Transforming Consumer Industries in the Age of AI 2025

Top areas where AI technologies can drive value in innovation and growth practices FIGURE 14 Always-functional trend detection with contextualized insight extraction for 360° market understanding In silico R&D for ingredient/raw material discovery and product formulation before physical productionRapid ideation and concept generation Digital-twin-based simulations to test and refine offerings from synthetic consumers, de-risk large-scale rollouts and optimize engagement/market impact Continuous monitoring and analysis of product performance, market it and iterative enhancementsVirtual proposition testing and refinementScan of countless data streams to anticipate trends and uncover untapped opportunities Data- and Al-fuelled design process that creates more certainty, more efficiency and better outcomes Continuous learning and iteration through a sophisticated incubation toolkit A data-backed, flexible and adaptable “plug and play” process that allows multiple successful routes to market at scaleStrategic bet Reinvented processes Source: Accenture. 3.4 Customer and consumer engagement With the integration of AI, emerging technologies and new ways of working, companies can unlock a long-promised dream: genuine customer and consumer relevance. Ultimately, growth will come from targeting customers and consumers far more precisely than ever before so they experience less waste and frustration, making the right consumption experience consistently attainable. This will also derive from being able to access consumers who were not previously cost-effective to reach, particularly in more remote locations in less-developed areas. Both drivers involve advanced supply chain relationships. First, however, organizations need to be able to identify those hyper-personalized micro-segments. Projected impact of AI transformation of customer and consumer engagement mega processFIGURE 15 Source: Impact analysis of genAI from over 1,800 Accenture client engagements, including companies in the consumer industries.Building on these capabilities, companies could then deploy AI to drive the next wave of growth through more disruptive innovation and market expansion. In this way, innovation would become a constant loop of ideation, real-time co-creation with consumers and near-instant scaling. AI and genAI can synthesize a larger set of real-time market and consumer insights to recommend which product features – such as ingredients, packaging, recipes and shelf presentations – are most important to which consumers, why, and what they will pay for them. Just as manufacturers are creating synthetic consumers, producers are already using in silico R&D for raw material discovery and ingredient formulation. Figure 14 illustrates how AI technologies can accelerate innovation growth and make it more effective. 60% reduction in content production costs10-15% increase in brand NPS (net promoter score)20% increase in conversion rate Transforming Consumer Industries in the Age of AI 20