Industry Vertical: Retail
It's well known that the retail sector uses APIs to process payments, track shipping, and send customers alerts. What's less appreciated is that retail also relies on APIs to help deliver cost savings, from efficient inventory management to streamlined software development.
API and automation
Retail tends to have slimmer net profit margins than other sectors—as low as 2% for grocery store chains. APIs can automate processes and reduce operating expenses. Forrester Consulting found that for every $1 spent on the Postman API platform, enterprise customers get a $4.49 return on their investment and an $8.17 million net present value over 3 years.
In 2023, over 1,500 retail professionals shared their views on APIs in Postman's State of the API Report, the world's largest and most comprehensive survey of API usage. We wanted to know what was uniquely important to retail. Below, we've called out three areas where the sector stands out from others when it comes to API usage and concerns.
Development priorities
Cost reduction is a bigger development-team priority for retail than any other sector, chosen by 43% of respondents in retail. Across all survey respondents, just 35% chose cost savings as a development priority.
APIs to save costs
The retail sector's focus on cost savings is reflected elsewhere. When it comes to deciding whether to produce an API, 36% percent of respondents said reducing operating expenses was a factor. That was higher than any other industry.
A focus on agility
Developers in retail particularly value the agility to respond to business needs. Seventy-one percent of retail respondents selected agility as a top priority for their development teams, more than in any other sector.
Postman can help
Postman has solutions for the retail sector, including collaborative workspaces, streamlined governance, and a private API network that maximizes developer productivity.
Private API Network
This central catalog of internal APIs supports versioning, which helps you control and manage multiple versions of your APIs in the network.
Workspaces
Postman's Workspaces let you invite teammates and even external partners to work on building products and services in a space that is shared, secure, and controlled.
Postbot
Postbot, the generative AI-powered tool, helps developers debug and understand APIs, write tests faster, and make sense of large quantities of data.
Role-based access controls
Implement fine-grained access control rules for entities and workflows through Postman Enterprise. Securely enable visibility and read/write permissions.
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