Executive Summary
NVIDIA has published its third annual "State of AI in Retail and CPG" survey report, revealing that AI has moved from pilot projects to full production with significant business impact. The survey indicates that over 90% of companies are actively using or assessing AI and plan to increase their budgets in 2026, citing tangible increases in revenue and decreases in costs. The report highlights key industry trends, including a foundational reliance on open-source models, the emergence of agentic AI for operational efficiency, and the use of physical AI to solve supply chain challenges.
Key Takeaways
* High Adoption & Investment: 91% of retail and CPG companies are using or assessing AI, and 90% plan to increase their AI budgets in 2026.
* Proven Business Impact: A significant majority of respondents report that AI has increased annual revenue (89%) and decreased annual costs (95%), with over 30% seeing changes greater than 10%.
* Open-Source is a Core Strategy: 79% of companies state that open-source models and software are moderately to extremely important to their AI strategy, enabling flexibility and avoiding vendor lock-in.
* Emergence of Agentic AI: 47% of companies are using or assessing agentic AI to increase process speed (57%), enhance customer experience (40%), and improve real-time decision-making (40%).
* AI for Supply Chain Resilience: Companies are using AI to address supply chain complexity, focusing on operational efficiency (51%) and meeting customer expectations (45%). Physical AI is also gaining ground, with 17% evaluating it for warehouse and in-store operations.
Strategic Importance
This report validates the retail AI market's maturity and underscores that AI adoption is now a critical driver of competitive advantage. For NVIDIA, it reinforces its position as a key technology provider for an industry that is significantly increasing its investment in AI infrastructure and software.