Shoptalk Spring 2025: 7 key retail takeaways 

Shoptalk Spring 2025 was held in Las Vegas from 25 - 27 March, with an exciting agenda filled with fresh retail perspectives from 200+ influential leaders in the US and across the world. This Spring edition focused on four most important qualities that people expect and require from retailers: customer hospitality, value, inspiration and reason for being. We've curated the key takeaways from the panels, keynotes and roundtables into a quick list of takeaways below.

E-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers from beauty, sports, hospitality, fashion, luxury retail and more came together for an exchange of ideas, best practices and conversations that will drive the future of retail in America and globally. With social commerce and "retail media" as some of the main drivers for retail in 2025 and beyond, tech and social media companies also form a core part of the programme with speakers from brands including Google, Meta and Lumi AI.

As we shared Antom's e-commerce payment solutions at Shoptalk alongside some of the top brands including Amazon, CVS Health, Sephora, Staples, we've also compiled the key takeaways gathered from the three-day retail extravaganza:

1. "Retail media is the future of all media"

"Retail media is the future of all media", Andrew Lipsman, Founder & Chief Analyst at Media, Ads + Commerce, shared an insight that resonated with the attendees.

Retail media refers to the advertising space and marketing opportunities offered by retailers on their digital platforms, such as websites, apps, or marketplaces. For brands, the combination of media and commerce helps connect with hyper-relevant audiences – customers who are already in a purchase mindset – forming a highly effective connected strategy for driving conversions.

2. Personalisation and Understanding Your Customers

One of the key themes was the growing ability to understand customer preferences through the power of privacy-preserving computing. It is enabling retailers to deliver more relevant and engaging experiences, such as dynamic product recommendations and targeted promotions, across digital channels like web, mobile, and social commerce platforms.

At the same time, it is critical to ensure that all customer insights are derived and applied in a manner that is responsible and fully compliant with data protection regulations. As the retail landscape becomes increasingly customer-driven, striking the right balance between personalisation and privacy remains a top priority. Antom supports merchants in better understanding customer needs by providing tech-driven tools, while maintaining the highest global standards when it comes to data security and privacy protection.

3. AI for driving business impact

The panels also discussed the potential of generative AI and agentic AI, including how some of these technologies are already driving impact for businesses in the US and also globally. Beyond chat bots, examples shared ranged from using AI for creative marketing campaigns at better value to leveraging AI for decision-making in the business process.

During our roundtable session, we spoke about Antom's payments platform and AI solutions including Antom Copilot. Antom Copilot is the world's first AI agent designed to help merchants implement, orchestrate, and optimise payment methods from end-to-end. E-commerce enterprise and SME merchants can benefit from quickly understanding how to optimise for different payment methods and payment preferences across the different markets their customers operate in.

4. A unified retail ecosystem

Think beyond omnichannel. The future of retail is not online, offline, or omnichannel, but a unified commerce retail ecosystem built around customers' needs. Unified commerce seamlessly integrates all sales channels – online, offline, mobile, and social - into one cohesive ecosystem.

Customer relevance is also key; brands need to consider the various ways customers engage with them including in channels such as marketplaces and resellers. Mobile is at the heart of this transformation, enabling frictionless shopping experiences through apps, websites, and in-store technologies. Mobile payments and digital wallets help streamline the checkout process, reduce barriers for consumers, and even enhance loyalty programmes with real-time rewards.

5. Creating more value for the customer

Retail is and always will be about the customer. Retailers are continually exploring ways to provide value to customers. Creating customer value goes beyond price, with discussions on pricing strategies, personalising promotions and leveraging data insights.

During their keynote, fashion brand Gap shared how they put digital tools and customer data insights to create compelling customer journeys that not only boosted customer experience but also Gap's sales for eight consecutive quarters.

6. Building trust, loyalty and community

How can brands balance tech, AI and automation with the human touch needed to build trust and maintain long term relationships? Brands shared how they used AI to understand their customers better and deepen customer connections. Loyalty might be seen as repeat purchases and transactions but it's also brand connection, and that can lead to greater benefits.

Many leading brands, including LVMH's Kendo, shared strategies that unified customer channels to build brand narratives and loyalty programmes that not only informed their marketing efforts but also a community of brand fans.

7. Keep expecting change

Retailers all over the world are always having to keep up with the changing needs of consumers, and an ever-changing global retail environment. Take for instance, the shift to offline to online then to omnichannel and unified commerce.

With shifts in the global policy and market landscape, trade regulations are also shifting – meaning retailers, whether focusing on brick-and-mortar domestic business or cross-border international transactions, can be impacted. E-commerce retailers may need to be even more mindful as changing retail conditions, brought about by changing customer payment preferences, upcoming card scheme updates and global data privacy regulations, can quite quickly influence authentication rates, transactions and so forth.

Want to know how Antom can support your retail or e-commerce business? Speak with our team today.