Retail is undergoing a rapid transformation, driven by technology, personalization, and customer experience, aspects that merge into a unified journey. Events like NRF 2025, the most relevant in the retail and consumer sector worldwide, which took place in January in the USA, reinforce that the sector can no longer postpone strategic changes, as the present moment already demands new approaches to remain competitive.
Among the main highlighted trends presented at NRF, five are essential for brands that aim to lead this new era of retail.
The unified journey: a seamless experience
The consumer’s journey is increasingly integrated with the lines between the physical and digital worlds blurring. NRF 2025 highlighted the importance of offering a seamless experience, that is, fluid, where the customer can start a purchase online and finish it in-store or vice versa.
This customer interaction cycle requires:
- Channel integration: a holistic view of the customer, with data shared between different touchpoints;
- Personalization: offering personalized products and services at each stage of the journey, from discovery to post-sale; and
- Convenience: simplifying the shopping experience with agile and intuitive processes.
In the United States, Starbucks is a successful example in implementing the seamless journey. The coffee chain demonstrates that retail, in different regions and business models, is replacing the fragmented view of purchasing with a holistic approach that connects and integrates – with personalization and convenience – all consumer touchpoints.
It also offers another lesson: not to stagnate with success. Even in the face of good results, Deb Hall Lefevre, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Starbucks, highlighted, at a digital transformation panel, that the company has not “arrived there” yet. For her, there is still much work to be done in the face of franchise diversity and business models spread across the country. According to the executive, Starbucks’ purpose is to continue advancing in unifying its channels to better serve. In Lefevre’s words, “it all boils down, again, to a consistent touch experience.”
Retail Media 2.0: audience at the center of strategies
Retail Media is evolving into a new era where the combination of data and behavior allows for building consumer profiles with increasing precision. This transformation has significant implications for retail:
- Segmented audience: the ability to identify and segment the audience in a granular way allows for more targeted and effective campaigns;
- Personalized messages: creating personalized messages that resonate with the needs and interests of each consumer; and
- Results optimization: measuring the impact of campaigns and optimizing strategies in real time.
In the words of Pete Nordstrom, president and Brand director of Nordstrom, “the consumer journey, once fragmented, now unifies into an omnichannel, personalized, and highly technological experience.” Founded as a shoe store in 1901 in Seattle, the company is a reference in innovation and shopping experience.
Located next to Central Park, Nordstrom’s flagship store focused on selling exclusive luxury items for the female audience. It combined the high value of brands like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent with two floors of in-house restaurants and cafes and personalized tailoring and makeup services offered by “Beauty Services.” To exemplify integration and convenience, a customer at the flagship store can order a drink from one of the restaurants while trying on a dress. If choosing to dine at home, the establishments deliver to the requested address.
An analysis of cases like Nordstrom’s makes it clear that the future of retail is marked by the convergence of physical and digital.
Artificial Intelligence: the key to data analysis
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how companies analyze and interpret large volumes of data. At NRF 2025, the importance of AI for:
- Demand forecasting: anticipate consumer needs and optimize inventory;
- Mass personalization: create personalized experiences for millions of customers; and
- Price optimization: set dynamic prices based on demand and consumer behavior.
This means that AI impacts decision-making, and this is a revolution that is just beginning. It will surely transform everything we know, from business to consumer relationships, work, and interactions among people.
The idea of disruption promoted by Artificial Intelligence permeated countless speeches since the opening of the event, in the panel entitled Game-Changing, presented by Walmart’s CEO and NRF President, John Furer, and by Azita Martin, Vice President and General Manager of AI for retail at Nvidia. Beyond the literal translation ‘Game-Changing,’ the term seeks to express the concept of disruption that the use of technology represents for the world from now on.
Azita Martin lived up to the theme and told us about one of the processes applied by Nvidia in logistics. She said that, with AI agent software and cyclical testing, it is possible to evaluate and refine how the system adapts to the unpredictability of the real world. In case an incident occurs along the planned route of the AMRs (automated mobile robots), computer vision updates the occupancy map in real-time and sends it to the AI model with a new optimized route.
This example demonstrates AI’s ability to model and adapt to real-time data, as observed in distribution centers, optimizing logistics operations. Used to predict demands, optimize prices, personalize experiences, and much more, given the ability to analyze large volumes of data, in retail, favoring faster and more assertive decision-making.
In-Store: the new digital
As we have already noticed, physical stores are transforming into increasingly digital and interactive spaces. Therefore, the fourth highlight presented at NRF 2025 was the adoption of the same digital practices by in-store:
- Immersive Experiences: utilization of technologies like virtual and augmented reality to create unique experiences;
- Integration with E-commerce: offering integrated options for online and offline purchasing;
- Real-Time Data Analysis: collecting customer data in-store to personalize the experience and optimize operations.
One of the giants in the luxury beauty market, Sephora, demonstrated that ‘omni’ is not just a word but rather a strategy deeply embedded in the company’s DNA. Artemis Patrick, CEO of the company in North America, emphasized the network’s long-standing commitment to a unified omnichannel approach. According to Patrick, massive investments in the digitalization of in-store involve, for example, automating payment methods so that the physical purchasing experience mirrors the online one.
OmniADS: Channel Convergence
Finally, the fusion of online and offline gave rise to a new concept: ‘OmniADS.’ This approach refers to creating campaigns that span all channels, providing a consistent and personalized experience for the consumer.
The NRF 2025 made it clear that the future of retail has already begun. The convergence of technology, personalization, and integration is not just a trend but the new rule of the game. Companies that implement these transformations by investing in technology, data, and customer experience will be prepared for market challenges and to lead the next era of consumption. This is an opportunity to redefine strategies, reinvent experiences, and achieve a new level of relevance.
*Célio Martinez is CEO of Converta Ads
