Furious Rate of Change Overwhelming Many Execs

Retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) executives are struggling to keep up with the pace of change on a variety of fronts, according to a new study by professional services firm Genpact and HFS Research.

More specifically, the study – titled “The consumer goods and retail playbook for balancing the macroeconomic slowdown and race toward innovation” – found that more than 60 percent of retail and CPG executives feel challenged to keep up with the changing nature of demand, among the myriad of pressures in the post-pandemic world. Inflation, cybersecurity and supply chain disruption are the top three concerns.

The explosion of generative artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is also transforming how companies and their brands will operate, only increasing challenges with the pace of change.

“Retail and CPG companies struggle to balance the macroeconomic ‘slowdown’ with the  ‘big hurry’ to innovate,” said Saurabh Gupta, President, Research and Advisory Services at HFS Research. “Most companies are not investing across all the areas they need to meet. Beyond survival, they must take a balanced approach to their people, processes, sustainability initiatives and technology to thrive.”

HFS partnered with Genpact to survey more than 600 CPG and retail firms across the United States. United Kingdom, France, Germany. Japan, Australia and the Nordics in two sets of data in 2022 and 2023 to explore how they respond to macro and industry-specific trends, and to create a playbook to move from survival to emerge stronger out of the current storm.

Click here for the entire playbook.