Increasing digitalization of grocery retail and quick commerce reveals insights about managing complex supply chains at scale and shifting revenue streams from product sales to data monetization. How are the roles of retailers changing? What happens if marginal cost goes to zero? How might new models change the grocery value chain? Building on earlier future of commerce themes, this note illustrates the challenges and opportunities of next generation retail trends in the grocery sector, including automated order management, logistics optimization, automated fulfillment centers, and the outlook for the future.

Consumer products companies were beset by changes on all sides during the 2010s. Customers were increasingly turning to ecommerce platforms rather than shopping in-store. Meanwhile, nimble, digitally-savvy competitors were gaining market share by capitalizing on the troves of newly available data on consumer preferences. Alibaba was the largest ecommerce platform company globally and operated in China, which was seen by many as an image of the future of western markets. In 2017, Alibaba launched the Tmall Innovation Center (TMIC) which provided a range of services to support innovation for companies selling through the Tmall business-to-consumer platform. These included robust consumer insights backed by data from across Alibaba and mechanisms to rapidly solicit customer feedback. Armed with the TMIC, consumer products companies were learning that effectively targeting consumer preferences required a new approach to product development which had far-reaching implications across roles, skills, and organizational structure.

China's digital commerce platforms engage billions of consumers daily across a number of routine tasks from banking, retail purchases, travel, gaming, payments, and more. These platforms are the most sophisticated/informed and highest performing/capable in the world. While often business leaders refer to Amazon as a leader in digital exchange, this case highlights the vital areas where the Chinese platforms lead. Of special note is the merging of the retailers' on and offline capabilities into a unified consumer experience. Retailers like Walmart China have fundamentally altered their business model and federated with these Chinese platforms to build a better consumer experience, sell more, and manage costs and investment. While not all of these practices are globalizing, the non-china platforms are copying them fast to reach the new global standards. Leaders need to be informed and respond.

In 2019, the retail and consumer product industries were undergoing a generational transformation. The consumer sector had gone through two other generational shifts in the past 50 years. During each shift, many legacy businesses lost share or outright failed. The businesses that survived and thrived had to grow new business models and competencies, while managing their pre-existing operations. The note explains the major transformations occurring to the global consumer sector in 2019 and how leaders reacted.