Some of the most powerful economic stories are written not in boardrooms but in shopping carts and stores. A prime example of this is India’s retail and consumer goods sector. It underscores how the country’s young and large population, equipped with increasing incomes and purchasing power, has ended up creating one of the largest consumer markets in the world.
Local retailers and consumer brands have been quick to capitalise on these opportunities. E-retail alone has surged to approximately $60 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), while quick commerce is projected to grow at over 40% annually through 2030.
What’s driving this growth isn’t just urban India, but rural areas as well. According to a NABARD survey, over 67% of monthly household income in rural India was devoted to consumption expenditure in November 2025. That’s the highest it’s ever been since the survey began in September 2024.
But with these opportunities come a fresh set of challenges for retail and consumer brands. Retailers, for example, have to manage multiple online and offline channels – physical stores, ecommerce platforms, D2C portals, social media, and more – with consumers expecting consistent and connected experiences across these touchpoints.
Meanwhile, consumer goods brands, which usually depend on hundreds or even thousands of distributors and retail outlets, often lack sufficient visibility into retail execution, trade promotion effectiveness, and consumer behaviours.
Addressing these challenges may require a complete industry transformation:
- From limited trade promotion visibility → real-time trade spend analytics
- From reactive store visits → data-guided field execution
- From manual store audits → AI-powered shelf and inventory monitoring
- From mass marketing → AI-driven, hyper-personalised engagement
- From fragmented customer data → a unified 360-degree customer view
- From store-centric retail → seamless omnichannel commerce
- From disconnected online and offline journeys → unified shopping experiences
- From static product catalogues → dynamic, data-driven product recommendations
Any industry transformation begins with proper planning and practical strategies. Keeping that in mind, we’ve outlined five key priorities for retail and consumer goods brands to focus on in 2026 and beyond:
| Retail priorities | Consumer goods priorities |
|---|---|
| Win more customers with personalised marketing: Use AI to deliver the right message, on the right channel, to the right person, at the moment they’re ready to buy. | Improve trade promotion effectiveness: Plan efficiently, budget intelligently, and track trade activity effectively with unified, real-time data. |
| Scale omnichannel commerce: With AI, simplify everything from setting up digital storefronts to bringing ecommerce to emerging shopper touchpoints. | Unlock perfect retail execution: Streamline planning, automate processes, and perfect store execution using a single, connected platform. |
| Elevate service: Maximise service efficiency – from the service portal to the contact centre and the field – with streamlined and automated workflows. | Action consumer data: Harness all of your data to gain actionable insights about consumers, and increase their lifetime value. |
| Supercharge your stores: Empower shop associates with modern digital tools and unified customer data to optimise their efficiency and service. | Grow customer satisfaction and revenue: Empower service agents with intelligent, integrated tools to deliver excellent service, increase sales, and maximise efficiency. |
| Strengthen partner relationships: Modernise your B2B customer experience. Increase productivity with AI, automation, and collaboration tools across sales teams, partners, and associates. | Personalise customer journeys: Create connected, tailored, and data-driven consumer experiences that drive revenue, and build loyalty. |
How to put these priorities into action: Lessons from 7 industry Trailblazers
Every retail and consumer brand wants to build unbreakable customer loyalty, and deliver profitable growth. The best way to do so is to learn from industry leaders who’ve paved the way.
Read our latest playbook featuring seven industry Trailblazers whose stories provide actionable tips and strategies on how to set new benchmarks in customer experience and revenue growth:
- Vedant Fashions unified online and offline commerce journeys
Impact: 100% increase in online conversions, 90% increase in add-to-cart rates - Sai Silks (Kalamandir) Private Limited personalised marketing
Impact: 3x improvement in engagement efficiency - Jaipur Rugs built a single customer view
Impact: 30% increase in case handling productivity - Meesho ensured seamless cross-functional collaboration
Impact: Issues that would take days to solve are now addressed in hours - Godrej & Boyce (G&B) adopted a ‘one CRM’ approach
Impact: Lead response time reduced from one day to two hours - Tata Consumer Products automated distributor management and retail execution
Impact: Distributor onboarding time reduced from 1 week to 45 minutes - Asian Paints replaced multiple disparate systems with one unified platform
Impact: Better understanding of consumer preferences
Chart your own path to success today.
The Winning Formula for Retail and Consumer Goods Growth: From 7 Industry Trailblazers
