CEOs in the retail sector appear to be slightly less confident about revenue CEOs in a cross-section of industries – only 44 percent are very confident as opposed to 50 percent overall. Long-term confidence levels (over three years) are about the same for retail CEOs as they are for CEOs in the other sectors. Somewhat surprisingly, considering the retail sector’s ongoing march into global markets, significantly more executives (40 percent) believe that better penetration of existing markets is the main opportunity for business growth over the next 12 months, compared to 29 percent globally. Improved customer service is seen as the key method of achieving competitive advantage and, thus, achieving this growth.
