How retailers can lead the charge in the AI future

Despite the growing momentum, many business leaders still engage with AI at a distance. 

Leaders need to take an artificial intelligence (AI)-led approach to transform the business model, people and systems for the human-AI workforce of the future. 

Businesses at the forefront of innovation are no longer seeing artificial intelligence (AI) as just a tool to boost efficiency, they are reimagining the entire customer journey and operating model with AI at the core, unlocking new levels of speed, innovation and personalisation. 

One of the more exciting developments in this space is agentic AI. Agentic AI is rapidly advancing – becoming more autonomous, more capable of reasoning and more sophisticated in how it interacts with systems and people. This brings a new level of intelligence to how consumer products and retail (CPR) businesses can serve and engage consumers. 

For instance, AI agents can analyse historical sales patterns, seasonal trends, and real-time market conditions to dynamically optimise inventory. That means fewer stockouts, faster turnover, and products on the shelves exactly when and where consumers want them, all whilst reducing costs. 

These agents operate with a defined degree of autonomy, enabling them to make day-to-day decisions like inventory replenishment and allocation, whilst still allowing humans to step in for high impact business decisions. 

This comes at a time when AI and data analytics capabilities are rising in strategic importance. According to the 2025 EY State of Consumer Products report, these capabilities are a top priority in the next three years for 45% of consumer product manufacturers and 52% of retailer respondents globally. 

Advancements in AI are helping businesses in the CPR sector overcome extended product development cycles and determine the best investment opportunities. 

The human-agent partnership is only the beginning. Gartner predicts that by 2028, one in three task related interactions with AI will involve intelligent and autonomous agents. 

This is what Gartner terms the “digital flip”, a turning point where winners will be those that let AI handle the heavy lifting. Over time, as these agents continue to mature, entire functions, from supply chain to marketing, could transition to being led by them, redefining how retailers operate at scale. 

Strengthening data infrastructure 
Yet, despite the growing momentum, many business leaders still engage with AI at a distance. 

Two-thirds of Southeast Asia respondents across sectors are still at pilot or proof-of-concept stages when it comes to deploying AI and analytics technology, according to the 2025 EY Reimagining Industry Futures survey. Only 6% have fully integrated AI into critical business and IT workflows across their organisations. 

Understanding the technology is no longer enough. It is time for leaders to move on from passive awareness to hands-on exploration, to bridge the gap between experimentation and widespread adoption. 

For CPR businesses seeking to scale the impact of AI, a robust data infrastructure is essential. It forms the foundation for collecting, storing, managing and integrating data from multiple sources, both internal and external, including legacy systems, cloud platforms and third-party applications. 

As AI adoption grows, so does the volume and complexity of data. A well-structured data infrastructure contributes to high-quality inputs for training AI models. 

Beyond managing data pipelines, a well-designed data infrastructure promotes interoperability between data systems and AI tools. This facilitates smoother workflows and collaboration across teams. For larger, more complex CPR businesses, this is especially critical to accelerate AI deployment and reduce the cost of training models in silo. 

Creating an AI-ready environment means treating data as a strategic asset. Business leaders must develop a clear, enterprise-wide data strategy backed by sound governance and aligned with business priorities.

Whilst perfection may be elusive, meaningful progress lies in building scalable, fit-for-purpose systems that adapt over time. This is what will ultimately power agentic AI to drive real transformation in the sector. 

Addressing talent and technology gaps
As agentic AI reshapes the CPR sector, businesses must address two critical enablers: talent and technology. 

The shortage of AI-skilled professionals highlights the urgent need for upskilling and reskilling existing employees. By building AI literacy across the workforce, businesses can quicken the pace of adoption whilst cultivating internal capabilities that deliver long-term competitive advantage. Attracting and retaining AI-savvy talent also becomes a strategic priority, ensuring the business is equipped to fully leverage emerging technologies. 

On the technology front, businesses face important choices between building, buying, or pursuing hybrid AI solutions. Whilst some may wait for AI capabilities to be embedded into existing enterprise systems, others may gain competitive advantage by investing early in tailored tools that address specific challenges across the product lifecycle. Either approach requires deliberate planning aligned to business priorities. 

Ultimately, successful AI adoption is not about isolated investments, but a holistic transformation. Businesses must foster a culture of innovation that encourages experimentation, and provide the tools and support for teams to thrive. 

Those that integrate AI deeply and strategically across functions will evolve into highly adaptive, innovation-driven enterprises — with faster decisions, greater operational agility, and an enhanced ability to respond to dynamic consumer expectations.

Disruption is more than the sum of parts 
The real potential for business disruption lies in the convergence of traditional AI, generative AI (GenAI), agentic AI, and other transformative technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G technology. 

When integrated, their combined impact is far greater than the sum of individual parts, enabling CPR businesses to reimagine outdated business models in ways previously unthinkable. To unlock this potential, they must identify unlikely sources of disruption and adopt flexible strategies. 

Future-back planning is one powerful approach. 

Importantly, to future-proof their businesses, leaders need to adopt a holistic approach – investing in data management and governance, skills, and technology innovation. By building agility, they can unlock continuous growth, sharper decisions, and smarter consumer experiences in an increasingly dynamic and digital world.