Ready for A(I)nything: Taking Stock of Retailers’ Readiness in AA/AI in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

By  Jessica Distler Inga Flicker Markus Hepp Felix Krueger, and  Melanie Krämer
Article

Advanced analytics and artificial intelligence will be key for companies in the coming years and decades. Yet, a 2018 BCG study showed that DACH as a region and retail as an industry fall behind. To understand possible reasons, BCG and Google conducted a joint study to examine the readiness of retailers and fashion brands in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to exploit the benefits of AA/AI.

Our survey findings indicate that most retailers and fashion brands in DACH are making some progress, but more than 70% of the companies we surveyed are less than halfway ready to deploy AA/AI at scale. True “Readiness” requires a certain set of capabilities; starting with the right mindset and a business led approach to building up AA/AI is pivotal to achieve full readiness. We provide a path for retailers and fashion brands to move up the ladder from active to ready for a future in which AA/AI powers success and drives competitive advantage.

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