Report says retailers plan to spend 34% more on tech to meet sustainability goals

Retail executives think increased spending on technology will help them reach both operations and sustainability goals, a new report from IBM and the Consumer Goods Forum says.

According to the April 12 report, which included responses from more than 1,800 industry executives in 23+ countries, three in five retail organizations are “purposefully aligning sustainability and operations goals.”

And while 61% say targets for sustainability and operations are already mostly aligned, the majority of respondents feel their organizations need to change how they measure and monitor progress, in part because of “siloed” operations.

To do that, retailers are looking to data-driven technology, the report says. On average, surveyed executives said they plan to increase spending on technology by 34% in the next three years, in areas including automation, analytics, and AI, among others.

Bundle up: But the survey indicated that retailers are more likely to implement technology packages than standalone solutions: One popular combination among respondents included analytics, internet of things (read: hardware connected to the internet, like smart home devices), and robotic process automation.

Expect that spending (and those technology medleys) to show up in manufacturing and supply chain operations, which respondents list as the top business areas where they’ve established sustainability goals.