Consumer goods companies are sharpening their focus on how supply chain volatility and evolving consumer spending patterns are shaping their real estate needs, according to a recent JLL corporate real estate pulse survey. The report draws on 48 responses from leaders across the consumer goods sector and highlights a clear shift toward portfolio decisions grounded in operating risk and demand visibility.
Nearly 48% of respondents said their organizations are actively examining supply chains, a share JLL notes is 10 percentage points above the all-industry rate of 37.9%. This marks the widest gap among the strategic priorities tracked in the survey and underscores how closely consumer goods occupiers are tying real estate decisions to production and distribution resilience.
Despite the emphasis on data to guide decision-making, the report indicates that technology investment is not keeping pace. Only 16.7% of consumer goods respondents expect growth in their corporate real estate technology budgets over the next three years, compared with 30.6% of respondents across all industries. This gap suggests many consumer goods occupiers are still managing critical footprint, utilization, and consolidation decisions without the same level of digital tooling as peers in other sectors.
Labor and workplace strategies are also in flux. JLL reports that 39.6% of consumer goods respondents have downsized their workforce, compared with 31.6% across industries. Even so, 37.5% of surveyed leaders in the sector expect office use rates to increase over the next 12 months, signaling that some organizations anticipate more consistent on-site activity even as headcounts adjust.
On the capital allocation side, 31.3% of consumer goods respondents expect their overall corporate real estate budgets to rise, versus 24% across all industries. JLL emphasizes that how these incremental dollars are deployed will be critical, whether toward higher production capacity, space for additional employees, or better utilization data that can uncover opportunities to consolidate or redirect investment.
The report frames portfolio and investment decisions as starting with a robust inventory of existing assets and performance. JLL recommends that consumer goods companies build a reliable data foundation, deploy technology to expand operational capacity, and adopt flexible portfolio strategies that can adjust as demand and supply chain conditions evolve. The firm contrasts the ease of a shopper returning a single product with the complexity faced by a consumer goods company in deciding what to do with the factory, warehouse, office, or brand behind that product, concluding that effective action begins with knowing exactly what is in the portfolio.
