Key insights into the trends driving Benelux retail
TCS Global Retail Outlook Key Findings Report - Benelux
At TCS, we don’t just help businesses transform. We help them become perpetually adaptive enterprises, built to evolve continuously and confidently in a world of constant change.
We deliver excellence and create value for customers and communities - everyday. With the best talent and the latest technology we help customers turn complexity into opportunities and create meaningful change.
Point of views, research, studies - on the latest themes - to help you expand your knowledge and be future ready.
At TCS, we believe exceptional work begins with hiring, celebrating and nurturing the best people — from all walks of life.
TCS Global Retail Outlook Key Findings Report - Benelux
You have these already downloaded
We have sent you a copy of the report to your email again.
In 2026, success hinges on real‑time intelligence and AI‑led responsiveness.
The Benelux retail sector faces challenges related to employee development, operational costs, and margin pressures, demanding strategic innovation and efficiency to sustain growth.
This report, derived from the comprehensive TCS Global Retail Outlook key findings report, includes insights from 65 Benelux respondents and covers five subsectors. It is designed for senior leaders and decision-makers who want to understand the most essential capabilities and forces that will define success for Benelux retailers in 2026.
This report highlights:
Benelux retailers are focused on profitable growth, improving customer experience and loyalty, and modernising planning and forecasting capabilities.
The sector is grappling with challenges such as significant margin pressure, rising operational costs, and employee development, requiring strategic innovation and efficiency to sustain growth.
Key success factors include cost reduction through process optimisation, faster time-to-market for new products and services, and the use of AI agents to orchestrate complex business processes.
AI-powered chatbots, inventory and demand forecasting, and dynamic pricing are among the highest priorities, yet most Benelux retailers have not fully implemented advanced capabilities such as multi‑agent systems and enterprise‑wide human+AI collaboration.
The research recommends ensuring AI investments directly support core business priorities and capabilities and shifting loyalty programs from transactional discounts to data-driven personalisation, using first-party insights to anticipate customer needs and deepen engagement.
These insights can help retail leaders anticipate key factors impacting the Benelux retail industry and chart an effective strategy for sustainable success in the age of AI-powered retail.
Want to drive profitable growth
Plan to improve customer experience and loyalty
Want to modernise planning and forecasting capabilities
Advanced AI capabilities elude most Benelux retailers.
Other takeaways:
Loyalty programs are not yet factoring into most enterprise decisions.
Most retailers are still in the early stages of AI implementation. They are most mature in integrating AI in workforce planning and adopting systems that can identify unstated customer preferences. However, they are lagging in the adoption of multi-agent systems and capturing and digitising the unwritten expertise of experienced employees.
Retail’s next chapter in Benelux will be defined by how quickly organisations move from experimenting with AI to embedding it as a strategic, enterprise-wide capability to unlock new levels of decisions, speed, and agility.