5 Ways Top Consumer Products and Services Leaders Are Beating Their Competition in 2025

After three years of passing higher costs to consumers, consumer products and services companies have hit a wall.

The overnight success of AI, changing consumer expectations, and mounting pressure for improved business practices have exposed how poorly equipped many industry leaders are for what comes next. Most still run their businesses like it’s 2019—focused on defending market share, making minor product improvements, and relying on price increases to protect margins. 

But a small group of consumer products executives has broken away from the pack. By rethinking everything from how they use technology to how they measure success and connect with customers, these companies are building new kinds of consumer businesses. Their successes show what’s possible for consumer products companies in 2025 and beyond. 

1. Artificial Intelligence: From Experiments to Enterprise-Wide Impact

Consumer products companies will spend more on AI in 2025 than in the previous three years combined. In fact, 76% of consumer products and services executives work at companies that are currently increasing their AI investment. On top of this, 67% of consumer markets leaders expect to increase their cloud budget specifically to make the most of generative AI.  

Meanwhile, a concerning gap has made itself apparent in the numbers—84% of executives in other industries count generative AI among their top five priorities, while only 37% of consumer products executives do. While tech-savvy competitors race ahead, consumer products companies dragging their feet on AI risk becoming the next Blockbuster in a Netflix world.  

The forerunners are already enjoying the fruits of their labor. John Lewis has invested in AI-driven software from Quicklizard that captures and matches prices from 25 major retail competitors, allowing store staff to update prices daily. VusionGroup uses AI to analyze shopper data and optimize store planograms for cross-selling and promotions.  

Throughout this article, we’ll contrast two groups of executives: the Old Guard, who stick to traditional management approaches, and the New Guard, who are changing how consumer products companies operate. Let’s look at how each group tackles the AI opportunity: 

Old Guard: These executives greenlight scattered AI projects in marketing, supply chain, or customer service. They measure success through cost savings alone. Their companies run dozens of disconnected pilots without a coherent strategy for scaling what works. 

New Guard: These leaders start with the consumer experience and work backward. They ask how AI can solve real customer problems, not just cut costs. Their companies build AI capabilities that connect across the business—from predicting demand to personalizing products.  

2. Portfolio Management: Beyond “Acquire and Forget”

Portfolio management in consumer products is taking a new direction in 2025. Seventy-six percent of consumer goods and services CEOs who recently completed acquisitions plan to make more deals in the next three years. And about 60% of consumer executives plan to increase their acquisitions this year, with top performers 20% more likely to pursue these deals than their peers. 

The market saw major moves in 2024, including Mars’ bid for Kellanova and Unilever’s planned ice cream business separation. Meanwhile, private equity firms are holding consumer brands longer than they previously did—the average ownership period stretched to 6.3 years in 2023-2024, up from 5.1 years in 2019-2020. 

Old Guard: These executives make occasional big acquisitions followed by years of minimal change. They hold onto declining brands hoping for a turnaround. Their companies become collections of semi-related businesses without clear strategic logic. 

New Guard: These leaders constantly evaluate their portfolio against consumer needs. They buy strong brands to drive growth and use M&A to accelerate digital transformation. Their companies combine aggressive pruning of weak brands with rapid scaling of winners. 

3. Pricing and Promotion: The End of Spray-and-Pray

The approach to promotions shows a clear split in 2025. Seventy-six percent of executives plan to offer more sales discounts and promotions than they did in 2024. Their confidence comes from improved analytics—about 74% report they can now set more precise prices and promotions than before 

Real results back up the value of targeted approaches. Beiersdorf’s Nivea achieved 9% organic sales growth in Germany in the first half of 2024 through better targeting of consumers. The focus on price-pack architecture is growing too—mentions in earnings calls among top consumer products companies grew 52% from 2023. 

The contrast between old and new approaches to pricing and promotion reveals two different worlds: 

Old Guard: These executives respond to sales pressure by flooding the market with promotions. They measure success by total promotional lift without considering long-term brand impact or profitability. 

New Guard: These leaders use advanced analytics to identify exactly which shoppers need what incentives. They track promotion effectiveness through new metrics like household penetration and purchase frequency. Their companies design promotions that build brand loyalty instead of just driving short-term sales. 

4. Consumer Connections: Targeting Moments That Matter

Consumer products and services companies are reconsidering how they connect with shoppers in 2025. The old model of mass marketing to broad demographics is fading as companies discover the power of context and occasion. 

While 69% of consumer executives plan to increase their marketing budgets in 2025, the more important statistic is that 79% will direct more of that spending toward digital channels and platforms. They’re doing this because digital marketing allows for targeting specific moments in consumers’ lives. 

This occasion-based thinking represents a change in strategy. Among food and beverage executives, 85% now organize their planning around occasions rather than product categories. This means thinking less about “our cereal business” and more about “the breakfast occasion”—including all the ways consumers might solve that need. 

Let’s examine how different leaders approach consumer connections: 

Old Guard: These executives invest in traditional marketing channels with broad demographic targeting. They measure campaign success in reach and frequency metrics. Their companies treat consumer data as a marketing asset rather than a strategic resource. 

New Guard: These leaders build systems that respond to individual consumer needs and contexts. They invest in real-time data platforms that connect marketing, product development, and operations. Their companies organize around specific consumer occasions—not just selling snacks but solving for “healthy afternoon energy” or “family movie night. 

5. Organization: Breaking Down Bureaucracy

The race to rebuild company structures is speeding up. Nearly all consumer products executives (96%) have put productivity improvement at the top of their 2025 agenda. While 82% plan to increase productivity investments overall, the best performers are committing even more resources.  

Companies that cut unnecessary complexity report real gains. Their decision-making speed and market response times have improved by 74% over recent years. Many businesses (65%) now aim for a globally governed but locally executed model to balance central control with regional flexibility.  

The organizational approaches of Old Guard and New Guard leaders tell very different stories: 

Old Guard: These executives maintain traditional functional silos. They add digital teams without changing how core groups operate. Their companies move slowly because every decision requires multiple approvals. 

New Guard: These leaders organize around consumer needs rather than internal functions. They combine AI capabilities with human judgment. Their companies make faster decisions because they’ve eliminated unnecessary management layers and approval steps. 

Will Your Consumer Products and Services Company Join the New Guard? 

The coming year presents consumer products companies with a handful of choices. They can stick with comfortable old approaches and watch their relevance fade. Or they can embrace new ways of working that match how consumers live and shop today. 

The winners will be companies whose leaders: 

• Deploy AI to solve real consumer problems, not just cut costs 
• Build portfolios around consumer needs rather than historical categories 
• Use data to make smarter pricing and promotion decisions 
• Find ways to connect with an increasingly disconnected customer base 
• Create organizations that move at digital speed 

The tools and capabilities exist. The market rewards await. The only question is which leaders will seize the opportunity. 

About the Author

Milos Tucakovic is a Managing Partner at Stanton Chase Belgrade. He is also Stanton Chase’s Consumer Products and Services Global Sector Leader.   

Milos has almost two decades of executive search and leadership advisory experience, and prior to this accumulated nearly 30 years of human resources and management experience.   

Milos is a member of the Serbian Association of Managers and Knowledge Committee of Serbia. He also lectures on management at the College of Hotel Management in Belgrade.