Implementer’s Guide to AI: Retail & Consumer Goods Leaders Shift from Experiments to Loyalty-Led Scale
ResearchNXT, in partnership with Salesforce, has released the latest edition of the Implementer’s Guide to AI, focused this time on the Retail & Consumer Goods (RCG) sector. Based on 260+ survey responses and insights from 3 industry experts, the report uncovers how AI adoption is growing in intention — but still shallow in maturity. The question now is no longer “should we adopt AI?” but “how do we scale it responsibly and turn AI into loyalty and growth?”
AI Is No Longer a Choice — But Scaling Remains Elusive
Half of RCG companies have already adopted AI in some form, signalling that AI is firmly part of the digital strategy. However, most remain stuck at the pilot or experimentation stage, without achieving enterprise-level transformation. Leaders have clarity on AI’s objectives — customer loyalty, growth, and operational efficiency — yet execution lags behind ambition.
Efficiency First, Now Shifting to Growth and Loyalty
The initial AI wave concentrated on cost optimisation and efficiency gains — the equivalent of “getting the basics right.” That focus is now pivoting toward driving revenue, enhancing customer loyalty, and shaping retention outcomes. As deployment progresses, AI is expected to move from backend optimisation to influencing purchasing intent and brand trust.
Key Insights from the Report
- One in two companies has adopted AI — but only a few have moved beyond pilots.
- Customer loyalty and growth have overtaken efficiency as core AI objectives.
- Chatbots and service automation are the most deployed use cases; hyper-personalisation is still in an early exploratory phase.
- 65% cite data fragmentation as a key barrier to scaling AI.
- Governance gaps, lack of compliant vendors, and talent constraints limit safe AI deployment.
- Brands face rising concerns about data privacy, hallucinations, and AI bias — all crucial in consumer-facing scenarios.
From Automation to Agentic AI: The Next Leap
The report highlights Agentic AI as the future state of AI maturity in retail. Built on Salesforce Agentforce, these autonomous AI agents can process signals across systems, act intelligently in real time, and orchestrate workflows without constant human involvement.
Agentic AI represents a shift from isolated automation to multi-agent orchestration — enabling proactive customer engagement, end-to-end workflow execution, and predictive decision-making at scale.
