Our retail experts Jenny McLean and Brandon Miller recently attended Shoptalk 2025 in Las Vegas. This year’s theme focused on “putting the customer at the center” and how retailers can continue to adapt to meet the evolving needs of today’s shoppers. Below, Jenny and Brandon share their key takeaways from Shoptalk 2025.

Key Takeaways from Shoptalk 2025

1. The Future of Retail Media Networks  

Retail media extends beyond just the website. While consumers are becoming more accepting of ads on eCommerce sites, 80% of transactions still happen outside of retailer websites. This shift means that retail media networks (RMNs) must expand beyond on-site advertising, highlighting the importance of non-website opportunities and omnichannel expansion. To remain competitive, retailers must integrate retail media into the full customer journey, leveraging in-store technology and omnichannel touchpoints to drive and maximize impact. 

Additionally, as brands increase their RMN investments, advertisers are looking to expand their network usage from 3-5 networks to 6-9 networks by 2025. However, this comes with its own set of challenges, including cost of media, lack of interoperability across platforms, and scalability challenges. To effectively compete with advertising giants like Google and Meta, RMNs must improve their standardization of approaches and automation of capabilities (such as budgeting, bidding, and reporting).  

This means that retailers and brands must be strategic partners, embracing a symbiotic relationship where the retailer understands their customer and the brand knows its products. Strong collaboration between the two can drive higher cart sizes, higher-quality shopper data, customer loyalty, and overall long-term value. What does that look like? Retailers must help brands tell their stories through better content, activations, and data-driven personalization, ensuring that retail media complements (not competes with) other advertising channels like search and social media.  

At Shoptalk 2025, discussions highlighted areas for improvement for RMNs, particularly in regard to transparency in bidding, consistent dashboarding, overall data integrity, brand storytelling, and ease of use. Brands like Pepsi call for clearer pricing models and measurement standards, while companies like Kizik emphasized that retail media should be driven by first-party data to enhance targeting and effectiveness. 

2. Embracing Human-Centered Retail Experiences   

Retailers continue to shift to a more customer-centric approach to the shopping experience in order to best engage next-gen consumers. At Shoptalk, we heard about SSENSE building a platform that connects emerging designers with established luxury names, creating a space where shoppers feel part of a movement. Other luxury brands are engaging with consumers through immersive events like music festivals and art installations, bringing their brand to life where their audience already is. 

In order for retailers to find success in this space, they must make their customer the “hero,” whether that be through seamless customer service, greater convenience, product education, and frontline engagement. At the same time, they must also invest in their employees (training, compensation, technology, etc.) to empower their teams to create more meaningful, personal customer interactions.   

Of course, there was also discussion about AI’s dual role in this transformation. AI can enhance the customer service experience through better personalization and more efficient contact centers while also optimizing enterprise functions (i.e., reporting, software development). The challenge, however, is to balance automation with the human touch to build and maintain that long-term trust and customer loyalty.   

Technology should deepen the human connection, not replace it. The most successful brands use innovation to enhance relationships rather than just focusing purely on efficiency. For example, AI-powered assistants and chatbots can help improve support services, but fully autonomous AI solutions aren’t yet advanced enough to operate without human oversight. The best strategies focus on AI as a partner rather than a replacement.  

3. Maximizing Shopper Value through Unified Commerce   

In order to truly maximize shopper value through unified commerce, a more nuanced understanding of customer segmentation is critical. Businesses must refine how they collect, structure, analyze, and report on their data to create more personalized and effective strategies. The best shopping experiences go beyond product recommendations to include storytelling and engagement – this is also something that customers are expecting more and more of today. They want their shopping experience to be interactive and immersive, and brands that successfully incorporate “surprise and delight” elements will better keep customers engaged. Some companies who are excelling in this space include Kendo and Lulus, who integrate social search, micro-communities, viral trends, and visual search into their discovery strategies. 

One example that was prevalent in multiple sessions was viral SuperBowl halftime moments, from Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty product display to Kendrick Lamar’s flared Celine jeans. Retailers leveraged social search to identify the virality among customers and visual search to help customers discover the same or similar products; they also leaned into micro-communities and influencers to elongate that viral moment.  

We also heard discussions about how digital shopping continues to be increasingly platform driven. In order to succeed in this space, retail brands must engage their customers across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and even gaming platforms like Roblox. Social commerce and live shopping are bridging the gap between inspiration and transaction, with companies like eBay pioneering recommerce-focused live shopping, connecting buyers and sellers in real time. 

At the same time, retailers can’t forget the importance of a seamless omnichannel experience. Pandora shared that 90% of jewelry shoppers start their journey online, making it crucial to translate in-store storytelling into digital experiences. Brands have to ensure that every touchpoint, from search to checkout, is intuitive, supported by a clean data architecture that enables a seamless, frictionless customer experience while also delivering personalized recommendations.  

4. Evolution of Storytelling & Brand Marketing   

We also heard discussions surrounding anticipating trends; innovation is key to staying ahead, and brands that don’t just follow trends but anticipate them will stay ahead of the competition. This means truly understanding your customer – what are they interested in? What are their values? How can we best meet those needs in a genuine and sustainable way? 

For example, brands that integrate data with community insights are helping to redefine storytelling in the retail industry. SoulCycle CEO Evelyn Webster spoke about how they enrich data with insights from Reddit, Instagram, and Spotify to more deeply understand their riders as well as help them find their first cycle class. Similarly, brands that understand shifts in consumer behavior can expand their reach – Galderma tackled declining engagement by refining its value proposition around sensitive skin, while David’s Bridal extended its offerings to support the entire wedding journey (not just the dress!). 

When it comes to brand marketing, striking the right balance between legacy and innovation is key – but also difficult. Galderma spoke about its challenge to ensure consumers could discover Cetaphil without alienating loyal customers. Their solution? They developed a core campaign with tailored activations across retail and digital channels, and they prioritized “tech with a purpose” to do this, recognizing that AI isn’t a strategy but a tool. 

It was clear that to make an impact with storytelling and brand marketing, retailers have to be authentic. Shoppers, especially Gen Z, expect brands to be genuine and transparent; if brands establish a strong emotional connection, they can amplify their impact with their customers. Kendo Brands emphasized that virality can’t be engineered, but companies that align creative, media, supply chain, and distribution strategies can sustain momentum when it happens. 

Looking Ahead 

Our team enjoyed gathering with retail leaders and peers to discuss the future of retail and the trends impacting the industry for 2025 and beyond. Shoptalk 2025 reinforced that retail media is a core component of modern marketing strategies for today’s brands, and keeping the customer at the center of every discussion will be a driving factor for success. 

To chat about any of these key takeaways or other trends impacting the retail industry, reach out to our team today.