IBM study: Big Data boosts retailer, CPG performance

Armonk, N.Y. -- Retailers and CPG companies with leading stock prices are more likely than their lagging competitors to use Big Data analytics to understand and adjust to customer needs. According to a study of 325 senior retail merchandising executives conducted by IBM Center for Applied Insights in conjunction with Planet Retail, 65% of leading retail merchandisers feel Big Data analytics is critical to their business compared to just 38% of other retail companies.



In addition, 63% of top retail merchandisers have the data they need to conduct meaningful analytics while 33% of other retailers do not and 83% of leading retail merchandisers are focusing more on the consumer compared to 47% of lower-performing retailers.



Similarly, according to the new IBM/Kantar Retail Global CPG Study of more than 350 top CPG executives, 74% of leading CPGs use data analytics to improve decision making in sales compared to just 37% of lower-performing CPGs. And 37% of leading CPG companies make decisions predominately on data and sophisticated analytics compared to 9% of lower-performing CPG companies.



“These studies show that no matter where you sit in the retail ecosystem, big data can have tremendous impact on your success,” said Jay Henderson, strategy program director, IBM Smarter Commerce. “Leading retailers and consumer packaged goods suppliers are increasingly looking to the consumer to inform better business strategies. By using data analytics, these top performers are more in tune with retail trends that turn market opportunity into market leadership.”