Retail Trends
Retail is continuously evolving as consumers expect a seamless blend of physical and digital experiences. Read our insights and advice for staying a step ahead.
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Insights
Blog
Agents Are In The Aisle: The 2026 NRF APAC Innovators To Watch
The 2026 National Retail Federation APAC Innovators Showcase spotlights technology companies transforming how retailers operate and how consumers shop. Learn more about these companies.
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The State Of Agentic Commerce In Mid-2026
AI shopping assistants aren't buying groceries autonomously... yet. But digital leaders cannot afford to ignore digital commerce. The time is now to build your strategy.
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From Walled Gardens To Working Media: The Rise Of Commerce Media
In less than a decade, retail media evolved from a monetization tactic piloted by margin-seeking mass retailers into one of advertising’s fastest-growing channels. By nearly every surface-level metric, retail media works. Marketers shifted billions of co-op funds into it, lured by the promise of closed-loop measurement and higher return on relationships with merchants. But beneath […]
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Amazon Opens Its Supply Chain Empire To All — But Is It A Fit For Your Business?
Amazon’s AWS Playbook: Now Applied To Supply Chain Logistics Per ShipMatrix, in 2025, Amazon surpassed the US Postal Service, FedEx, and UPS to become the largest parcel carrier in the US by volume. Globally, it delivers an estimated 13 billion packages every year. After decades spent building one of the world’s most formidable logistics networks […]
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Ensure That You’re Asking The Right Questions About Agentic Commerce
Companies thinking about agentic commerce strategy often start in the wrong place. Get anchored in the right agentic commerce questions at Forrester’s CX Forums this June.
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Attend Forrester’s Agentic Commerce Workshop To Ensure That You’re Asking The Right Questions About Agentic Commerce
Are you asking the right questions about agentic commerce? Join us at Forrester’s CX Forum East (NYC) and West (San Francisco) in June for our workshop, “Catalyze Agentic Commerce — How To Move From FOMO To Focus.”
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Agentic Payments In B2C Commerce: Where We Are Now
The state of agentic payments is evolving rapidly. This post summarizes five key developments and provides a timeline of critical announcements since November 2025.
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Agentic Commerce-Era Lessons From Social Commerce And Digital Ad Channels
Before diving into agentic commerce, take stock of four lessons that social commerce taught us to make wise decisions today.
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Apparel And Footwear Brands Must Own Their Destinies To Survive
In the midst of disruption, the brands that will thrive are those that actively seize control of how consumers discover, evaluate, and buy their products.
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Word On The Retail Street: What To Watch In 2026
Retail is in a tough spot: economic pressure, rapid tech change, and customers who are harder to read than ever. After dozens of conversations with executives, fresh consumer data, and time on the floor at events such as NRF, CES, and vendor showcases, here are my three takeaways for retail in 2026 on the consumer environment, Google search, and agentic AI solutions.
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When Things Go Wrong With A Commerce Task, Many Consumers Will Blame The Answer Engine
We asked consumers in the US, the UK, and Canada who they would hold responsible for issues when they use an answer engine to complete commerce-related tasks. Consumers might take personal responsibility for some issues (such as feeling that their prompts hadn’t been targeted enough) or might even hold the brand they ordered from responsible. […]
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Power Couple OpenAI + Amazon May Have Just Won Consumer Agentic Commerce
As the Shopify-OpenAI partnership appears to be ending, a new alliance may be set to dominate. Learn how it could unfold and what the implications may be.
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What It Means That The Leader In “Agentic Commerce” Just Pulled Back
OpenAI has nixed its instant-checkout functionality, which enabled shoppers to complete their orders directly in ChatGPT. Read what this shift means for merchants.
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Vendor Specialization Is In The Spotlight In Forrester’s B2B And B2C Commerce Landscape
Both of these things are true: The commerce solutions market continues to evolve, and more vendors that once specialized in B2B or B2C use cases now exclusively cover the other model, as well. Some vendors still provide deep specialization — sometimes exclusively — in one model or the other. As we continue to witness the […]
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US Tech Forecast 2026 For Retail: Make Every Tech Dollar Count
With planned budget increases aimed at modernizing infrastructure and adopting AI at scale, retail leaders must ensure that every investment improves profitability, business resilience, and customer value.
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E-Commerce Will Drive Half Of Europe-5 Retail Sales Growth By 2030
Across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, e-commerce is growing and is set to transform retail to capture 21% of total retail sales by 2030.
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US Retail In 2030: E-Commerce Expands, Stores Still Matter
Forrester’s US Retail E-Commerce Forecast, 2025 To 2030 reveals steady growth across total retail, online sales, and store-based spending. Learn more about the key trends and where to find more detailed data and insights.
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Manage The Emerging Costs Of Agentic Commerce By Taking A Cue From Drop-Shipping Strategy
The costs of selling in answer engines — like many things related to agentic commerce — are not entirely clear. Understand the steps to crafting a strategy to integrate agentic commerce into your business operations.
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Agentic Commerce’s Success Centers On Overcoming Key Frontiers In Consumer Trust
Google has entered the agentic commerce race and is now racing against OpenAI for advantage. Yet consumer trust still lags.
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NRF Big Show Innovators Showcase 2026: Retail Tech To Watch
Read this blog for a look into NRF’s 2026 Innovators Showcase to better understand what’s next in retail technology transformation.
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