From mass personalization to predictive inventory management, this report examines how emerging AI technologies are changing the consumer products industry.
Incumbent consumer brands are struggling to keep up with smaller, more nimble startups constantly defining new consumer trends.
In the CPG sector, these upstarts are launching new products at a rapid clip — as consumer giants like Kraft Heinz and Henkel watch their market shares erode. In fact, since 2013, $17B in sales have shifted from large CPG organizations to startups, according to data from IRI.
However, some consumer brands are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to increase the speed at which they respond to competitive threats.
For example, machine learning is helping brands customize products based on a consumer’s unique needs at scale. Predictive analytics is helping companies increase the efficiency of their factories and anticipate future consumer demand to optimize inventory flows. AI is also helping brands make data-driven decisions around sales and marketing initiatives to maximize customer lifetime value.
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Companies are experimenting with AI solutions at different stages of maturity through internal research and development as well as partnerships.
Using CB Insights data, we scored AI applications across the consumer products industry in terms of need maturity (i.e. does a consumer products company have a business need for this application today?) and tech maturity (i.e. can this technology add value to the business today?).
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