ICX Association

As 2025 arrives, AI remains the big buzz in retail customer experience but there are other trends taking root as a multitude of issues are driving retailers to be more nimble, more responsive to consumers and better understand the retail shopper.

The Toys R Us and Babies R Us brands will be arriving in the Latin-America and Caribbean region in 2025. There will be a flagship store in Panama and plans for more stores across the region, according to a press release. WHP Global, the parent company of the two brands, said the expansion marks a "significant' milestone.

Dollar Shave Club has teamed with CX automation provider Kodif and is leveraging Kodif's customer support automation platform to improve customer support. With 30% to 40% of support tickets being repetitious or routine in nature, the Dollar Shave team sought a solution to efficiently handle these requests without compromising response quality, according to a press release. Dollar Shave Club is a subscription base e-commerce retailer offering personal grooming items directly to consumers.

Consumers are becoming increasingly intolerant of poor shopping experiences with more than half, 63%, abandoning an online shopping cart after two purchase attempts that fail. Those are prime findings of Applause's fifth annual global survey on holiday shopping trends. Consumers are willing to spend more money, but are being cautious and paying more attention to sales and discounts, according to a press release on the study's findings.

Retail sales in the U.S., not including automotive sales, increased 3.8% between November 1 and Dec. 24 compared to the same time frame in 2023. That's a prime finding from the Mastercard SpendingPulse report that measures in-store and online retail sales.

As Kathy Kimple, executive director of strategy at OSF Digital, explains in her blog at RetailCustomerExperience, AI is shaping the retail industry in various ways including hyper-personalization of customer experiences, automating tasks to maximize profitability, and increasing employee satisfaction.

Fashion membership retailer Fabletics is teaming with Klarna, an AI-powered payments network, to provide customers more payment options. "At Fabletics, we're committed to giving our members innovative ways to shop and pay. We're excited to partner with Klarna to give our VIP members flexibility in how they purchase their favorite active and lifestyle wear.

Artificial intelligence technology powering retail strategies in the grocery sector offers an 8% growth opportunity and can convert single-channel shoppers into higher-spend omnichannel shoppers. Those are findings from SymphonyAI's third annual omnichannel shopper analysis over a six-month period in 2024, according to a press release. Additional findings include: 81% of new online shoppers are first-time shoppers with that retailer, and online baskets average three times larger than in-store.

Home Depot and Lowe's maintained their leadership spots in the home improvement sector, capturing an average of 28% and 19%, respectively, of consumer spend, according to Numerator's Home Improvement Tracker data. Categories experiencing the biggest growth in household penetration over the last 12 months were outdoor power equipment and hand tools, according to a press release on the data.

CVS Health, in collaboration with digital charter bank Varo Bank and Green Dot Corp., is providing customers a cash deposit option with no fees. For customers who deposit cash regularly, this means saving $120 or more per year, according to a press release, as traditional banks offer charge fees unless a minimum is maintained in accounts.