GCCs have emerged as strategic levers for retail organizations to drive efficiency, optimize costs and scale operations.
Arpit Dharma, Partner – Business Consulting, EY India
The global retail sector is undergoing a structural transformation driven by dynamic shifts in consumer behavior, digital disruption, macroeconomic headwinds and an increasing focus on sustainability. Forecasts project the global retail market to grow from $ 35.18 trillion in 2025 to $ 50.86 trillion by 2030, at a CAGR of 7.65%.
This growth is centred around fulfilling three imperatives – simplifying consumer lives, delivering differentiated experiences, and addressing holistic consumer needs. Retailers are navigating this evolution through deeper digital integration across channels, personalization at scale, circular economy models and agile last-mile delivery strategies. Simultaneously, as the consumer journey becomes increasingly non-linear, brands are focusing on seamless omnichannel engagement to ensure loyalty and differentiation.
To adapt to the evolving trends, Global Capability Centers (GCCs) have emerged as strategic levers for retail organizations to drive efficiency, optimize costs and scale operations, while also serving as catalysts for disruptive breakthroughs and radical reinvention. Over the last two decades, India has established itself as a hub for retail GCCs, offering a deep talent pool with a thriving ecosystem. With more than 1,700 GCCs employing over 1.9 million professionals and accounting for 55% of the global GCC market, India offers an ecosystem primed for cross-functional excellence. The GCC market in India is expected to grow to $110 Bn by 2030, with 110+ new GCCs being established annually and a projected talent base of over 2.5 million.
India currently hosts almost 25% of all retail GCCs globally, employing over 50,000 professionals. Advancing product and technology innovation, these centers are already helping retail companies stay competitive and deliver long-term value. Companies such as Best Buy, McDonalds and Inspire Brands are in the process of setting up or expanding their GCCs in India, while leading global brands such as Target, Tesco, Lowe’s, JCPenney, Fossil, lululemon, H&M, Circle K and 7-Eleven have either shown high-level of maturity in their respective journeys or are constantly evolving on the path of value delivery. These GCCs are at the forefront of driving innovation in areas as diverse as advanced marketing analytics, and demand prediction; a few are also incubating next-generation use cases around AI-enabled pricing, virtual try-ons and predictive inventory analytics.
The scope of retail GCCs has evolved significantly — from supporting back-office functions such as Finance and HR, to now being at the core of retail operations and innovation. These centers are increasingly involved in sales & marketing, store operations, product management, facilities & real estate, sustainability and merchandising. For instance, a luxury department store’s GCC in India manages 98% of its merchandising operations, from ratio packaging to category performance. Others are developing immersive 3D shopping experiences and intelligent sales assistants, reflecting a strong focus on enhancing customer engagement. Today, the next frontier of growth for India’s retail GCCs includes areas like channel management, sustainable packaging, network optimization, demand & supply planning and assortments, moving on to being at the forefront of enhancing customer and buyer experience. A departmental hypermarket chain’s GCC in India, for instance, has designed immersive 3D Shoppable rooms to elevate the online shopping experience. Similarly, another retailer is creating intelligent sales assistants providing personalized scripts and customer insights.
Nevertheless, these GCCs face challenges in aligning strategies with rapidly evolving consumer behavior, attracting & retaining specialized talent, and integrating legacy systems with modern technologies across e-commerce, retail operations, and distribution channels. Additionally, they need to maintain robust data security and regulatory compliance, demonstrate clear ROI, and effectively coordinate cross-functional teams in a decentralized setting. These challenges require retail GCCs to continuously innovate, adapt governance frameworks, and enhance operational resilience to maintain competitiveness in an increasingly consumer-centric marketplace. The most commonly faced challenge, especially for the older GCCs, is the gradually reducing cost arbitrage advantage, and hence the constant need to “deliver value” and “drive transformation”.
To cater to these challenges, India’s robust talent pool and cutting -edge digital infrastructure are revolutionizing retail GCCs. With more than 2.5 million STEM graduates annually and premier institutions offering specialized programs in retail and digital commerce, India meets the demand for advanced skills like UI/UX design, data modelling, journey mapping, and cross-channel campaign management. Hubs such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad combine deep domain expertise, superior infrastructure, and cost advantages. Complementing this is the vibrant startup ecosystem fueling rapid innovation and co-creation, prompting leading retail GCCs to partner with tech innovators and startup accelerators to prototype and scale transformative digital solutions. For instance, one of the largest retail platform companies is exploring the possibilities of innovation by partnering with start-ups through their accelerator program. On value generation, many of the GCC Heads are now focusing on moving from operational KPIs to value KPIs and measure the impact of the GCCs – in a way, focusing on the top line impact vis-à-vis only the traditional focus on bottom line.
Another significant development in the evolving retail sector is the widespread integration of technology across the value chain to sustain competitiveness. Many retail GCCs that are updating their technology infrastructure are making substantial investments in establishing and expanding data science-powered technology talent teams in India.
With the infusion of the right blend of talent available on demand, and a commitment to maintaining a competitive edge, retail GCCs are leading the way in leveraging emerging technologies to foster innovation and enhance stakeholder experiences, including employees, vendors, and customers. This technological shift, facilitated by low-code technology stacks such as RPA, workflow solutions, and chatbots, is now increasingly featuring Agentic AI-based automation as a critical driver of transformation. Unlike static workflows or rule-based task automations using RPA, Agentic AI combines LLMs (Large Language Models) with autonomous planning frameworks like LongChain and Crew.AI to create intelligent AI Agents that can reason, adapt, and act across diverse tasks.
In retail GCCs, this translates into AI Agents orchestrating supply chain alerts, tracking real-time inventory levels, and autonomously managing end-to-end order processing, fulfilment & claims process, handling customer interactions, analyzing historical sales trends to forecast demand and adjust pricing dynamically. For instance, one major US retailer’s GCC employs AI Agents to auto-summarize supplier contracts and optimize regional assortment planning, while another GCC leverages LLM-powered AI for multilingual product listing enrichment, a critical asset in markets like India and Southeast Asia.
Building on these technological advancements, the broader retail transformation is unfolding as a bold reality, reshaping the industry’s very core. India’s retail GCCs are emerging as strategic powerhouses that drive unparalleled cost efficiency and redefine global retail engagement. By seamlessly integrating next-generation digital solutions and agile operational models, these centers are not only breaking new ground but also demonstrating that the future of retail is happening now—with India at its epicentre.
This article has been contributed by Arpit Dharma, Partner – Business Consulting, EY India & Arindam Sen, GCC sector leader – Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecommunication, EY India.
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