Key macro trends impact retail, consumer goods and wholesale organizations' priorities

We met with 111 retail, consumer goods and wholesale executives to understand their top priorities. Climate change is the most impactful macro trend this year, affecting organizations’ processes, products and services. Technology and digital acceleration continue to raise customer expectations for a seamless customer experience, requiring agile supply chains, data-driven processes and legacy modernization. Inflationary pressures and new consumer buying patterns are new macro trends that reinforce these priorities. Discover more top trends and priorities.

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Key findings

Fighting climate change is critical
66% of executives cite the high impact of this macro trend

Inflation is transforming buying patterns
Inflation and new consumer buying patterns are the top 2 emerging macro trends

Customer expectations drive transformation
Becoming digital to meet customer expectations is the #1 industry trend

Innovation is key to meeting customer demand
Investing in new products or services is the #2 business priority

Better customer experience relies on better IT
Business executives identify IT modernization as the #1 IT priority

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What digital leaders do to accelerate results

Significantly more retail, consumer goods and wholesale executives (34%) say their organization is producing expected results from their digital strategy compared to last year (24%). When comparing insights from the 34% producing expected results from digital strategies (digital leaders) to those building or launching digital strategies (digital aspirants), common attributes emerge.

Digital leaders in retail, consumer goods and wholesale look to use actionable data and automation to address customer expectations and supply chain challenges, optimize processes and make insights-led decisions for a sustainable future.

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Are implementing or fully operational with the IT priority of improving the customer experience

Digital leaders

76%

Digital aspirants

26%
retail consumer goods digital attribute 2

Are implementing or fully operational with the IT priority of enhancing supply chain agility

Digital leaders

58%

Digital aspirants

20%
retail consumer goods wholesale digital attribute 3

Are in the “done” or “in progress” stages for artificial intelligence implementation
 

Digital leaders

29%

Digital aspirants

0%

5 recommendations for delivering on your customer promise

1

Enhance omnichannel customer experience
through IT modernization, unified commerce solutions and data analytics.
2

Increase supply chain agility
with AI-based tools for forecasting and replenishment.
3

Improve data quality
across the end-to-end value chain with real-time stock accuracy.
4

Optimize in-store and fulfillment center processes
using automation and select managed services.
5

Accelerate digital transformation
with excellent change management strategies and clearly defined leaders’ roles.

 

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At CGI, we help retail, consumer goods and wholesale organizations deliver on their brand promise through unique data-driven omnichannel customer experiences.

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