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Retail Trends 2025: How Modern Shoppers are Shaping Retail
27 Jun 2025
How can retail successfully engage modern shoppers and build long-term loyalty? Shopper trends are fundamentally changing the industry – digital affinity, sustainability, and personalised experiences are key today. Retail expert Sharon Yourell Lawlor explains how retailers can improve customer engagement and enhance the shopping experience with the practical ALIVE checklist.
“Shoppers don’t think in channels; they want a seamless experience – online and offline.”
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Key insights
The modern shopper is informed, digital, and demanding
Today’s shoppers are digitally savvy, expect seamless shopping experiences, and show little loyalty if retailers don’t actively provide added value and transparency. They seek inspiration, education, and solutions – not just products.
Personalisation must be meaningful, transparent, and trustworthy
Personalisation offers great potential – but only if it genuinely solves problems, is implemented with trust (e.g. through transparent data usage), and avoids algorithmic bias. Shoppers expect control over their preferences.
Physical retail must become more experience- and solution-oriented
The line between online and offline is blurring. Retailers need to create a unified, inspiring shopping experience – both in-store and digitally. This means understanding customer needs and translating them into tailored, practical solutions.
Sustainability and value-driven shopping are becoming key purchase factors
More and more consumers think circular and consciously. Retailers should prepare to credibly integrate sustainable concepts – for example, through clear information, eco-friendly offerings, or recycling and resale models.
ALIVE checklist
With the ALIVE checklist, Sharon Yourell Lawlor has developed a practical tool that helps retailers better understand the modern shopper and boost sales success through simple measures:
Amplified Availability: Availability means more than just having products in stock – make them visible and easy to find.
Linkages: Connect products directly to shoppers’ needs and desires to offer relevant solutions.
Inspiration: Delight shoppers with emotional, informative, and educational content that turns shopping into an experience.
Value: Clearly communicate the value and benefits of your offerings – modern shoppers actively seek added value.
Elevation: Elevate the shopping experience, for example through services that make customers’ lives easier.
Looking for more practical tips on successful customer engagement and creating a modern shopping experience? Visit our dedicated page on consumer goods marketing – or explore the latest retail trends.
Sharon Yourell Lawlor
Retail Trend Expert
Sharon Yourell Lawlor is an internationally recognised expert in retail and shopper marketing, with over 25 years of experience in the consumer goods industry. As founder and CEO of Think Plan Do Consulting in Dublin, she helps brands and retailers identify shopper trends and translate them into successful, practical retail strategies. Her work has earned her recognition as one of RETHINK Retail’s Top Global Experts (2023, 2024 and 2025). Sharon was also awarded a position on the Retail Technology Information Hub(RTIH) Top 100 Retail Tech Influencers list of 2025.
