A new global study by RELEX Solutions, a leading provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions, reveals that while 57% of retailers and CPG companies plan to invest in predictive and generative AI in the next 3-5 years, AI and machine learning (ML) ranked just fifth in importance for overall technology spend behind enhancing e-commerce capabilities, improving inventory management, demand forecasting, and leveraging data analytics. This suggests that companies may be underestimating AI's role in tackling consumer demand volatility.
The RELEX State of Supply Chain 2024: Retail and CPG Dynamics report offers valuable insights into the challenges, strategic investment areas, and opportunities for retailers and CPGs over the next 3-5 years. Overall, respondents rated rapidly shifting consumer demand volatility (55%), global events & disruptions (50%), and inaccurate sense of customer-specific demand (43%) as the biggest threats to improving supply chain efficiency and accuracy over the next three years. A whopping 94% of respondents also said they have been impacted by social media influencing or "de-influencing" over the last 12-24 months – another sign that anticipating and sensing demand surges across all channels will be especially critical to success.
