Nearly all retail and eCommerce organizations have adopted AI capabilities. However, leaders still face challenges with data privacy, implementation costs, and customer trust. Most organizations focus on tactical AI applications rather than strategic maturity. This leaves them vulnerable to emerging technologies like agentic AI systems. Without strategic planning, the gap between current capabilities and readiness will continue to grow. This report explores how leaders are approaching AI planning, governance, and workforce development to realize the technology’s full potential.

This report provides an in-depth look at the groundbreaking strategies, technologies, and insights discussed throughout eTail Boston 2025, including the latest advancements in AI-driven marketing, cross-channel attribution, loyalty, personalization, and content optimization. Each session offered actionable guidance for eCommerce and omni-channel innovators aiming to improve performance and deepen customer relationships in our dynamic industry. We’re thrilled to break down each individual session as part of this robust, year-round resource for retail practitioners everywhere.

Organizations are adapting their marketing and advertising strategies to multiple trends as they reshape the marketplace. Artificial intelligence has given rise to new capabilities and efficiencies in marketing campaigns, but it is not without risk. Furthermore, customers have demonstrated that they prefer brands that align with their values and can make a meaningful connection with them. This report offers a clear overview of transformative marketing and advertising strategies shaping how organizations will interact with their customers in 2026. It highlights the evolving tactics and investments that are poised to drive success on owned, unowned, and emerging channels.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping top-of funnel (TOFU) marketing strategies, empowering brands to achieve unprecedented levels of targeting, personalization, and measurement across digital channels. AI-driven tools now enable marketers to deliver tailored messages at scale. As a result, brands are diversifying their channel mix. While mobile and social media marketing remain top investment priorities for many organizations, the findings in this report suggest that acquisition email marketing is one of the highest performing, and most under-utilized, channels in the AI-powered marketing ecosystem. This report explores marketers’ current top-of-funnel strategies, what channels they are prioritizing, and what role acquisition email marketing will play in achieving TOFU success.

Video content is now a cornerstone of modern retail and eCommerce marketing, with organizations creating unprecedented volumes of video assets to engage customers across multiple touchpoints. Many organizations now produce fifty to one hundred video assets each month. This shift toward video is being accelerated by artificial intelligence, which marketers can use to enhance video production, translation, and distribution.This report explores how leading retailers and eCommerce brands are using strategic video content and AI-driven interactivity to enhance training and the customer experience. Readers will gain insight into the future of AI-driven video and explore how they can drive measurable results in their own business through video interactivity and an AI-enhanced strategy.

Marketing leaders are integrating artificial intelligence into their strategies and operations, with varying degrees of adoption, trust, and success. This report examines how marketing leaders are currently utilizing AI, what objectives brands have set for AI in the coming year, and what factors are influencing marketers’ confidence in AI-powered solutions. The findings reveal a marketing landscape in transition, where professionals recognize AI’s potential benefits, yet maintain healthy skepticism about its impact on their work.

Our report reveals the most critical topics discussed at eTail Palm Springs 2025, providing actionable insights for retail and eCommerce leaders navigating a changing marketplace. It explores critical strategies for building brand trust with socially and environmentally conscious consumers, adapting to shifting consumer behavior in a volatile economy, and delivering seamless omnichannel experiences that meet modern shopper expectations. Download your copy today!

The following report explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform retail and eCommerce over the next three years through innovative use cases and growing implementations. With 85% of the surveyed respondents planning to increase their investments in AI technology in the next year, more and more brands will compete based on their ability to use AI solutions to enhance both internal operations and the customer experience.

Some retail and eCommerce organizations are facing challenges in adapting existing workflows to new technologies. Others are struggling to personalize the customer experience at scale. Furthermore, while virtually all the respondents believe the post-purchase experience is an important part of their loyalty strategies, many lack key capabilities. This report explores how retail and eCommerce leaders will shape their customer loyalty programs over the next 12 months.

This report explores how effectively retail and eCommerce organizations are enhancing the customer journey to drive growth and customer loyalty. Drawing insights from a survey of industry leaders and presenting direct quotes from discussions at eTail Boston 2024, the report highlights key trends driving the future of the retail and eCommerce customer experience. The report also includes a notable case study outlining the use of storytelling and AI-powered personalization to drive meaningful customer shopping experiences. It ends with an analysis of what retail and eCommerce brands plan to do in the next 12 months to enhance customer journeys moving forward.

eTail Boston 2024 was a remarkable event, filled with insightful sessions, innovative ideas, and engaging conversations. From Warby Parker's keynote to the final panel with Thousand Fell and Adore Me, speakers inspired attendees to confidently navigate the evolving retail landscape. This post-event report offers a detailed recap, including key highlights and emerging themes. We look forward to continuing the momentum at eTail Palm Springs in February 2025!

The retail and eCommerce industry in 2025 stands at a crossroads, shaped by rapid technological innovation, evolving consumer expectations, and persistent operational hurdles. Retail leaders are investing heavily in AI, analytics, and omnichannel strategies, but many still face challenges in translating these investments into measurable business outcomes. This report explores the key trends, priorities, and obstacles shaping the sector, drawing on insights from senior leaders across diverse retail verticals. It also provides actionable recommendations to help organizations bridge the gap between aspiration and transformation, ensuring they remain competitive in a dynamic marketplace.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of retail and eCommerce, AI is poised to become a pivotal force in reshaping industry standards for customer engagement, operational efficiency, and market competitiveness. This report underscores the critical role of AI-driven insights, automation, and personalization, as facilitated through the integration of Customer Data Platforms with unified data systems. It highlights an understanding that the future of retail and eCommerce will be significantly influenced by technology’s ability to offer nuanced, personalized experiences.

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the current trends, strategies, and challenges faced by retail and eCommerce leaders in the rapidly evolving marketplace landscape. It highlights the significant role of third-party marketplaces in driving sales, with most companies relying heavily on these platforms for a substantial portion of their revenue. Key strategies for optimizing sales include enhancing product listings, leveraging user-generated content, and implementing dynamic pricing and product sampling programs.

While retail and eCommerce organizations recognize the critical importance of effective data management for strategic decisionmaking and personalized customer experiences, many struggle with outdated tools and processes. This report is based on a survey of retail and eCommerce leaders. Ultimately, the results of the study suggest that achieving a comprehensive, collaborative, and technologically advanced data management framework is essential for companies to leverage their data effectively and stay competitive.

The DTC model has become a winning strategy for many consumer brands, even those that have traditionally sold all their products via partnerships with retailers. However, the DTC space has become much more crowded. This report explores how the DTC model has evolved and where it stands in today’s retail environment. It also identifies brands’ current DTC strategies and reveals how they are working to address new opportunities and challenges.

Headless commerce has drastically changed eCommerce by allowing businesses to create an online presence without having to rely on a traditional web-based storefront. Instead, websites and applications can be powered by APIs that enable data like product information and prices to be distributed across channels like mobile apps, voice assistants, and conversational chatbots. This report explores how eCommerce retailers are currently using headless commerce and what challenges they face in optimizing their font-end digital strategy.

Once the purview of startups and disruptor brands, direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales is now an integral part of many manufacturers’ sales strategies. But D2C business is not without its challenges. Last year, some brands also claimed to require a major technology overhaul if they wanted to secure their D2C strategies for the future. This report explores the progress brands have made in their D2C strategies over the past year. It contains insights from D2C leaders as well as benchmarking information regarding technology adoption, strategy deployment, and industry trends.

This report is based on a survey of retail leaders, revealing that retail and e-commerce organizations are actively pursuing contextualization, personalization, and onsite experience optimization strategies. While most organizations consider themselves somewhat effective in these areas, there's significant room for improvement.

This report, based on a survey of marketing leaders at top business to-consumer (B2C) brands, explores the barriers marketers’ encounter in effectively utilizing their customer data. The findings reveal a telling challenge: 81% of marketers rate their technology infrastructure as only adequate for now, partially adequate, or inadequate in supporting data-driven marketing initiatives.

This report highlights the critical role of digital tools and logistics platforms in addressing contemporary consumer expectations for convenient and flexible shopping experiences, such as pickup-anywhere and fast ship-to-home delivery. It also emphasizes the adoption of real-time order management software, dedicated staffing for online orders, and analytics for forecasting as key strategies among retailers to enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. One key finding is that all the respondents believe it is at least somewhat important to have data in one location to make actionable fulfillment decisions. This points to the necessity of consolidated data access. It also underscores the importance of an integrated omnichannel platform for agile decision-making

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