The Retail and CPG industry is going through tremendous upheaval. Pandemic-related store closures, supply chain issues, and staffing shortages have combined with fundamental shifts in customer buying behavior and technological advances. Although many of these trends predated the pandemic, they have been heavily accelerated by it.

Omni-channel shopping experiences: Consumers greatly desire a shopping experience that is available across channels—including multiple on-line devices and in person. More importantly, they expect that their shopping experience should be seamless as they jump between those channels. Harvard Business Review found that 73% of shoppers used multiple channels to discover and buy products. The importance of providing this superior omni-channel experience is not just a nice-to-have. According to PWC, even if people love your company or product, 59% will walk away after several bad experiences, and 17% will walk away after just one bad experience.

Retail and CPG melting together: CPG firms are pushing strongly into Direct-to-Consumers (DTC), and retailers are pushing more heavily into private labels. In addition to improved margins, one of the reasons for DTC is that it gives companies a lot more data about who their consumers are, what they buy, when they buy, etc. At the same time, retailers and CPG companies are using IoT and RFID to similarly make it much easier to track products through the supply chain. In both case, strong distribution and sales transaction data can provide profound insights through analytics and enable a superior customer experience.

Purchasing from companies that reflect consumer values: Consumers—particularly younger people—want to buy from a company that reflects their values including in areas such as the environment, climate change, diversity, and inclusivity. Forty seven percent of internet users say that they have switched products or services after a company violated their values.