To inform the agenda for the 2019 Consumer Industries Forum, Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) surveyed SAP customers in the retail and consumer products industries. Our findings show that while retailers battle the Amazon effect that’s forcing them to close brick-and-mortar locations, consumer products companies face tightening margins as a result of the buying power of not only Amazon, but big-box chains. For both groups, it’s essential to find new ways to stand out from the competition and run lean operations to stay profitable.
Customer satisfaction is critical for companies in these industries to differentiate themselves, and technology is likely to be a deciding factor in preparing them to serve digitally empowered consumers. For these two sectors, industry-specific concerns such as the on-site user experience for buyers play a larger role in technology decisions than industry-agnostic concerns (65% versus 35%).
Access the trends, pressures, and products of interest that surfaced from this study by downloading The State of the Retail and Consumer Products Industries report below.