Winning North American consumer goods companies are fundamentally rethinking their capabilities and operating models to meet the evolving needs of consumers and customers.
After an unprecedented increase in retail spending online in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce penetration across all categories continues to grow. Online sales in US retail jumped 40 percent year over year in 2021, and consumers are increasingly taking an omnichannel path to purchase: across all consumer categories spanning consumer electronics to groceries, about 75 percent of US consumers are researching products and making purchases in both brick-and-mortar and online channels.
Recent McKinsey research and analysis offers a detailed look at the trajectory of e-commerce in consumer goods for the next year (see sidebar “About the research”). Not only will the growth of e-commerce endure beyond the pandemic, but its evolution will also. The proliferation of new platforms, channels, and available data will only continue. This dynamic creates both opportunities and challenges for consumer goods companies as they determine how to best engage their customer bases. Executives will need to understand the landscape and place their bets carefully as they explore new innovations (such as the metaverse and live selling) while being mindful of the impact on their balance sheets. At the same time, they must also build the organizational ability to pivot swiftly and effectively into potentially greener pastures.
