60% of UK retailers report financial losses due to disconnected systems, according to the data from commerce integration platform Patchworks.  

Its Retail Integration report, based on research with 200 senior retailers, found that one in ten retailers lose over £1 million annually as a result of poor integration. Almost half (48%) lose more than £50,000 each year due to integration failures, and 14% say their annual losses exceed £500,000.

Only 27% of retailers describe themselves as fully connected and scalable, leaving the majority stuck in fragmented or reactive stages that restrict performance and agility, and ultimately profitability.

“Integration has long been thought of as background tech but really it’s the profit engine behind every transaction. When systems don’t talk to each other, retailers lose visibility, speed and ultimately revenue. As commerce becomes more connected and AI-driven, fixing these gaps becomes absolutely essential,” commented Jim Herbert, CEO of Patchworks.

Point of Sale (34%), CRM (32%) and ecommerce platforms (27%) are viewed as the hardest systems to connect, often leaving teams to manually bridge gaps and troubleshoot problems that drain time and resources.

The data also revealed that 31% depend on custom integrations requiring costly development, 20% use plug-ins that struggle to scale, and 18% rely on manual coding.

Only 13% have adopted an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) model, event though retailers that have made the switch report faster integrations, fewer errors, and lower operational costs. 

Paula Abasolo, Omnichannel Delivery Lead at Mint Velvet commented: “As we removed silo systems and enhanced integration, orchestration of processes has helped reduce friction and errors. We now have more control over BAU, less maintenance costs, ease of continuous integrations.”

“Our previous integration layer was like a ’black box’ to us-everything had to be handled by the vendor with no visibility. With iPaaS, its dashboard and direct access to a team, time to market on change requests and cost has greatly improved.”