Unlocking potential in the consumer sector
Our study found that 90% of consumer sector leaders have a positive outlook for growth in 2023, four points higher than global C-suite executives across all industries. This is despite external trends like rising inflation, energy prices and competition which are still ongoing challenges.
Leaders in the sector reveal that the priorities their businesses will focus on in the next five years are: transforming IT; a new or revised sustainability strategy; restructuring and cost reduction; and reviewing supply chains, operations and processes.
C-suite executives expect emerging technologies to have a big impact on their organisations. For this reason, understanding automation and artificial intelligence, in particular, will be essential for their future growth.
With new technologies comes higher cyber security risk, but retail & consumer executives are confident in their level of data protection (64% say completely protected, similar to 66% globally). Over half think the cyber risk has increased in the last year but a strong majority (91%) are confident they can manage these risks.
In line with global peers, CxOs in retail & consumer are committed to sustainability reporting, but lack confidence in overcoming data quality challenges.
However, the sector lags behind when it comes to budgeting costs to implement sustainability strategies and reporting, with only 60% of respondents having done so compared with 65% across all industries.
Over half of organisations in the consumer sector (55%) have more than 30% of their leadership positions held by women, 11% higher than the global average.
Businesses in the consumer sector are committed to gender equality and social inclusion, with 63% having dedicated ‘gender equality and sexism’ programmes, 10% higher than organisations globally.
This sector has not fully returned to pre-pandemic work-place norms and problems remain, 58% report ongoing challenges with remote work (10% higher than other industries globally).
Mature markets are experiencing a shift in consumer demand patterns as consumers move away from traditional products and services towards those consistent with environmental, social, and governance goals. Our study ‘Sustainable, smart, and synchronised’ explains how consumer companies can harness ESG and digital transformation to thrive in this changing environment.
Integrated services that help you manage change and drive value
Expert analysis on the latest consumer industry insights in the UK.
Based on insight from more than 800 executives from 27 countries, we uncover what business leaders across the globe really think amidst a backdrop of inflation and economic instability, increasingly complex rules and regulations, growing energy prices and geopolitical tensions in our latest C-suite barometer 2023.
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