The trends that are redefining retail and the consumer experience

Retail is undergoing an accelerated transformation, driven by technology, personalization and customer experience, aspects that merge into a unified journey. Events such as NRF 2025, the most relevant in the retail and consumption area in the world, which occurred in January in the US, reinforce that the sector can no longer postpone strategic changes, because the present moment already requires new approaches to remain competitive. 

Among the top trends featured, presented at NRF, five are essential for brands looking to lead this new era of retail. 

The unified journey: a seamless experience

The consumer journey is increasingly integrated with the lines between the physical and digital worlds blurring.NRF 2025 highlighted the importance of offering an experience seamless, that is, fluid, in free translation, in which the customer can start an online purchase and finalize 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;
• Customization: offering customized products and services at every stage of the journey, from discovery to after-sales; and
• Ease: simplifying the shopping experience with agile and intuitive processes.

In the United States, Starbucks is a successful example in implementing the journey seamless. The coffee shop network demonstrates that retail, in different regions and business models, is replacing the fragmented view of purchasing with a holistic approach, which connects and integrates & personalizes & convenience & ¡ ̄ all points of contact with consumers.

It also leaves another lesson: not to stagnate with success. Even in the face of the good results obtained, Deb Hall Lefevre, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Starbucks, highlighted in the panel on digital transformation, that the company “ has not yet gotten there”. For her, there is still a lot of work to be done in the face of the diversity of franchises and business models spread throughout the regions of the country. The purpose of Starbucks, according to the executive, is to continue advancing in the unification of its channels to better serve. In the words of Lefevre, “ it all comes down, again, to a consistent touch experience”.

Retail Media 2.0: the audience at the heart of strategies

Retail Media is evolving into a new era where the combination of data and behavior allows consumers to build profiles with ever-increasing accuracy.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;
• Custom messages: create personalized messages that resonate with the needs and interests of each consumer; and
• Optimization of results: measure the impact of campaigns and optimize strategies in real time.

In the words of Pete Nordstrom, president and chief brand officer of Nordstrom, “, the once fragmented consumer journey now unifies into an omnichannel, personalized and highly technological” experience.The company, founded as a shoe store in 1901 in Seattle, is a benchmark in innovation and shopping experience.

Housed next to Central Park, the Nordstrom megastore focused on selling exclusive luxury goods to the female audience.It combined the high value of brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent to two floors of proprietary restaurants and cafes and own ultra-personalized sewing and makeup services offered by “Beauty Services” To exemplify the ability to integrate and convenience, a client of the flagship you can request a drink from one of the restaurants while tasting a dress. If you choose to have your meal at home, the establishments deliver at the requested address.

Analysis of cases like Nordstrom 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 the way companies analyze and interpret large volumes of data. At NRF 2025, the importance of AI for:

• Demand forecast: anticipate consumer needs and optimize inventories;
• Mass customization: create personalized experiences for millions of customers; and
• Price optimization: set dynamic prices based on demand and consumer behavior.

This means AI impacts decision-making, and this is a revolution that is just beginning.It is certain to transform everything we know, from business to consumer, work and people-to-people relationships.

The idea of rupture promoted by Artificial Intelligence has permeated numerous lectures since the opening of the event, in the panel entitled Game-Changing, presented by Walmart CEO and NRF President John Furer and Azita Martin, vice president and general manager of retail AI, Nvidia.In addition to the literal translation “Change of Play”, the term seeks to express the concept of disruption that the use of technology represents to the world from now on.

Azita Martin did justice to the topic and told us about one of the processes applied by Nvidia in logistics. She said that with software and cyclic testing of AI agents, it is possible to evaluate and refine how the system adapts to real-world unpredictability. Should an incident occur along the planned route of 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 the ability of AI to model and adapt to real-time data, as observed in distribution centers, optimizing logistics operations. Used to predict demands, optimize prices, customize experiences and more, given the ability to analyze large volumes of data in retail, favoring more agile and assertive decision making.

In-Store: the new digital

As we have already noticed, physical stores are becoming increasingly digital and interactive spaces. Therefore, the fourth highlight presented at NRF 2025 was the adoption of the same practices of digital by in-store:

• Immersive experiences: use of technologies such as virtual and augmented reality to create unique experiences;
• Integration with e-commerce: offer online and offline purchasing options in an integrated manner; and
• Real-time data analysis: collects customer data within the store to personalize the experience and optimize operations.

One of the giants of the luxury beauty market, Sephora, showed that “omni” is not just a word, but a strategy rooted in the company's DNA.Artemis Patrick, CEO of the company in North America, emphasized the network's long-standing commitment to the unified omnichannel approach.According to Patrick, the massive investments in the digitization of the in-store they involve, for example, the automation of payment methods so that the physical shopping experience has the same fluidity as the online one.

OmniADS: the convergence of channels

Finally, the union of online and offline gave rise to a new concept: the “OmniADS”. This approach refers to the creation of campaigns that extend across all channels, offering a consistent and personalized experience for the consumer.

NRF 2025 made it clear that the future of retail has already begun. The fusion between technology, personalization and integration is not only a trend, but the new rule of the game. Companies that put these transformations into practice, investing in technology, data and customer experience, will be prepared for the challenges of the market and to lead the next era of consumption. This is the opportunity to redefine strategies, reinvent experiences and conquer a new level of relevance.

*Celio Martinez is CEO of Converta Ads