Ford Halbardier

The coronavirus outbreak is a global humanitarian crisis that has affected millions of people. The economic impact of the pandemic can be seen across sectors, but it may be most widely visible in the consumer goods sector. News broadcasts and social media feeds are flooded with images of empty shelves that should house toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Consumers are shifting where they shop, what they purchase, and how much they purchase at an unprecedented scale and speed.

Ask any consumer-goods executive if his or her company has invested in digital and analytics, and you’ll almost certainly get an affirmative response. But ask whether those investments have yielded the desired results—and more than half of the time the answer will be no. Our research shows that only 40 percent of consumer-goods companies that have made digital and analytics investments are achieving returns above the cost of capital.