Consumer and business buyers globally are more comfortable in the digital realm than ever before. They’re increasingly exposed to cutting-edge tech and accustomed to interacting digitally with brands and suppliers. They’re having what once were considered deeply “nerdy” AI-focused discussions with colleagues — and they’re using digital touchpoints in commerce for work and at home. Indications are that they’re ready to go even more digital — but they may have to wait.
In 2025, we anticipate a disconnect between what shoppers and business buyers want and are willing to do — and how digital businesses will respond. Among our predictions for the coming year, we expect that:
Very few major retailers in NA and EMEA will evolve store experiences to bring them closer to digital.
Some retailers will “omni-fy” their store systems, but one-third of global digital business strategy decision-makers in retail and wholesale tell us that they are focused on small tech changes as a top priority for customer-facing tech. Because of financial pressures and lower consumer sentiment, we predict that just 10% of major North American and EMEA retailers in 2025 will commit to broader overhauls that tie their store systems more closely to digital.
Although shoppers are more willing to engage in conversational commerce, most brands just won’t bite.
Per Forrester’s Consumer Benchmark Survey, 2024, over one-third of online adults in France, Germany, the UK, and the US — and over two-thirds in metro China and metro India — already use instant message, chat, or direct message monthly or more often to communicate with companies or brands when they research products or services to purchase. These consumers are also interested in using brand and retailer websites and apps that let them type questions or speak conversationally via chat or verbal prompts. We anticipate that fewer than one-fifth of global brands will add this type of functionality in 2025, however. Digital leaders want to feel confident that they can add successful, stable interfaces that generate trustworthy and reliable content for customers.
Digital talent will shop themselves around, but few will find the “greener grass” employment they want.
The job market is facing waning comforts for workers — think the “EX winter.” The US is at a five-year low for rates of white-collar promotions, and tussles over return-to-office policies wear on. Fully 15% of global information workers in retail, wholesale, and financial services tell us that they’d most appreciate not returning to the office, per Forrester’s Digital Workplace And Employee Technology Survey, 2024. We expect enough improvement to the employee experience in 2025 — and enough competition for the most desirable positions — that some employees will find new opportunities, but most digital workers will stay put.
2025 is the year that we project digital commerce to be mired in disconnects. Avoid these pitfalls by adopting an agile mindset that encourages constant review of initiatives to ensure that they continue to align with market expectations. As always, we will watch the market and help our clients navigate the year to find the equilibrium they need to operate their business effectively — and meet their customers’ needs.
Download our complimentary Predictions guide, which covers more of our top predictions for 2025. Get additional complimentary resources, including webinars, on the Predictions 2025 hub.
This post was written by Principal Analyst Emily Pfeiffer and it originally appeared here.
