Future of Retail & Ecommerce
“While discovery and influence increasingly occur online, physical retail remains far from dead.”
Ben Miller, VP, Original Content & Strategy, Shoptalk & Groceryshop Page 02
“Warehousing is undergoing a revolution powered by cutting-edge technologies like generative AI.” Clare Bottle, Chief Executive, UK Warehousing Association Page 08
AI is reshaping retail search: what this means for your brand
The retail industry is heading into uncharted political and economic waters amid changing shopper behaviours and how products are discovered and bought. These shifts offer a real opportunity.
Unprecedented data-driven retail influence
At Shoptalk, we’re excited about the possibilities. Because we’ve never known so much about our customers before, at such scale, or had the computing power and tools to transform this data into insights and actions. We’ve never had so many different routes to get our products to consumers, or had so many ways to influence consumers.
Physical transactions and digital discovery
There are three key dynamics we feel all retailers and brands need to be paying attention to amid this change.
The first is the recognition that for the majority of retail sales, the point of transaction will continue to be in physical stores. While discovery and influence increasingly occur online, physical retail remains far from dead.
An EMARKETER survey late last year showed that just 18% of shoppers in the five largest European retail markets begin their product searches in a physical store. Now, over 20% have bought directly from a social media platform.
AI disrupting search commerce
The second dynamic is how search is changing. The AI
disruption of search is already underway, with Gemini-powered AI Overviews in Google present in over 100 countries to over 1 billion global users a month, impacting SEO and search spend.
This spring, generative AI like ChatGPT and Perplexity are adding purchase options to search results — unaffected by sponsorship — raising urgent questions about how to influence AI-driven shopping decisions.
Engaging, efficient retail hospitality
The third dynamic is the requirement for physical stores to be both engaging and efficient. Delivering either-or is not possible in the battle to manage costs and retain shopper loyalty. We’re tracking increases in spending and investment in in-store technologies to drive efficiencies, simultaneously with more widespread personalisation, clienteling and retail experiences — a trend we call retail hospitality.
Amid daily pressures, it’s tough to find the time, space and focus needed to navigate today’s dynamic market. That’s what we’ve created Shoptalk Europe to help you do.
Shoptalk is the global epicentre of retail innovation, where visionaries, disruptors, and leaders converge to shape the future of commerce. We unite the world’s most influential brands, retailers, startups, investors,and tech pioneers to ignite bold ideas, foster meaningful connections, and accelerate transformation across the global retail industry.
WRITTEN BY Ben Miller VP, Original Content & Strategy, Shoptalk & Groceryshop
From clicks to collection: where social meets unified commerce
To stay competitive, retailers must move beyond disconnected channels and embrace unified commerce – seamlessly connecting every touchpoint, from social to store.
Retail has never been more complex, or more full of opportunity. Today’s consumer journeys span multiple platforms, channels, and moments in time. To thrive in this evolving landscape, retailers must move beyond fragmented strategies and embrace a unified commerce approach. This means seamlessly connecting every touchpoint, from online shops and physical locations to mobile apps and social media.
Among these touchpoints, social commerce is playing an increasingly important role. While still a relatively small slice of the total retail picture, it’s growing fast. In fact, social commerce is predicted to become a trillion dollar industry, globally, by 2028.
Unified commerce is not just a technology upgrade. It is a strategic imperative.
But to treat social commerce as an isolated trend would be a mistake. Its real impact is best understood in the context of a larger, more integrated shift: the rise of unified commerce.
A unified commerce model connects the entire retail ecosystem, including product discovery, transactions, fulfilment, and customer engagement, across every channel. Whether a customer begins their journey with a TikTok ad, a Google search, or an in-store display, their experience should be consistent, connected, and personalised. Social commerce is just one expression of this omnichannel reality.
Social commerce is booming – but only unified retailers can keep up Take, for example, the way Gen Z and millennials are shopping. Many of them use social platforms for shopping-related research and they are significantly more likely to discover products – and buy them –directly on those platforms.
Responding to these habits, platforms like Facebook and Instagram added in-app purchase functionality, blurring the lines between social engagement and ecommerce.
Retailers that unify these new social sales channels with their broader operations stand to gain a real advantage.
However, while social commerce is booming, it also adds complexity. Traditional fulfilment models, built around bulk orders and centralised delivery, struggle to scale in a world where brands must ship single items to thousands of individuals. Each buyer expects speed, transparency, and a great experience. This shift demands smarter, more agile supply chains and more responsive customer service operations.
The strategy behind seamless retail in a trillion-dollar era
That is where unified commerce proves its worth. By integrating order management, inventory, fulfilment, and customer engagement systems into a single, real-time platform, brands can deliver a consistent, high-quality experience across all channels.This includes social, digital, and physical platforms.
This approach not only streamlines logistics but also enables customer-centric services like buy-online-collect-in-store (BOPIS), kerbside pickup, home delivery, and local returns.
Customer expectations are clear. They want flexibility, transparency, and a brand experience that follows them wherever they are. Whether a shopper is clicking through Instagram, browsing a mobile app, or walking into a flagship store, unified commerce ensures every touchpoint feels intentional and connected.
The trillion-dollar opportunity presented by social commerce is compelling, but it is just the beginning. Retailers who want to succeed in today’s dynamic landscape must think bigger. Unified commerce is not just a technology upgrade. It is a strategic imperative — one that positions brands to meet customers wherever they are and deliver excellence every step of the way.
How to thrive in cross-border commerce today
Brands that enter new markets need a partner with local knowledge and compliance expertise, says Marios Iacovou, CEO of global expansion company, Filuet.
How has the cross-border commerce landscape changed in recent years?
Covid-19 acted as a catalyst for ecommerce global expansion. After Covid-19, the geopolitical events of 2022 and now trade wars have changed. It’s now about compliance, localisation and outsourcing to companies that assist and enable international brands to set up and operate in new markets. Because while a retailer may know where they want to be in a certain market, they don’t know what they need in order to get there.
What challenges can retailers face when entering a new market?
When a retailer fails in a market, it’s usually because they don’t apply localised strategies. They don’t understand the market or local culture. Say, a brand wants to do business in an unfamiliar market like India. We can provide them with end-to-end management. We’ll ensure their products are locally compliant, take care of warehousing and logistics, connect them with local marketplaces and shipping solutions and — by leveraging technology — handle the legal and financial complexities of selling their products and services.
What can happen if retailers enter a new market without understanding it?
They’ll encounter difficulties in capturing their fair market share because they won’t have localised experience. Moreover, if they don’t understand compliance, they’ll face regulatory problems and may be forced to exit the market. The alternative is to partner with a company that knows the market, has the systems and personnel in place to handle all operational and compliance issues and can scale services up or down as required.
Why is it important to tap into new solutions without added friction?
Because new solutions and players will constantly appear in the market, including new payment providers or shipping solutions. Our clients don’t have to worry about being left behind by not having the ability to tap into those new players: it’s all taken care of on our unified platform. Similarly, if a brand has to exit the market for any reason, it makes it easy to scale down. So, brands should do what they do best — and outsource the rest.
Hyper-personalisation: the future of retail and ecommerce
Hyper-personalisation allows modern retailers and marketers to boost sales and the customer experience through tailored offers based on insights and analysis.
From streamed TV to grocery shopping, we’re presented what the brand believes are its most attractive and relevant offerings.
It’s not rocket science and it’s not particularly new. From the bar where “everyone knows your name” to the bank that is “by your side,” brands have long known the importance of understanding what you really need. Indeed, most of us expect personalised interactions, and get frustrated when this doesn’t happen. But where does personal service tip over into privacy invasion? And who sets these standards?
Unlock loyalty: mastering personalisation in the age of millions
Personalisation and policing best practice is relatively easy to facilitate for brands with a small customer base – it becomes much harder for those with millions of customers. Professional marketers understand that personalisation is a spectrum with different degrees of content tailoring, from one-to-one offers to mass marketing. Across that spectrum, varied approaches, best practices, and regulations apply. It’s a confusing space and there are severe consequences for getting it wrong. Retailers and brands can not only suffer reputational damage and lose customer trust, but they can also face fines of up to 4% of their global turnover.1
Professional marketers understand that personalisation is a spectrum with different degrees of content tailoring, from one-to-one offers to mass marketing.
As the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), we’ve set best practice and support in sales and marketing since 1911, a time before self-service and supermarkets, when every purchase was a personal request to the shopkeeper. Today, that knowledge resides not with a real person, but in powerful databases processed by AI technologies. Ideally, the application of these insights should be overseen by professionally certified marketers who understand the law, but that is not always the case.
In a world flooded with options and noise, hyper-personalisation is a powerful approach that offers benefits for both customers and brands. However, this power must be wielded responsibly and ethically, guided by best practices in marketing.
The future of shopping isn’t just digital—it’s deeply personal, and it demands a serious and professional commitment from businesses and marketers to deliver value, build trust and loyalty, and avoid the significant pitfalls of getting it wrong.
Reference: 1. https://www.cim.co.uk/content-hub/editorial/harness-the-power-ofpersonalisation-to-foster-stronger-connections
INTERVIEW WITH Marios lacovou CEO, Filuet WRITTEN BY Tony Greenway
Empowering independent retailers: leading event for scale-ups offers opportunities for growth
Small and independent retailers in the UK are navigating one of the most complex and competitive landscapes in decades.
Economic volatility, rising operational costs, digital transformation and evolving consumer expectations are creating both enormous pressures and exciting opportunities.
Optimistic retailers expand globally
The KPMG Private Enterprise Barometer 2025 reveals that over 90% of private retailers remain optimistic about the future, with two-thirds planning to launch new products or services and nearly 70% aiming to enter new markets. This optimism persists despite tough trading conditions, underscoring the sector’s resilience.
Support for scaling retailers
For UK independent retailers to scale up and navigate these complex challenges require support, resources and a connected ecosystem. That’s where SME XPO 2025 comes in. Now in its fourth year, this leading event has established itself as a cornerstone event for scaling businesses, designed to give UK retailers the tools, insights and networks they need to grow sustainably and confidently.
Taking place 18–19 June at London’s ExCeL, SME XPO will bring together over 5,000 scale-up founders, 100+ best-in-class suppliers and a powerhouse lineup of speakers and workshops that speak directly to the needs of modern retailers.
Event enables smart retail growth
From the high street to hybrid ecommerce models, the retail community attending the exhibition will find expert-led
sessions across four core themes: Starting Out, Scaling Up, Money Talks and Future Tech & AI. For small retailers, this is a rare opportunity to:
• Connect with investors and alternative finance providers who understand the unique pressures of retail and want to support its growth;
• Discover cutting-edge tools and technologies that can help streamline operations, build loyalty, and boost online presence;
• Learn from founders who’ve scaled successfully, including those who have navigated digital pivots, international expansion and omnichannel strategies;
• Engage in workshops on AI, cybersecurity, supply chains and more — all with practical insights tailored to the SME landscape.
At its core, SME XPO is about helping small businesses become the engine that powers the UK’s next phase of economic growth. In retail, that means enabling independents not just to survive, but to scale smartly, sustainably and confidently.
Promoting local and ethical business
With consumer preferences increasingly leaning towards local, ethical and experience-driven brands, the opportunity for independent retailers to grow is real. However, they need a support system behind them, and this event will help them to deliver.
Robots for Grocery Retail
Sam North Founder, SME XPO
Young entrepreneurs want to give high street stores new life
Learn why attracting and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs is crucial for maintaining a thriving local economy.
Our research1 found that younger business owners are utilising the benefits of social media to create their own businesses and build their customer base. Yet, this doesn’t mean they are done with the traditional high street.
Entrepreneurs want high street stores
Evidence in our ‘Generation Entrepreneur’ report with Simply Business, which examined the challenges facing young entrepreneurs, suggests there’s still an appetite to open brick-and-mortar businesses, so they can sell products locally. It shows 16% of young entrepreneurs who use online marketplaces are keen to open high street businesses2
Tackling brick-and-mortar barriers
It’s essential to address long-term barriers like high business rates and inflexible tenancy structures, which continue to stifle ambition. Business owners told us they want a more fluid route to ‘set up shop,’ with emphasis on pop-ups and temporary use initiatives allowing them to experiment and develop.
Local support for digital retail
Local authorities can play a role in helping businesses integrate their physical presence with their online setup, providing reliable digital infrastructure and training. We’re calling for a fund to support firms in developing their web offering,
Bmarketing and ecommerce so they can thrive in the evolving retail landscape.
Some already sell on big online platforms, which should include systems and resources to handle complaints and disputes.
Tech support for retailers
There’s a growing interest among small businesses in embracing new technologies. Almost a third (31%) of small high street firms say they want support for online sales and marketing1. Showcasing businesses based primarily on high streets allows shoppers to virtually explore local retail and services, working alongside ecommerce platforms and social media.
Larger retail firms should also back small businesses as part of their ESG efforts. This helps foster more ethical and sustainable supply chains and allows small firms to access fair opportunities and resources.
Tailored tech empowers communities
Offering entrepreneurs the right support to embrace tech tailored to the needs of local areas allows them to contribute to the evolution of retail and strengthen the local economy.
Retail brands are moving faster –here’s how they’re
doing it
Brands can suffer when product images and information are spread across different systems. A centralised hub makes this key material more accessible — and businesses more efficient.
rand consistency isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s crucial for building customer trust and loyalty. Yet, the steady proliferation of sales and marketing channels — from ecommerce platforms and retail partners to social media, marketplaces and in-store experiences — makes it harder for companies to keep their messaging, imagery and product details aligned.
Challenges of brand consistency
If brands are juggling myriad of product images and pricing information across multiple spreadsheets, systems, folders, email chains and shared drives, teams must spend time hunting down the right data. That creates workflow bottlenecks and missed sales opportunities. It also makes it worryingly easy for out-of-date
or inconsistent information and images to be shared or published, which can damage hard-won brand reputations.
“In our economically uncertain world, a brand will have to constantly update its product information and prices,” explains Matt Roy, General Manager, Product Information Management, at digital asset management solutions provider, Canto. “But when sales and marketing information is stored on different platforms, it increases the chance of the wrong material being used. That can lead to lack of trust and credibility with customers and partners.”
Centralised content hub for agility and adaptability
To prevent this, Roy recommends bringing all sales and marketing
information into a centralised content hub, which he calls ‘a single source of truth.’ When marketing, sales, ecommerce and creative teams connect in one platform, they can be confident that they are all accessing the same up-to-date information and visuals. It’s a time-saving benefit, too, because instead of searching for files in different places and double-checking product specs, they’ll be able to focus on what they’re good at: strategy and storytelling.
“A centralised hub makes a brand more agile,” says Roy. “As consumer behaviour, platforms and technology continue to evolve, brands will need flexible systems that allow them to react quickly — but also to adapt without losing momentum. With the right foundation in place, they’ll have clear visibility into their content, streamlined access to product data and the ability to pivot campaigns or update assets without unnecessary back-and-forth. They can launch faster, test new ideas more easily and respond to market shifts without skipping a beat.”
Manage content throughout the organisation
The fact is that brands don’t have to work in an unconnected, inconsistent and inefficient way. “Some don’t realise that this is an easily solvable problem,” says Roy. “A centralised system can help them create, share and manage content effectively across their entire organisation.”
FSB. 2024. The Future of the High Street.
Simply Business & FSB. 2025. Generation Entrepreneur Report.
WRITTEN BY Tina McKenzie Policy Chair, Federation of Small Businesses
INTERVIEW WITH Matt Roy General Manager, PIM, Canto
WRITTEN BY Tony Greenway
Smarter energy, stronger business: unlocking the value of half-hourly meter readings
WEnergy prices are easing after years of volatility, but uncertainty remains — posing ongoing cost pressures for small businesses with already tight margins.
orking in EDF’s small business team, I see the pressures our customers face every day. Many are juggling rising costs, decarbonisation targets and the challenges of an increasingly complex energy landscape. That’s why our mission isn’t just to supply energy; it’s to empower businesses to take control of it.
Real-time energy insight
A critical part of empowerment is data. We believe smart metering — specifically, access to half-hourly consumption data — is the future. Businesses that embrace it early will reap the rewards.
The wider market is already moving in this direction. From compliance standards to industry regulations and new tariffs, the
Smart metering isn’t just coming; it’s already here.
push towards real-time data and smart infrastructure is underway. There’s a clear advantage to getting ahead of this curve.
Installing a smart meter with halfhourly readings now gives business owners unprecedented visibility into their energy use. It enables them to spot inefficiencies, adjust behaviour and plan usage more effectively. Whether that means shifting processes to off-peak times or identifying wasteful patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Team-powered efficiency
Engaging employees in energy efficiency isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s essential. When staff understand how their actions impact energy use, they become active participants in reducing costs and waste. From switching off unused equipment to embracing smarter scheduling, minor changes made by many can add up quickly. Encouraging a culture of shared responsibility empowers teams and aligns everyone with the business’s goals because managing energy well is a team effort, not just a management task.
Strategic energy intelligence advantage
In short, the power of data transforms energy from a static overhead into a dynamic part of business strategy. Think about how you interact with your financial data: tracking sales, managing invoices, scrutinising cash flow. Energy deserves the same attention. When businesses start treating their energy data like their bank statements, they make smarter decisions, become more resilient and unlock potential savings that can be reinvested elsewhere.
Smart metering is a must
At EDF, we’re here to support that transition — not just with technology, but with the insight and service to make it work for you.
Smart meters are not a box-ticking exercise; they’re the gateway to a more informed, agile and sustainable way of operating. Yes, prices may have dipped, but complacency is a risk. Now is the time for businesses to act, not react. Smart metering isn’t just coming; it’s already here. The question is: will you lead or follow?
WRITTEN BY
Jon Perks Small Business Director, EDF
Warehousing: the backbone of modern retail in a fast-changing market
The retail landscape is shifting dramatically. Omnichannel commerce is redefining how consumers browse, buy and return products.
Social media platforms like TikTok have become powerful hubs, providing endless choice and seamless shopping. Younger consumers, in particular, are weaving together multiple sources of information before making purchasing decisions. Such complex and dynamic shopping behaviour is placing unprecedented demands on retailers and their supply chains.
Supply chain efficiency: the next retail battleground
Today, customer satisfaction is key to business growth. Success hinges on the ability to optimise every element of the supply chain, from order fulfilment and last-mile delivery to returns management.
Warehouses are the operational heartbeat of retail, ensuring that products reach consumers swiftly and sustainably. They play an especially critical role in supporting the booming ‘recommerce’ market, a sector currently valued at £6.5 billion and projected to nearly double to £12.4 billion within five years.
Tapping into the ‘preloved’ boom Platforms like eBay, Vinted and Depop have driven the rise of recommerce; and mainstream retailers are capitalising on it. Success requires a supply chain partner capable of expertly managing returns — repairing, cleaning and repackaging preloved items to ensure they’re ready for resale — and finding recycling channels.
According to Tony Mannix, Strategic Advisor on Retail Logistics at GXO, partnering with the right warehousing experts can embed sustainability into a retail brand while unlocking new revenue streams. “A wellexecuted recommerce strategy doesn’t just align with sustainability goals; it enhances brand reputation and improves profitability,” he explains.
Partnering with the right warehousing experts can embed sustainability into a retail brand while unlocking new revenue streams.
Warehousing and AI: the future of retail logistics
To meet growing demands, warehousing is undergoing a revolution powered by cutting-edge technologies like generative AI. From predictive inventory management to intelligent automation, the retailers and logisticians who welcome AI will be best positioned to thrive in an increasingly complex and competitive market.
Retail is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and warehousing is at the forefront of this transformation. The ability to manage supply chains efficiently, embrace recommerce opportunities and deploy cutting-edge technology will determine who wins in this new era. As consumer expectations rise, the role of warehousing in delivering seamless, sustainable and scalable logistics solutions has never been more vital.
WRITTEN BY Clare Bottle Chief Executive, UK Warehousing Association
Using AI to drive retail marketing efficiency and effectiveness
Efficiency in marketing is about trying to do more with less — an oft-repeated mantra in an era of tightened budgets that can frustrate retail and ecommerce marketers looking to drive true long-term growth with their activity.
In reality, marketers want to do even more with more — in other words: unlock more marketing budget with which to drive more ambitious levels of future performance. They want to generate marketing effectiveness, not just create marketing efficiency.
Utilising AI in marketing
While it can be hotly debated whether the current usage of AI in marketing fits in to the efficiency or effectiveness camp, there is a case to be made that the majority of applications have an efficiency flavour to them at the moment.
When it comes to driving marketing efficiencies, gen AI is being used to create marketing content and copy, allowing this time-consuming task to be greatly rationalised; AI is being used to manage social media, programmatic and email activity. It is also being used to automate customer service requests via chatbots (AKA agentive AI) and handle basic administrative tasks. All of these uses save retailer and ecommerce advertisers time and money and are therefore powerful efficiency drivers.
Retailers bring it all together through unified commerce
Unified commerce and AI will define retail in 2025, a potentially definitive year amid economic challenges and a new wave of technology.
Despite predictions of a delivery-dominated future, retail in 2025 thrives on unified commerce, blending physical and digital channels, while AI’s growing role signals another pivotal shift ahead.
Visitor footfall to malls and stores
In 2023, US ecommerce represented 22% of total retail sales, according to Department of Commerce data, up from 21.2% in 2022. Although ecommerce sales growth is outpacing in-store growth, the reality is that nearly eight out of
Personalising marketing material
In terms of driving marketing effectiveness, AI is being used to create more personalised marketing comms. The evidence from the DMA’s Effectiveness Databank points towards personalised campaigns being 18% more effective than average. It can also be used to create richer customer segments while deploying predictive analytics and dynamic pricing to maximise the yield of every customer interaction — ultimately generating more revenue.
AI is being used to create more personalised marketing comms.
Effective and sustainable growth
The DMA’s recent Customer Engagement: Future Trends 2025 report reveals that 98% of marketers have used AI for to drive efficiency gains, but only 78% have used it to drive marketing effectiveness.
Overall, there is a +26% point gap for those who have derived marketing efficiency benefits from AI vs effectiveness benefits. This is a significant gap that marketers should look to explore if they are looking to defend and grow their marketing budgets and convince senior stakeholders how AI can contribute to sustainable long-term growth.
every 10 consumer dollars, euros and pounds are still spent in-store. Online shopping is nibbling away at store sales. By 2029, Forrester expects US total retail sales to reach $6 trillion, with online retail sales at $1.8 trillion, representing online retail penetration of 29%.
Retail veteran Steve Sadove says: “The idea that physical retail is dead and has become a digital play is incorrect. Customers want the physical shopping experience.”
Returns to store critical The critical question for retailers is
how they balance investment and how they integrate the channels. In particular, retailers need to encourage online returns to be made in-store because when they do, customers then tend to spend more than the original purchase value.
“This is a critical year in the blending of physical, digital and new technology,” says Arnaud Gallet, Retail Business Unit Director at NRF Big Show Europe organiser Comexposium. “The retailers that thrive will be those who embrace everything from in-store customer service to new AI delivery and make it all feel part of one brand.”
Is 2025 the year of AI? Indeed, the next digital challenge is AI. The word from the annual NRF Big Show in New York at the start of the year was that 2025 is the year retailers need to start delivering AI-led projects rather than simply testing and learning. By the time NRF Big Show Europe comes to Paris in September, we should know just how far the retail world has come at delivering AI and unified commerce.
Personalised experiences drive results when they deliver value to customers, rewarding them with more relevant content at each touchpoint.
Rethink content operations to drive personalisation at scale
Learn why modernising content operations is vital to increasing efficiency and providing the personalised experiences customers want.
WRITTEN BY Charlie Bell Senior Director, Solution Engineering, Contentful
Retailers are under immense pressure to do more with less. Rising operational costs, fierce competition and cost-conscious consumers are straining marketing budgets — but shoppers are demanding more from their digital experiences.
Consumers’ digital expectations
Consumers expect instantaneous page load speeds, relevant information at every touchpoint and personalised experiences tailored to their needs and preferences. If someone’s searching for end-ofseason savings on winter boots and you show them swimsuits, they’re going to bounce.
It can feel impossible to keep up with customer demand for an endless stream of fresh content when you’re bogged down with legacy tools and convoluted processes. Retailers must rethink content operations to provide the experiences customers want at scale.
Customers want ecommerce personalisation
Personalisation can transform retail experiences, but only when it’s done right. Personalised experiences drive results when they deliver value to customers, rewarding them with more relevant content at each touchpoint. This requires a data-driven approach supported by technology and processes that let retailers act quickly on insights.
During a panel discussion at our Contentful Bake-Off, we heard how Nails.INC aimed to bring the one-on-one feel of shopping at a salon to their digital experiences. The British beauty brand started small and layered in more personalised content as they collected more customer data, enabling them to delight customers with recommendations that fit their style.
Personalisation shouldn’t require a year-long integration While the benefits of personalisation are clear, achieving them at scale requires better content operations. Poor integrations, siloed content and overreliance on developers continue to slow teams down. For many, the term ‘personalisation’ brings flashbacks of clunky legacy tools, fragile setups and never-ending implementation roadmaps. Retailers need solutions that let them get started immediately, integrate easily with their existing commerce platform and enable existing teams to do bigger things faster.
Ruggable, known for its washable rugs, is an excellent example of how the right technology empowers teams to deliver results. Using a modern
platform and marketer-friendly personalisation capabilities, a small team increased conversion rates by 25% and click-throughs improved by 700%.
Efficient content operations accelerate ecommerce personalisation
Modern platforms like Contentful — a next-generation digital experience platform (DXP) with personalisation capabilities — make results like this possible. Structured content, modular components, visual editing and integrated personalisation empower marketers to build digital experiences faster without developer support. Application programming interfaces (APIs) integrate with any commerce platform and connect silos to streamline operations and ensure consistency across regions, channels and touchpoints.
AI increases efficiency, reducing the manual effort required to optimise and manage hundreds of variants at scale. This is how retailers get closer to one-to-one personalisation without sacrificing quality or brand consistency.
Empowering people helps retailers do more with less Successful omnichannel retail isn’t just about content or tech — it’s about people. When digital, product and marketing teams are siloed, the customer experience reflects this fragmented working environment. An effective retail strategy brings these functions together and supports them with tools that balance brand governance with local and channel-specific flexibility.
For instance, cycling brand Rapha unified content creation across regions, empowering their teams to move faster and connect more deeply with customers worldwide. The result was a 3.5x increase in browsing sessions and a seamless journey for customers from research through purchase.
Turning content into a growth engine
Investing in scalable content operations, personalisation and AI-enhanced workflows transforms content into a lever for growth, not just some passive words and pictures we put in front of our customers.
Retailers that embrace this shift are seeing results today and building more agile teams that can continuously respond to changing customer demands. Those who wait will continue to struggle, missing opportunities to connect with customers, lift conversion rates and drive revenue. What choice will you make?
Why retailers must master data management to thrive in the ecommerce era
Retailing, one of our oldest trades, has survived many periods of growth and recession. It has adapted and evolved.
Let’s all agree that ecommerce is a form of retailing and not a separate activity. The future of retail in the UK will invariably throw up many more different challenges, and yet, retail will find a way of adapting. However, it will also look different.
Future of data-driven retailing Retailing is basically about selling to consumers. Future success will depend on the retailer’s ability to understand the rapidly changing nature of the consumer. It used to be said that successful retailing was based on location. Now, and in the future, success will be based on data management much more than location.
customers. This can be done through loyalty cards, gift card vouchers, social media and through a website, to name a few. The good news is that customers seem willing to give up this data, provided they can trust your intentions.
Modern retailers of all sizes need to collect data on their customers.
Data management comes from ecommerce — traditionally. We are all used to leaving our data on a website, registering for updates, etc. Ecommerce companies do this well. However, data management has also been used very effectively by the likes of Tesco and Boots with their respective loyalty cards.
Data collection and AI’s contribution Modern retailers of all sizes need to collect data on their
Are businesses ready to benefit from AI in
ecommerce?
Discover how AI in ecommerce may lead to new growth by transforming personalisation, conversion and digital retail in today’s market.
Ecommerce is 30 years old. It is still young, but it has come a long way in that time. For the first 10 years, it was underwhelming — done via dial-up modems, making the whole checkout process unreliable. Now, we have broadband, WiFi and myriad devices for engaging with retailers online. The subsequent 20 years have seen activity once restricted to ecommerce sites extend across a range of digital channels, apps, social networks and marketplaces.
More important is learning what to do with this data. In its most basic format, it should enable direct communication with customers through targeted promotions. It should show where customers are based, helping retailers understand their business reach. The challenge lies in managing the volume of data; and that is where AI becomes essential, helping retailers interpret customer insights at scale.
Omnichannel merges physical and digital Physical retailing and ecommerce already work hand in hand — a model known as omnichannel retail. It is built on the idea that physical stores and ecommerce support, not replace, each other. The future of retail lies in evolving this model, giving consumers the best of both worlds in retail.
Ecommerce faces fragile recovery
Ecommerce has, frankly, gone a bit ‘everywhere.’ Yet, for an industry that is young, dynamic and tech-enabled, it has rather stumbled recently. It continued to secure revenue growth, often double-digit, throughout the austerity period while other sectors struggled. However, it has not found the challenging economic situation of the 2020s quite so straightforward. Between April 2021 and September 2024, the ecommerce market recorded negative growth every month. We have seen a return to growth since, though the recovery feels fragile.
AI is reshaping ecommerce potential
The macro environment is a significant factor, no question, but ecommerce thrives alongside the evolution of technologies. The adoption of tablets and smartphones saw a big uplift in ecommerce growth as people were able to shop in new contexts; these had a huge impact. Other fabled ‘next big things’ like voice and the metaverse, however, have made no palpable dent. Opportunity knocks, though. Applications such as ChatGPT clearly demonstrate that software has evolved somewhat; what end-users can do has transformed. The AI technology that underpins it has enormous potential in ecommerce as it could make the ability to personalise experiences far more efficient and effective, pushing up key metrics such as conversion, frequency of purchase and items per order.
Untapped AI ecommerce potential
This technology is not in the distant future, either. AI is widely available in technology platforms and solutions that retailers use; the issue holding it back is that many only actually utilise a fraction of the available functionality. Staff numbers have dwindled during the downturn, so having the focus to get the most out of them is tough, but could the solution to ecommerce malaise be broadly ready but currently latent? Quite possibly.
WRITTEN BY Andy Mulcahy Strategy and Insight Director, IMRG
WRITTEN BY Andrew Goodacre Chief Executive Officer, British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA)
