Today’s retailer and CPG firms are faced with high input costs, rising interest rates, and high customer expectations. Enterprises need new solutions to meet evolving customer demands, and they need their service providers to be efficient, delivering innovations that bring ROI quickly.
The HFS Horizons: Retail and CPG Service Providers, 2023 report explains the state of the retail and CPG industry as a whole and goes into detail about what firms need to do to thrive under the current conditions. The report shows that adopting digital transformation initiatives is increasingly vital for success now and in the future.
Key Takeaways for the Retail and CPG Industry
1. Budget Constraints are Preventing Essential Investments
Economic slowdowns and rising costs mean digital transformation initiatives are under-financed in the sector. The benefits of GenAI are known in the industry – it is the technology retailers most want to invest in. But many businesses can’t put money into it right now. Firms must optimize processes to free up the funds to make investments that will future-proof their business.
2. Data Analysis is Pivotal
Retail and CPG firms must embrace first-party data and GenAI-enhanced analytics. These drive innovations that improve supply chain operations, in-store shopping, and online experiences. This involves leveraging IoT, blockchain, cloud-native architecture, and AR/VR technologies.
3. Customer Interactions are Changing
The technology-centric nature of today’s consumers means businesses need to move beyond traditional communication modalities. Hyper-personalized, seamless, omnichannel experiences delivered at every stage of the customer lifecycle are pivotal for ongoing prosperity in the retail and CPG market.
4. Community-building is Driving Business Success
The growing socio-cultural diversity, eco-consciousness, and circular economy initiatives are driving the expansion of subscription and membership models that foster loyalty. Firms must adopt community-driven, data-backed brand strategies that are underpinned by a focus on purpose and ethics to thrive in today’s market.
Sutherland is the Innovative Digital Transformation Partner Retailers Need
The HFS Horizon report placed Sutherland in the category for enterprise innovators – Horizons 2.
The report describes Sutherland as an innovative service provider with the ability to transform end-to-end retail and CPG services and create unmatched stakeholder experience, setting us apart from many of the other 24 service providers surveyed.
Clients praise our responsiveness, high performance, continuous process improvement, reliability, extreme flexibility, collaborative approach, and emphasis on sustainability. Partners also say they have benefitted from the team’s knowledge and industry and domain expertise.
As an end-to-end digital transformation provider for the retail and CPG industry, our customizable solutions span the value chain, from CX360 for customer engagement to Sentinel AI for the digital workplace. With these solutions and the data they produce, we enable clients to deliver consistent, high-quality services for consumers across channels and achieve significant uplifts in metrics such as CSAT, conversion rate, and sales volume, maximizing customer lifetime value.
With well-rounded capabilities across global delivery, talent, domain, and change management, we can integrate technology quickly, onboard staff, streamline back-office processes, and reduce headcount. These optimizations ultimately produce significant cost savings, freeing up capital so today’s retailer and CPG enterprizes can invest in the emerging technologies that determine business success.
"Sutherland excels in delivering measurable results through standardized tools, persona-based talent, and innovative solutions,” said Ashish Chaturvedi, Practice Leader, HFS Research.
We keep ourselves and our clients at the cutting-edge of technology development through new co-development initiatives, including a joint innovation lab funded by Google, a GTM partnership with Microsoft for Connect Azure, and co-located teams at Stanford research labs. Retail and CPG businesses that partner with Sutherland are always several steps ahead of their competition.
These strong references demonstrate how well-aligned we are with the current needs and values of the retail and CPG industry. Identified by HFS Horizon as an innovative leader in retail industry digitalization, and with over 37 years of experience in business optimization, we are the transformation partner your business needs for future success.
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