AWS for Industries
Top analyst groups recognize AWS in industry reports for work in retail and CPG
Few companies break the mold in retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG). Even fewer are successful year after year, especially with global disruptions pressuring the industry for nearly three years and counting.
What’s the secret to success? Recently, three leading industry analyst firms—Forrester, Gartner, and International Data Corporation (IDC)—have weighed in on this topic, citing Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a key resource for retailers aiming to stand out in this market.
In this post, we share our key takeaways from these analyst reports, offering you the chance to read and explore not only what each report has to say about AWS but also about the best practices and technologies driving today’s retail and CPG industry. Discover more below:
Forrester
Cloud is the most significant disruption in the technology industry of the past decade, according to Forrester. From ecommerce to traditional enterprise applications, more and more retailers rely on cloud technologies to run their mission-critical workloads. According to Forrester, “Expectations for supply chain logistics are more complex than for other industries. US consumers want options when it comes to fulfillment.” Forrester continues by saying, “Businesses are further driving supply chain agility with specialized technology. More retail, for example, is using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to improve forecasts and reduce waste due to poor predictions.”
Forrester says, “AWS is ‘coopetition.’ AWS’s ties to Amazon spark competitive concerns with some major retailers […] However, that’s only part of the story. Many retailers gravitate to AWS, given its ecommerce experience and dedicated service supporting these clients.”
Read the report to learn more about this, why Forrester recommends retailers start with ecommerce, and why retail companies must harness the power of cloud apps and platforms to transform their own businesses before nimble competitors start nipping at their heels.
Read the full report here.
Gartner
Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, 2022
Gartner recognizes AWS as a “sample vendor” in three innovation areas of its Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, 2022: retail industry cloud platforms, edge computing in retail, and artificial intelligence (AI) in retail.
According to the Gartner report, “Retail chief information officers (CIOs) can use this Hype Cycle to advise the business areas on how to cut through market hype when prioritizing retail technology investments to support unified commerce [implementation] in a disruptive and unpredictable digital business environment.”
Born from retail and built for retailers, AWS retail cloud solutions empower retailers to create exceptional experiences built for the future of retail. Read the report to learn about the drivers of retail industry cloud, AI for retail, edge computing to help retailers make data-driven decisions, and more.
See why Gartner recognized AWS as a sample vendor here.
Hype Cycle for Consumer Goods, 2022
Beyond retail technologies, Gartner also recognizes AWS as a “sample vendor” for consumer goods. In its Hype Cycle for Consumer Goods, 2022 report, Gartner recognizes AWS as a sample vendor in three innovation areas: Industry Cloud Platforms, IoT, and Blockchain in Manufacturing.
All three areas are important; but compared to its 2021 report, Gartner says, “The most significant change came in the movement forward in industry cloud platforms.”
Industry cloud platforms is a fast-moving topic. In one year, industry cloud platforms moved from “innovation trigger” to the “peak of inflated expectations” on the Hype Cycle for Consumer Goods graph, with cloud providers launching industry cloud platforms to create more compelling propositions for mainstream customers.
In addition to this, Gartner gave industry cloud platforms a “transformational” benefit rating, recognizing technology that “enables new ways of doing business across industries that will result in major shifts in industry dynamics,” Gartner writes.
Learn more about why Gartner recognized AWS as a sample vendor and the business impact of industry cloud adoption here.
International Data Corporation (IDC)
China: Big data analysis practice in retail and consumer goods industry, 2022
Recent IDC research from China states retailers must embrace a seamless integration of physical and digital products, services, and experiences for sustained growth. The research calls out AWS and its work with more than 1,000 retailers and ecological partners in China and abroad, highlighting how we select the tools—AI/machine learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), microservices, data lake—that are uniquely needed for customers to improve performance and efficiency and cut costs.
When it comes to cutting costs, IDC features a case study on Shinho, a leading high-end condiment production company in China. In the report, IDC states, “By investing in AWS, Shinho plans on saving on intangible costs, such as investment resources and technical team building in the big data infrastructure. Shinho is expecting a better return on investment in the future.”
Read the report to learn about factors of technical architecture selection, data security and compliance, understanding application value, and more here.
Find out more about how AWS supports the retail and CPG industries as well as some of our customers.