appropriate support agent and track response time, which helps to improve customer service.
How does Customer Relationship Management (CRM) benefit businesses?
- Higher customer satisfaction: With CRM, companies can track customer preferences and purchase history to recommend products that they are likely to be interested in. Businesses can also use CRM to send targeted marketing messages to customers based on their interests which would increase customer loyalty and improve customer experience.
- Increased sales: CRM helps track customer interactions and identify opportunities to upsell and cross-sell products. Companies can also create targeted marketing campaigns that are more likely to convert leads into customers.
- Reduced costs: CRM in retail software can help companies reduce costs by automating tasks such as customer service, sales, and marketing. With CRM, organizations can also improve their inventory management to reduce waste and improve the bottom line.
Suggestions for finding the right retail CRM software
Suggestion 1: Identify your needs and must-haves
First, understand your specific needs for a CRM. These could include tracking customer interactions, managing customer data, or automating store operations. Also, consider ‘must-have’ features like integration capabilities with existing systems, mobile access, customization options, etc.
Suggestion 2: Consider the size of your business
The size and nature of your business plays a big role in deciding the type of CRM software you need. If you’re a large retailer with multiple outlets, you might need a more robust CRM with advanced features like predictive analytics, inventory management, etc. If you’re a small business, a simpler CRM with basic features might suffice.
Suggestion 3: Check out our retail CRM software benchmarking
We conducted research on the available CRM software in the retail business based on market presence and different capabilities such as real-time monitoring, calendar, no-code development, and so on. We have included the top vendors in our benchmarking based on the number of B2B reviews on review sites such as G2, Capterra, and Trustradius and the number of employees, as they are verifiable.
You can read our article on the top 10 retail CRM software here.
Suggestion 4: Try out demos before you decide
Most CRM vendors offer free demos or trial versions of their software. Take advantage of these to get a feel for how the software works, its user interface, and whether it suits your needs. A hands-on trial can reveal the pros and cons that you may not find in product descriptions.
Suggestion 5: Plan the migration process
Almost all businesses rely on a tool to keep track of relationships. This could be as simple as your email client or spreadsheet or it could be as complex as an on-premise CRM tool. Migration requires at least:
- changing user habits
- transferring existing data
- setting up new integrations (e.g. connecting CRM to calendar and email applications)
FAQ
For those interested, here is our data-driven list of CRM software.
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Further Reading
Principal Analyst
Cem Dilmegani
Principal Analyst
Cem’s work has been cited by leading global publications including Business Insider, Forbes, Washington Post, global firms like Deloitte, HPE and NGOs like World Economic Forum and supranational organizations like European Commission. You can see more reputable companies and resources that referenced AIMultiple.
Throughout his career, Cem served as a tech consultant, tech buyer and tech entrepreneur. He advised enterprises on their technology decisions at McKinsey & Company and Altman Solon for more than a decade. He also published a McKinsey report on digitalization.
He led technology strategy and procurement of a telco while reporting to the CEO. He has also led commercial growth of deep tech company Hypatos that reached a 7 digit annual recurring revenue and a 9 digit valuation from 0 within 2 years. Cem’s work in Hypatos was covered by leading technology publications like TechCrunch and Business Insider.
Cem regularly speaks at international technology conferences. He graduated from Bogazici University as a computer engineer and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.
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