Only 45 percent of retailers are scaling artificial intelligence across their operations, even as businesses committing heavily to the technology generate three times higher revenue and earnings growth.

According to research highlighted this week by Boston Consulting Group managing director and partner Charlie Reid, operators treating artificial intelligence as a core discipline outpace rivals by triple on top-line sales and EBITDAR. Yet widespread experimentation across scattered pilots leaves the majority of commercial operators unable to convert software trials into balance sheet gains.

Fragmented initiatives and inadequate organisational changes continue to limit companies from translating investments into measurable financial returns, Boston Consulting Group noted in November 2026 findings.

Capital is flowing primarily into core store and supply chain operations rather than back-office corporate support. Retailers are largely bypassing enterprise applications across human resources, procurement, and finance because those departments offer lower immediate financial return.

Merchandising operations are providing the quickest path to measurable payback. Adjusting product assortment, pricing, promotion schedules, and vendor negotiations through artificial intelligence tools generates cash flow that operators use to fund broader technology rollouts. Getting shelf assortment right yields up to a 5 percent increase in like-for-like sales.

Fragmented rollouts and weak internal adoption explain why most deployments stall at the testing phase. Boston Consulting Group measures technology implementation through what it terms a 10-20-70 operating breakdown: algorithms account for 10 percent of the transformation, data and systems represent 20 percent, while people, operating processes, and institutional structure dictate the remaining 70 percent.

Tools fail when buyers and floor staff lack clear authority or incentive to execute automated guidance.

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