E-commerce is becoming a priority for CFOs across the globe

Not unsurprisingly, CFOs across the globe are shifting their focus from reducing operating costs to driving profitable sales through better strategy execution, improvements to merchandising effectiveness and inventory management, according to a new Global Retail CFO survey from PwC's Retail Consulting Services—and much of this boils down to the fast-growing realm of e-commerce.

According to the survey, many retail CFOs reported that customers are beginning to feel more optimistic about spending and retail chains are responding with initiatives to attract customers back into stores by investing judiciously in technology. 

The growth rate of e-commerce is outpacing that of traditional brick- and-mortar stores. Even so, most retailers have not achieved the needed scale to make online sales significant to their financial performance. While all participating retailers (33 in North America, 23 overseas) have web sites, only two-thirds of CFOs said that their sites were e-commerce sites capable of selling their products in a web-only environment.