Consumer Market & Retail

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The world of consumer & retail has been turned on its head in recent years. The impact of online and now the marketplace economy is visible everywhere. Many physical retailers are witnesses a fall in the number of visitors and consumer goods companies are struggling to make a direct customer connection. Additionally, we see new technolgy that is only increasing the complexity for firms in this sector. Take data and analytics and AI, which are enabling ever increasing personalisation for consumers, for example. Voice-activated digital assistants are expected to impact this process even more profoundly in the long term.

New technology in shops is contributing to increased customer experience and improving operational efficiency, but at the same time demands substantial investments on the part of firms. But there is more. As a consequence of demographic trends, there is an increasing demand for convenience, a trend that for example convenience stores (to-go) are responding to. Out of home consumption and to-door delivery are other examples. The steady growth of discounters that are slowly but surely usurping traditional service retailers. Conscious consumers and businesses that are rapidly becoming more insistent that companies operate in a responsible manner.

More than ever, brands are expected to be authentic, meaningful and reliable. Reputational damage is a threat with the potential cause a brand severe problems. And these are just a few of the many influences firms are subject to.

If companies to not react in time, they run the risk of losing turnover or margins, or even of going out of business. In the current era of the customer, the consumer determines which brands, formulas and products are successful. Your business is engaged in a battle with the competition to decide who has the best value proposition, which brand makes the best connection and which customer experience binds customers. And competition sometimes comes from an unexpected quarter, with players from outside the sectors conquering part of the market with an innovative approach. In addition, consumers are constantly raising the bar of their expectations as customer experiences improve across sectors. Companies that position their value proposition, brand and customer experience in harmony succeed in convincing consumers.

The qualities and capabilities of your company that influence those things must be coordinated with each other with a ‘customer first’ approach. Firms that succeed in this business transformation and focus their investments in such a way that the most important capabilities develop strongly will be ready for the future. We call this the connected enterprise and independent research by Forrester has demonstrated that companies that place the right focus on eight capabilities are clearly more successful than those that do not.

KPMG has been assisting the leading companies in consumer goods, food and drink and retail for years. Besides Audit and Tax we supply consultancy services for the front, mid and back office. For example, advice and support for strategic growth matters, mergers and acquisitions, operational excellence, supply chain and sourcing, innovation, data and analytics/AI, intelligent automation, marketplace and platform strategy, cloud transformation, ERP implementation, data privacy and cybersecurity.