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What Does the Retail Landscape of 2025 Look Like?

Designed for retail leaders and lovers alike, Retail Refined explores the in-store technology of the future, challenges the industry’s preconceived notions, and brings together retail’s biggest names to understand the brand strategies that will define the next decade in retail.   The past year has been a deeply transformative one for the retail industry, which saw already…

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Designed for retail leaders and lovers alike, Retail Refined explores the in-store technology of the future, challenges the industry’s preconceived notions, and brings together retail’s biggest names to understand the brand strategies that will define the next decade in retail.

The past year has been a deeply transformative one for the retail industry, which saw already emerging trends in online shopping, curbside pickup and more accelerated in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, even with vaccines continuing to roll out and a true reopening commencing, retail isn’t going backward. In fact, the evolution could be just beginning.

On this episode of MarketScale’s Retail Refined with Melissa Gonzalez, Gonzalez welcomed fashion and design icon Rebecca Minkoff to explore another of her areas of expertise – retail’s digital landscape. In fact, she’s a pioneer with a history of integrating innovative technology, such as “magic mirrors” and self-checkout, into her label’s physical stores.

“Now, the customer is so used to the online experience that, if she doesn’t get that in the store, she’ll be like, ‘Ugh, I’m just going to order online’” -Rebecca Minkoff

That experience makes her uniquely qualified to assess how the retail industry might respond to mounting pressures for more innovation, integration and interaction in the months and years after the pandemic draws to a close.

“Now, the customer is so used to the online experience that, if she doesn’t get that in the store, she’ll be like, ‘Ugh, I’m just going to order online,’” Minkoff said.

It’s those raised expectations that retailers are now competing against, though there are exciting new technologies, data tools and more emerging to help them do it.

Click here to pre-order or to read more Rebecca Minkoff’s new book, Fearless.

To hear more, listen to the entirety of this episode of Retail Refined.

Listen to Previous Episodes of Retail Refined Right Here!

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More Retail Insights

Arko CEO says remodeled stores are generating low double-digit sales growth

Arko CEO says remodeled stores are generating low double-digit sales growth

Arko Corp. Chairman, President and CEO Arie Kotler said that, based on initial results, remodeled stores are generating low double-digit sales growth. Eleven remodels were completed through the third quarter, and Arko expects to finish more than 25 by the end of 2026. In Q3 2026, in-store promotional spending rose about 16% while merchandise margin reached 34.8%. Arko is shifting its focus and capital toward its core portfolio of company-operated stores.

  • 01Arko raised in-store promotional spending about 16% in Q3 2026 and still widened merchandise margin 110 basis points to 34.8%, its 12th straight year-over-year gain.
  • 02Early fas craves remodels are generating low double-digit sales growth, but on only 11 stores; the retained portfolio as a whole grew merchandise sales about 0.8% excluding cigarettes, so the lift has yet to reach the totals.
  • 03The number to watch is retained-store merchandise growth as the remodel count passes 25: if it climbs, the food-led format is scaling; if it stays near 1%, the early results came from a small sample.

Nov 8, 2026

Ulta is marketing to AI agents and shoppers

Ulta is marketing to AI agents and shoppers

Ulta segments customers by motivations (not just demographics) and uses non-purchase signals like social activity and store behavior to inform personalization and messaging.

  • 01Ulta treats AI agents as new voices it cannot control, similar to how it manages influencer and store associate recommendations, shaping what agents know rather than what they say.
  • 02Ulta uses motivation-based segmentation and non-purchase signals to drive personalization, built on loyalty data, while it works out what AI agents need.
  • 03Ulta says research shows young consumers who use AI tools and chatbots still crave coming into stores and are more likely to visit, raising the pressure on stores to earn the trip.

Nov 7, 2026

Amazon lets shoppers text Alexa for Shopping to place orders and track prices

Amazon lets shoppers text Alexa for Shopping to place orders and track prices

Amazon is rolling out text-message access to Alexa for Shopping, its AI shopping agent, starting with a small group of U.S. customers by invitation. The agent can search, compare, buy items, track prices, reorder products, and send alerts across text and other Amazon platforms.

  • 01Texting with Alexa for Shopping rolls out to a small group of U.S. customers by invitation, expanding to millions in the coming weeks
  • 02The agent can reorder items, set up weekly grocery orders, watch for price drops, show up to a year of price history, and send new-release alerts
  • 03Requests started over text carry over to the Amazon Shopping app, Amazon.com, and Alexa-enabled devices

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