How is Digital #Transformation really doing in #Retail & #Consumer?

Even today there are companies in Retail & Consumer where leadership does not have the preparation, experience, and time to lead transformation programs of any kind (business, digital, data driven, etc.), with rhythms cadenced in a demanding roadmap, while it must also manage the day-by-day in order to compete and survive.

Nothing new compared to the first business & system transformation with large ERP platforms 30 years ago.

Digital Transformation (DT) is a path with a high impact of change (cultural, organizational, methodological, and even scientific) that requires more than ever leadership and sponsorship at the highest levels of the organization, with very pragmatic and progressive commitments to be taken with the whole organization, customers, and suppliers necessary to achieve realistic results.

Successfully launching and completing DT in Retail & Consumer means embracing new digital technologies to relate to customers and suppliers in very sophisticated ways compared to the past, and make them become an enabler of competitiveness, if not survival in the market.

For example, negotiate with suppliers and make decisions in merchandising and promotions based on simulation scenarios that anticipate sudden changes in consumer demand, with very sophisticated segmentation, up to personalisation.

Or work collaboratively with logistics partners for supply chain visibility by groups of product categories, using common platforms for product allocation & replenishment in DCs and directly in stores, in a very accurate and demand-driven way.

In addition, integrate the customer experience in the physical store with digital channels (Converged CX) without discontinuity with what happens at home, as requested by consumers as the next step of online shopping.

There are several examples in Europe of companies in Consumer markets that have successfully completed or are at an advanced stage of a journey to become "digital enabled", just to name a few from my customer set.

1. K-GROUP (EUR 16bn of turnover) in Finland and the Baltic region, for some years has become a "data driven" company, where business processes and decisions are based on analytical and scientific methods adopted by the entire organization, including the more than 900 independent licensees that manage the stores, and which today is implementing the Converged CX in stores after the success of online shopping in grocery.

2. SALLING GROUP (EUR 8.9bn of turnover) with strong presence in Denmark, Germany and Poland, to maintain its leading positions in some countries for some grocery segments (including online shopping) has extended its digital journey to Converged CX in stores, pushing in the automation of supplies and fulfillment with CFCs (Customer Fulfillment Centers).

3. SAISBURY'S (GBP 35.1bn of turnover) in the UK, has launched one of the largest multi-year transformation initiatives in the supply chain to enable personalization, automation, and differentiation from competitors in the Converged CX and underline its priority in food ("Innovate & Automate").

4. WAITROSE (GBP 7.3bn of turnover) in the UK, has decided to extend its presence in unified commerce to make its organization as "agile" as possible, and segment consumers in a very sophisticated way both in physical and digital.?

5. MIGROS (EUR 30.9bn of turnover) present in the DACH region, is digitizing in an integrated way the point-of-sale processes with the central functions (marketing / merchandising / supply chain) to respond in an agile way to sudden changes in consumer demand, ensuring a widespread Converged CX in all its store formats.

6. ABinBev (EUR 53.9bn of turnover) based in The Netherlands, the proprietary B2B digital marketplace BEES for marketing the vast catalog of premium and mass market beers has brought in five years a DT of the entire company, generating only in 2022 32bn USD of GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) with distributors and final retailers, equal to 59pc of the entire global turnover of the group, plus 1Bn USD in DTC.

7. DIAGEO (GBP 17.1bn of turnover) spirits, beer, and ready to drink based in the UK, has for years been a global data-driven company from marketing/sales processes to the supply chain, using sophisticated methods that extensively apply ML techniques. Today the group is engaged in further phases of DT, such as SC Agility 2022-2027 with which it is creating the "Fit-for-purpose" supply chain for Brand and Customer, with the most advanced digital and automation techniques and methodologies, also making use of Generative AI.

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