HFS Horizons: Intelligent Retail and CPG Ecosystems, 2025

The HFS Horizons: Intelligent Retail and CPG Ecosystems, 2025 report is for retail and CPG technology leaders, CIOs, and sourcing executives evaluating service providers to scale AI-driven product innovation, omnichannel experiences, and ecosystem partnerships.

Overview

HFS Horizons: Intelligent Retail and CPG Ecosystems, 2025 is a competitive assessment of IT and business services providers supporting retail and consumer packaged goods (RCPG) enterprises. The report applies the HFS Horizons framework, which classifies providers as Horizon 1 Disruptors, Horizon 2 Enterprise Innovators, or Horizon 3 Market Leaders by innovation scope and value aspiration. The assessment draws on briefings with 27 participating providers, reference checks with 44 active clients and 36 active partners, and HFS Pulse survey data covering 15 service providers.

Key findings

1. The 11 Horizon 3 Market Leaders are Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, Deloitte, HCLTech, Infosys, Kyndryl, Publicis Sapient, TCS, Tech Mahindra, and Wipro, recognized for driving collaborative ecosystems, immersive engagement, and co-innovation.
2. Kyndryl reports a 95% client retention rate across its RCPG practice, while TCS’s AI-powered platform, backed by more than 8,000 patents, helped one of the world’s largest retailers save $2.5 billion in supply chain costs.
3. Cloud computing (26%) and analytics (21%) led client technology spending, followed by GenAI (10%), automation (9%), and agentic AI (7%), which now outpaces traditional AI (6%).
4. Accenture, Cognizant, and TCS were named the top three strategic providers by RCPG enterprise clients, cited by 25%, 19%, and 17% of 35 respondents respectively.
5. Only 29% of client references rated their providers’ innovation capabilities at 9 or 10, compared with 68% of technology partner references, underscoring a persistent perception gap between the two audiences.

HFS assesses that RCPG enterprises are taking a portfolio approach to technology investment, pairing proven, revenue-generating bets such as personalization and omni-fulfillment with longer-term wagers on sustainability and retail media networks. HFS finds that clients consistently question providers’ innovation capabilities even as technology partners rate the same providers positively across value proposition, execution, go-to-market, and market impact, pointing to a perception gap to close.

Research methodology

This report is based on briefings with customer experience leadership from 27 participating providers, reference checks with 44 active clients and 36 active partners, and HFS Pulse survey data featuring ratings of 15 service providers from CX decision-makers, fielded in 2025.

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