From Data Chaos to Competitive Edge

This brief draws on IHL Group’s 2026 retail technology survey data to document four things: what separates Sales and Profit Winners from Laggards; the operational cost of fragmented data infrastructure; why growing AI budgets produce poor returns without a unified foundation; and what the winning technology posture looks like in practice.

These findings are a wake-up call for mid-market general merchandise, pharmacy, and cosmetics retail leadership: executives at apparel chains, mixed goods retailers, and hard goods retailers managing between 5 and 200 locations who are evaluating their technology roadmap for 2026 and beyond.

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CTO Advice provides research and guidelines to help technology leaders modernize business infrastructure, scale operations, support teams, and protect corporate data through insights from industry-leading sources.

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