Why Danish Retailers Win on Service – and How Automation Supports It

Labour shortages and rising wages: why time is at a premium

Danish retailers face a double bind: fewer workers and higher wages. The question is no longer if they should automate — but where they must.

The Confederation of Danish Employers (DA) projects 150,000 fewer skilled workers by 2035, including 20,000 in retail (innovationsfonden.dk). To ease the gap, the government updated the Positive Lists in July 2025 and launched a Certified Employer Scheme targeting non-EU talent (Retail Times).

At the same time, the HK Handel–Dansk Erhverv collective agreement will raise wages for 180,000 retail employees by up to DKK 1,723/month (~€231, or ~€2,780 annually) by 2027 (hk.dk).

For a mid-sized shop with 10 full-time staff, that’s nearly DKK 200,000/year (~€27,800) extra payroll — the equivalent of hiring one extra employee every year without gaining capacity.

Why it matters: fewer hands + rising wages = wasted time has never been more expensive.

Routine work that drains time from customers

In Danish SMEs, routine admin often eats up 5–10 hours per week — or 250–500 hours annually. That’s the equivalent of 6–12 full-time weeks lost each year.

• Stock counts: 2–10 h/week fixing POS vs. webshop mismatches.
• Order processing: 2–3 minutes per order, adding up to 8+ h/week at 100 orders/day.
• Reporting: 1–5 h/week spent exporting and cleaning data, often outdated by the time it’s read.

Every wasted hour here is an hour not spent serving customers — and every mismatch risks a lost sale to online competitors.

What large players like Coop teach us — and why SMEs should adapt selectively

Coop Denmark automated workflows with Stonebranch, saving about DKK 1.9 million (~€255k) annually and freeing 300 staff hours per year — equal to 7–8 weeks of full-time work (TCS).

That’s a big win at scale. But for SMEs, the lesson isn’t to copy Coop’s IT stack — it’s to apply automation surgically, where the ROI is fastest.

Every hour counts: free staff to serve, not reconcile spreadsheets

The question isn’t only what wages cost — it’s what staff time is worth.

• Every Excel reconciliation is a lost sales conversation.
• Every delayed report is a slower decision.
• Every “phantom stock” incident pushes customers toward global competitors.

That’s why even thin-slice automation pays off.

Three practical fixes — with SME cases

1. Stock synchronisation that sticks

• Issue: POS/webshop data diverge → wasted hours + phantom stock.
• Fix: Start with nightly CSV sync; if mismatches >2%, move to real-time APIs.
• SME case: Brdr. D’s Vinhandel adopted POS, letting staff sell from online stock when shelves were empty.
• Impact: 2–10 h/week saved = 100–500 h/year (≈3–12 weeks).

2. Order flow automation

• Issue: Orders from shop, webshop, and marketplace require re-entry → 8+ h/week lost at 100/day.
• Fix: Aggregate orders into one feed; automate invoicing, stock reservations, and labels.
• SME case: Fotografit integrated its channels, freeing staff to run demos and customer events.
• Impact: 2–8 h/week saved = 100–400 h/year.

3. Automated reporting

• Issue: Manual reports take 1–5 h/week and are outdated on arrival.
• Fix: Use automated dashboards (start with daily sales per channel).
• SME case: Skagerak Furniture switched to tablets, giving managers live visibility and freeing staff to serve customers.
• Impact: 1–5 h/week saved = up to 250 h/year (~6 weeks).

When not to automate

Automation isn’t always worth it. Cases where manual still works:

• Single store with <200 SKUs (stock takes <1 h/week).
• Shops with <20 daily orders (Excel still efficient).
• Complex legacy IT stacks (integration costs > value).

Best practice: start small, prove ROI, then scale.

Rule of thumb: where automation pays

Cleaner data, happier teams, faster decisions

According to the Danish Innovation Fund, up to 40% of working hours in Denmark could already be automated with existing tech (innovationsfonden.dk, regeringen.dk).

Automation doesn’t just save time — it delivers intangible but critical gains:

• Cleaner data: Dansk Erhverv’s 2024 retail survey found that 41% of customers list inaccurate product data as their top frustration.
• Faster decisions: Managers act sooner when reports update daily instead of weekly.
• Staff morale: HK Handel has highlighted that repetitive admin is a key driver of job dissatisfaction (hk.dk).

Automation today — and what’s next

• Coop is deploying AI/ML on SAP S/4HANA with TCS to streamline audits and operations (Techcircle).
• Salling Group has partnered with TCS on cloud-driven, AI-led workflows across 2,100 stores (Economic Times).
• Self-service: Dansk Erhverv notes that 36% of large retailers plan to expand self-checkout/kiosks by 2026.
• Predictive inventory: Predictive analytics can reduce overstock and stockouts by up to 30% globally (Vusion, 2024), and Danish grocers are beginning to test these tools.
• Global perspective: The World Bank (2024) found firms adopting AI report 71% higher workflow efficiency, 52% better services, and 41% higher earnings.

What was once enterprise-only technology — predictive inventory, AI assistants — is now accessible to SMEs through cloud POS vendors.

Getting started: three steps for SMEs

1. Audit where staff spend >5 h/week on admin tasks.
2. Pilot one automation (stock sync or order flow).
3. Track ROI in hours saved within 3 months, then scale.

Takeaway

Labour shortages and wage rises are structural, not temporary.

• In simple setups, Excel is still fine.
• In multi-channel or high-volume shops, thin-slice automation frees months of staff time each year.
• The dividends: lower costs, cleaner data, and more time with customers.

Automation isn’t about replacing people. It’s about letting them focus on what global giants can’t copy: local service, speed, and trust.

If you’re running a retail SME, now is the time to identify your biggest time sinks. Start small, measure ROI, and reinvest freed hours into service. Want help? Discover how the right automation can save you weeks of staff time each year.