PERSPECTIVE
Reinventing the future of retail
5-MINUTE READ
December 10, 2024
We’re witnessing a transformational moment in retail history. The power of generative AI (GenAI) is reinventing how retailers attract customers, operate their businesses and engage their employees.
Retailers who are ‘getting it right’ are investing heavily in upgrading both their digital core and business processes to gain insights and create efficiencies using GenAI. Leaders will reshape the industry by embedding sustainability throughout the enterprise to drive profitability, social responsibility and environmental resilience. Given this rapid rate of change, there is a massive opportunity for retailers of all sizes to capitalize on this moment and prepare for the future of retail. The time to act is now.
Reimagining how people will shop
Generative AI is revolutionizing shopping by making it a smarter and more personalized experience. Product discovery will shift to social and emerging platforms—disrupting traditional search methods. Large language models (LLMs) will become the new influencers, driving shopping decisions through recommendations.
As a result, identifying how to best link LLMs to a retailer’s product and brand information will be key to whether a brand’s product appears as a recommendation.
Bespoke omnichannel shopping experiences will become the norm with consumers driven to brands and products they trust and value. In-store experiences and expanded channels will be reimagined, embedded with increased localization and a focus on community.
Reshaping how retailers will operate
In the future, we’ll see functional silos break down internally and externally, replaced by responsibility networks.
AI-driven insights will power real-time decision-making across the organization, ensuring businesses can respond more swiftly to market changes and consumer needs and enabling smaller retailers to become more competitive with larger retailers.
New revenue streams will transform business models while strategic alliances expand across the value chain. Emerging technologies, such as GenAI, will fuel private label innovation and optimize product development.
Rethinking how employees will work
Technology will become a partner to retail employees in the workforce—where tasks will move from executional to supervisory. Employees will act when decisions fall outside defined automation and become enabled to offer a new level of customer service.
Workers will leverage AI and virtual agents for operational tasks and use data-driven insights to offer personalized recommendations. Self-service apps for frontline workers will also offer greater flexibility while driving efficiencies in stores and distribution centers.
Employees will be value-driven, seeking roles and employers where they feel a meaningful connection.
Six imperatives to get started
As retailers prepare for the future, there are six actions to take now. While each segment and size is unique, these imperatives will help you assess where to start in your reinvention journey.
Embrace the “era of recommendations" by strengthening your brand and optimizing products to be discoverable where consumers shop and recommended by LLMs. Use customer data to drive AI-powered personal recommendations, boosting customer engagement.
75%
of consumers wish they could identify options that meet their needs more quickly and easily.
Use live data and insights to adapt instantly to trend, market, inventory and consumer factors—dynamically adjusting curated product assortments, layouts and pricing that enhance local relevance and customer satisfaction.
60%
of companies aren’t using real-time customer interaction data to predict customer preference.
Develop hyper-personalized marketing campaigns that engage consumers across every interaction. Intensify focus on Retail Media Networks and in-store partnerships to unlock new revenue streams beyond traditional product sales.
78%
of consumers say it is important for conversational AI advisors to recognize them and remember their preferences.
Redefine the purpose of the store with interactive, digitally-powered and seamless experiences, tailored to various sizes and locations. Address profitability challenges by investing in tools that will reduce the cost to serve.
76%
of consumers who have some fun while shopping are likely, very likely or always recommend the brand to others.
Build resilient supply chains with insights and technology to mitigate disruptions, reduce costs and ensure product availability. Increase transparency across the value chain and optimize last-mile logistics without compromising profitability.
$1.6T
is the average revenue growth opportunity that businesses are missing each year due to vulnerability to disruption.
Provide tools to enhance employee engagement in all roles, promoting greater flexibility and automating repetitive tasks for better efficiency. Empower employees with upskilling, insights and solutions to provide greater customer service.
50%
of all working hours across retail have the potential to be impacted by generative AI.
Our promise: Meet you where you are
We will meet retailers where they are and provide the optionality and creativity to deliver with pace.
Accenture’s global technology, business strategy and consulting network is uniquely positioned to prepare retailers for the future. We address each retailer’s specific challenges and customize our approach to accelerate their path to value. Through our own transformation and use of GenAI, we have modernized our delivery capability and tech-enabled our industry experts to deliver the promise of pace.
We are connectors, creators and collaborators. We quickly and effectively derisk retail businesses by applying our global expertise and ecosystem partnerships throughout our delivery. Our bold execution framework allows us to ramp teams quickly—onshore, nearshore and offshore—to bring the power of One Accenture to our clients.
We look forward to reinventing for the future of retail—together.
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