Decoding Retail and CPG Growth: Insights from Recent Investor Reports

What are the key challenges keeping leading retailers and CPG brands up at night, and how are they pivoting their strategies to stay ahead?

To get a pulse on these questions, I took a deep dive into the most recent investor relations reports from top brands across Retail and CPG. I reviewed Best Buy (Retailer), Mondelez International (CPG), Ulta Beauty (Mid-Sized Retailer), PepsiCo (CPG), and Kimberly-Clark (CPG) to uncover key trends and challenges shaping their future. Each brand, despite their distinct markets and customer bases, is tackling some strikingly similar issues—driving customer loyalty, optimizing supply chains, and balancing operational efficiencies with revenue growth. Below are 2 key observations for each of these companies, along with insights into how they are leveraging data, technology, and strategy to stay ahead. 

Best Buy & Subscription-Based Loyalty with Deeper Engagement

Best Buy’s Totaltech membership program continues to be a cornerstone of its strategy to build deeper customer loyalty. By offering premium tech support, exclusive discounts, and free shipping, Best Buy is shifting towards a subscription-based revenue model that enhances customer stickiness and increases lifetime value (Best Buy Q4 2024 Report, February 2025). The move reflects a broader trend in retail, where brands are turning to membership-based models to drive predictable revenue and strengthen long-term relationships.

Best Buy & Data-Driven Personalization

Leveraging customer data across multiple touchpoints, Best Buy is enhancing personalized recommendations and promotions tailored to individual shopping behaviors. Through advanced analytics, the company can create dynamic offers and product suggestions that drive higher conversion rates and retention. As consumers become more selective, targeted and relevant offers are becoming table stakes for retailers aiming to protect market share. 

Mondelez International & Category Expansion via Targeted Premiumization

Mondelez is focusing on “premiumizing” its product portfolio and expanding its footprint in high-growth categories like biscuits and chocolate. The company's strategy to emphasize high-margin offerings while tapping into emerging consumer trends has paid off, driving organic revenue growth of 4.3% in 2024 (Mondelez Q4 2024 Report, February 2025). This strategy reflects a sharp focus on aligning product innovation with changing consumer preferences for indulgence and health-conscious snacking. 

Mondelez & Hyper-Personalized Promotions

Mondelez continues to refine its precision marketing approach, using first-party data to develop highly targeted promotions and product bundles. By understanding customer preferences at a granular level, the company can drive higher frequency of purchase and increase basket size, particularly in competitive global markets where consumer loyalty can be fragile. 

Ulta Beauty & Loyalty Expansion

Ulta’s Ultamate Rewards program, with 40+ million members, remains an important growth engine. Ulta is enhancing its loyalty program by using customer insights to tailor offers and product recommendations that align with individual preferences. By deepening engagement with existing customers, they’re driving higher average spend and frequency of visits (Ulta Q4 2024 Report, March 2025). This data-driven approach is strengthening Ulta’s competitive moat in beauty retail. 

Ulta Beauty & Omnichannel Integration

Ulta continues to advance in blending digital and in-store experiences to deliver a seamless shopping experience regardless of channel. Through buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS), ship-to-home, and virtual try-ons, Ulta is reducing/removing friction points in the customer journey while creating opportunities to upsell and cross-sell across channels. 

PepsiCo & Strategic Pricing

PepsiCo’s pricing optimization strategies have helped to navigate inflationary pressures while maintaining strong volume growth. By leaning into advanced analytics and demand forecasting, PepsiCo has been able to adjust pricing models dynamically, ensuring that margin growth does not come at the expense of market share (PepsiCo Q4 2024 Report, February 2025). Price sensitivity is high, and so mastering its elasticity is most definitely a competitive advantage. 

PepsiCo & Operational Agility

PepsiCo’s multiyear productivity initiatives are focused on driving supply chain efficiencies and investing in strategic growth areas. Their ability to balance operational agility with demand forecasting helps maintain consistent product availability, even during periods of global volatility. 

Kimberly-Clark & Volume Gains Through Innovation-Led Growth

Kimberly-Clark’s Powering Care strategy has fueled 3.2% organic sales growth in 2024, driven by volume gains and product mix enhancements. By focusing on innovation and premiumization in key categories, K-C has effectively protected market share and positioned itself for higher-margin growth (Kimberly-Clark Q4 2024 Report, January 2025). 

Kimberly-Clark & Productivity-Driven Margin Expansion

Strong productivity gains and supply chain enhancements have resulted in an improved gross margin of 200 basis points in 2024 for K-C. These operational improvements are allowing the company to reinvest in marketing, product innovation, and customer engagement, creating a virtuous cycle of growth and brand loyalty. 

The Common Thread: Leveraging Data for Competitive Advantage

Across all these brands, one theme stands out—data-driven decision-making is the linchpin of success. Whether it's Best Buy's subscription model, Mondelez’s precision marketing, Ulta’s loyalty program, PepsiCo’s pricing optimization, or Kimberly-Clark’s operational efficiency, leveraging data to enhance customer engagement, streamline operations, and drive sustainable growth is a non-negotiable for Retail leaders. 

As brands grapple with shifting consumer preferences, rising costs, and increased competition, those that harness the power of data to personalize experiences, optimize pricing, and drive loyalty will continue to lead the pack. This is where TCS expertise lies—helping brands unlock the full potential of their data to drive measurable business outcomes. 

If these insights resonate and you’re looking to explore how your organization can achieve similar results, let’s discuss how TCS can help. 

About the Author:

Matt B.

With over 15 years of experience supporting the success of Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, Matt Belanger is a seasoned New Business Development Executive at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Specializing in the retail and CPG spaces, he focuses on empowering organizations to optimize their marketing investments for personalized customer brand engagement and supports their sustainability investments to help drive positive change and transparency. Beyond his corporate role, Matt proudly serves as an active reservist in the United States Air Force. TCS's unwavering support for his dual commitment to military service and professional excellence underscores the symbiotic relationship between Matt’s dedication and TCS's commitment to individual growth.