In our “SYBIT Insights” interview series, we speak with experts about the future of digital customer processes. In this edition, Anders Landig, Teamlead Corporate Marketing at SYBIT, talks to Wilfried Baumgartner, Industry Advisor at SYBIT, about the developments shaping the Consumer Products, Retail and Wholesale industries. Together, they explore market shifts, changing customer expectations, data strategies and the role AI agents are set to play in the future of commerce.
Wilfried, you work closely with the Consumer Products, Retail and Wholesale sectors at SYBIT. What exactly does an Industry Advisor do?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
My focus is on understanding and interpreting change within these markets. Right now, a great deal is happening. New technologies, evolving customer behaviour and artificial intelligence are driving profound transformation across almost every industry.
My role is to analyse industry trends, technological developments and market signals, distil them into actionable insights, and make them relevant for both our customers and our sales teams. These insights ultimately form the basis for strategic conversations, consulting offerings and digital transformation initiatives.
Looking five years ahead, what do you think will change most significantly in Consumer Products, Retail and Wholesale?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
While these three industries will evolve in different ways, I believe they will also become increasingly interconnected.
In the Consumer Products sector, manufacturers will engage much more directly with end customers and, in some cases, take on the role of the retailer themselves. Retailers will increasingly evolve into platforms for loyalty programmes, service offerings and retail media. In Wholesale, digital customer proximity will become far more important. Wholesalers are already beginning to adopt capabilities traditionally associated with retail, particularly in areas such as customer experience and digital services.
So the boundaries between previously distinct roles are beginning to blur?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
Exactly. At the same time, we are seeing several trends driving this transformation.
The first is the growing direct-to-consumer focus among consumer goods manufacturers. Many companies want to establish direct relationships with end customers because access through retailers, marketplaces and digital platforms is becoming increasingly challenging.
The second trend concerns service-led business models, particularly for durable products. Value is no longer created solely through the sale of a product, but increasingly through additional services such as maintenance, spare parts, warranties, subscription models and upgrades.
Thirdly, data and AI are becoming fundamental prerequisites for successful business models. Competitive advantage will increasingly stem not from collecting data, but from activating and using it intelligently.
Finally, we are seeing the rise of Agentic Commerce. Although still in its early stages, it has enormous potential. AI agents are already assisting with product discovery, comparing offers and supporting purchasing decisions. In the future, they will increasingly be able to complete standard transactions independently.
Agentic Commerce still sounds like something from the future. What is actually changing today?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
Today, companies primarily optimise their websites, online shops and portals for people. We design customer journeys, build intuitive user interfaces and focus on creating seamless experiences.
AI agents, however, operate very differently. They rely on trustworthy product information, structured processes and standardised interfaces. For them, availability, pricing, delivery conditions and product specifications must be accessible in machine-readable formats.
As a result, organisations need to start asking themselves two new questions: How machine-readable are we? And equally important: How capable are our systems of supporting transactions initiated by AI agents?
Optimising for human users will remain essential. However, a second layer of digital interaction is emerging, one that follows an entirely different set of rules.
Humans will still be involved in the purchasing process, at least for now. What does that mean for businesses?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
Traditional search engine optimisation will remain highly relevant. Companies will still need to be visible when people search for products and solutions.
At the same time, a new discipline is becoming increasingly important: Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO).
This is about ensuring that AI systems can access reliable information and recognise a company as a trustworthy source. Organisations must make sure their data can be understood and utilised not only by people, but also by AI models.
In the future, this may also include technologies such as MCP servers and other integration layers that enable AI agents to interact with business processes directly. The challenge is to address the needs of both human customers and AI-based consumers simultaneously.
What might such a future scenario look like in practice?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
There are strong indications that consumers will eventually assign budgets or specific tasks to AI agents. For example: “Find me a pair of jeans for up to €100 and complete the purchase automatically if it meets my criteria.”
The agent would independently compare products, check prices and availability, and complete the transaction on behalf of the customer. The technical foundations for these types of standardised transactions are already being developed by leading technology and platform providers.
This creates entirely new demands on corporate digital infrastructures. In the future, it will no longer be enough to be easily discoverable by people. Companies will also need to be accessible and understandable to AI agents.
Will this only affect B2C organisations, or does it apply to B2B as well?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
It absolutely applies to B2B.
Professional buyers in particular stand to benefit from these developments. While the topic is not yet widely discussed, it is easy to imagine wholesalers and procurement organisations increasingly using AI agents to compare offers, place orders and assess suppliers.
Of course, success will depend on the reliability and security of the underlying processes.
Data seems to play a crucial role in all of this. Will companies simply need more data?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
Not necessarily more data, but certainly more usable data.
Today, customer data often sits in CRM systems, product data in ERP applications, service information in ticketing systems, and commerce data in online shops and portals. The challenge is usually not a lack of data but its fragmentation.
That is why we at SYBIT talk about concepts such as Customer 360° and Installed Base 360°. The objective is to bring customer, product, service and transaction data together into a single, unified view.
To achieve this, we use an integration architecture based on SAP Business Data Cloud, SAP BTP and SAP Business AI. Only when these different data environments are connected can organisations create a reliable foundation for AI applications.
Otherwise, there is a real risk that AI will simply accelerate and scale existing inefficiencies or errors.
Many organisations are currently looking to scale AI initiatives. If you were a CEO, where would you start?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
I would start with the data, not with the AI.
If I feed fragmented data structures into AI applications, I will not achieve reliability, governance or data quality. Organisations must first gain control of their data landscape from a technological, semantic and organisational perspective. Only then can AI deliver its full value.
What should be the main priorities for companies over the coming years?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
I would focus on three key areas.
The first is customer strategy. Companies need to determine who owns the relevant customer relationship and how it can be activated commercially. In Consumer Products, direct-to-consumer and business-to-business-to-consumer models will play an increasingly important role.
Secondly, in Retail, the focus will be on loyalty platforms and retail media. Retailers need a deeper understanding of their customers in order to deliver relevant services and highly personalised experiences.
Thirdly, Wholesale organisations must strengthen digital customer proximity. Self-service capabilities, digital services and improved customer experience will become increasingly important differentiators.
Across all three sectors, however, one principle remains constant: data is the foundation. Only with the right data strategy in place can AI become a genuine lever for scale.
If you had to summarise this conversation in a single sentence, what should companies do now?
Wilfried Baumgartner:
Companies should translate their strategic ambitions into concrete business processes, establish the necessary data foundation and then apply AI in a targeted way to make those processes more efficient, scalable and impactful.
Thank you for the interview.
Wilfried Baumgartner:
My pleasure.
Key Takeaway
The boundaries between Consumer Products, Retail and Wholesale are becoming increasingly blurred. Direct customer relationships, data-driven business models and Agentic Commerce are fundamentally reshaping the competitive landscape. To take advantage of these developments, organisations must first consolidate and activate their data before using AI to scale customer experiences, services and business processes.
