P&G Strengthens E-commerce with Petabyte-Scale AI Data Infrastructure, Reveals Full Strategy in Q2 Earnings

P&G Details AI & Data Strategy in Q2 Earnings

P&G sharpens ecommerce and AI as Q2 sales stay soft

Consumer goods giant P&G strengthens digital sales and AI investments

On January 22, 2026, the world's largest consumer goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble (P&G) announced Q2 FY2026 results (October-December 2025). Net sales were $22.21 billion, up only 1% year-over-year, but the company revealed the full scope of its e-commerce and AI investments.

CEO Shailesh Jejurikar announced during the earnings call that the company has "built a structured data lake housing petabytes of relevant data." He explained they are deploying AI tools company-wide across media production, shelf optimization, and supply chain management.

Background and Industry Trends

In the consumer goods industry, "omnichannel" behavior where consumers' purchasing crosses online and offline is accelerating. According to Marketing Dive, CEO Jejurikar noted that "retailers have become media platforms, and media platforms have become retailers."

The rise of "retail media networks" operated by major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target is fundamentally changing brand manufacturers' advertising strategies. Even giants like P&G find data infrastructure and AI adoption essential to address this shift.

Meanwhile, P&G's current performance is far from optimistic. According to CNBC, CFO Andre Schulten stated they "completed our softest quarter of the fiscal year," acknowledging slowing consumer spending in the US market.

Full Scope of P&G's AI & Data Strategy

P&G's data-AI infrastructure stands as the most advanced initiative in the consumer goods industry.

Petabyte-Scale Data Lake

According to WebProNews analysis, P&G has built an internal "10-petabyte-scale data lake." This data lake integrates traditional product and purchase research data with social media monitoring data, fan community information, and retail purchase behavior data.

They've eliminated data silos that were previously fragmented by department, establishing a system to understand consumer purchasing behavior from a 360-degree perspective.

Consumer 360 Data Platform

P&G's proprietary "Consumer 360" platform enables optimal advertising delivery to target audiences at the right frequency throughout the year. CEO Jejurikar explained they are "finding consumers receptive to our messages through programmatic and algorithm-based media buying."

Rapid Deployment via AI Factory

The internal "AI Factory" platform has successfully reduced AI model deployment time by 6 months compared to before. It's now integrated across approximately 80% of global operations.

Specific achievements include:

• Pampers product app: AI identifies diaper size with 90% accuracy
• Inventory management in Brazil: AI reduced out-of-stocks by 15%
• Fragrance development: Development speed increased 5x
• Retail media: Auto-bidding tools achieved "4x returns on brand sales"

Q2 Earnings Details

Let's examine the Q2 earnings details.

Overall Performance

Organic sales remained flat because price increases (+1%) were offset by volume declines (-1%).

Segment Performance

According to P&G's official announcement, segment performance was mixed:

• Beauty: Organic sales +4% (strongest performer)
• Health Care: Organic sales +3%
• Grooming: Organic sales flat
• Fabric & Home Care: Organic sales flat
• Baby, Feminine & Family Care: Organic sales -4% (weakest performer)

CFO Schulten explained that Q2 performance was affected by the rebound from "consumer pantry loading driven by port strike and hurricane concerns."

Impact and Applications for E-commerce Operators

P&G's initiatives offer important insights for e-commerce operators.

Digital Shelf Visibility is Top Priority

CFO Schulten stated, "The most urgent priority is that our core brands appear most strongly on landing pages." Securing visibility on the "digital shelf" of e-commerce sites is a top priority even for giants like P&G.

For small and medium e-commerce operators too, top rankings in search results and category pages, product image optimization, and review acquisition strategies will become increasingly important.

The Importance of Data Integration

As P&G demonstrated, integrating dispersed data to comprehensively understand consumer purchasing behavior is a prerequisite for AI adoption. E-commerce operators should start by building a foundation for unified management of their customer data, purchase data, and web behavior data.

Responding to Retail Media

P&G's achievement of "4x returns" on retail media like Amazon and Walmart shows that advertising investment on platforms significantly impacts ROI. Beyond owned e-commerce, advancing advertising strategies on marketplaces is another topic to consider.

Summary

P&G is accelerating investment in petabyte-scale data infrastructure and AI tools despite soft current sales. CEO Jejurikar stated they will "deploy this system across all businesses and regions over the next 12-18 months," signaling the consumer goods industry's digital transformation is entering a new phase.

He also predicted "even more intense changes over the next 3-5 years" and plans to reveal more strategic details at the CAGNY (Consumer Analyst Group of New York) conference in mid-February.

For e-commerce operators, P&G's initiative should not be dismissed as "only possible for large companies" but rather watched as an important precedent indicating the direction of data integration and AI adoption.