KPMG report: Generative AI is accelerating its integration into the retail consumer goods industry, and companies are increasing investment in digital technology

China News Service, Beijing, September 24 (Reporter Zhang Su) A recently released report believes that generative artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly integrated into the consumer shopping journey, companies are increasing their budget investment in digital technology, and the global retail consumer goods industry is accelerating intelligent upgrades.

The "2026 Retail and Consumer Goods Industry Global Technology Report" was released by KPMG. Its survey data comes from more than 250 retail and consumer goods industry leaders in multiple segments. The report focuses on the current transformation status of the global and Chinese retail and consumer goods industries, analyzing the scale of AI adoption, data governance and security, and the adoption of emerging technologies. It aims to provide reference guidance for companies in the retail and consumer goods industries to promote large-scale AI applications and achieve business improvement.

According to the report, with the development and implementation of new generation digital technologies such as AI, companies in the retail and consumer goods industries are seizing the opportunities of technological change, increasing investment budgets in technology, promoting AI to be deeply embedded in system operating logic, transforming dynamic modeling of "people, goods, and places" to help businesses achieve refined operations, reduce costs and increase efficiency. Large-scale deployment has become an inevitable trend in future enterprise technology narratives.

The report believes that during this process, data security and governance are the key to accurate and effective implementation of technology. It is necessary to pay attention to the impact of data barriers and network security risks on intelligent transformation and strengthen the technological foundation of enterprises.

The report also believes that to build a mature AI model, companies need to face up to the many obstacles that currently exist, including a lack of transparency in the decision-making process, bias in responses or data, and theft of intellectual property. Issues of bias in data or responses and deepfakes or synthetic content are expected to become major issues in the next two years.

It is worth mentioning that survey data shows that companies have a high willingness to invest in the data field. Nearly half of the companies surveyed plan to increase investment by 10% or more, which is slightly higher than the investment ratio in AI.

In addition, judging from the adoption of current and future technologies, modern delivery models (XaaS) are currently one of the most widely deployed advanced technologies, with 17% of respondents stating that this technology has been fully applied in enterprises. Judging from the development trends in the next 12 months, edge computing, Web3 (third generation Internet) and digital twin technologies are all included in the important agenda of enterprise technology development. (over)