Why Getting Customer Experience Right in Retail Matters More Than Ever
In today’s competitive landscape, exceptional customer experience (CX) is no longer optional—it’s essential.
It’s how brands like Amazon have cemented their dominance, how innovative D2C companies have disrupted industries, and how your brand will thrive or falter in the years ahead.
But what do consumers really expect in 2025? How can retailers exceed those expectations? And what CX strategies will drive success in a rapidly evolving market?
In this article, we’ll explore the top five strategies for delivering outstanding retail CX in 2025. These insights are designed to help your business not only meet customer demands but also turn CX into a key driver of growth and loyalty.
Before diving into the strategies, let’s take a quick look at what CX means for retailers and why it’s become the cornerstone of retail success.
What Is Retail Customer Experience (CX)?
In general terms, customer experience refers to the interaction between customers and a retail organisation or brand. This includes everything from product selection to service delivery to aftercare support. But it doesn't just apply to physical store locations; it applies to digital channels like your website, mobile app, and social media platforms.
In other words, customer experience spans every customer touchpoint.
What’s the difference between customer experience and customer service?
Customer service is about a particular interaction with a customer regarding a specific need. Customer experience is far broader, referring to the entire customer journey and their perception of the brand.
Why does customer experience matter so much in retail?
Aside from the reasons put down in the introduction, improving customer experience has become increasingly important over the past few years. Particularly as more of us shop online.
Here are some stats to support why CX is so important to retail brands.
According to Accenture research, nearly half of all adults say they would be less likely to shop at a store because of a poor experience. That number jumps significantly among millennials who cite poor experience as the top reason they won't return to a particular store.
Another research report cites that a huge 96% of customers believe that customer experience is a key aspect of brand loyalty.
So, clearly, consumer experience matters in retail.
If people aren't happy with your products, services, or the experience that underpins them, then they're not going to buy from you. And if they don't buy your products, you're not going to deliver growth. Growth that ends up driving revenue for your competitors.
So, what can we do to make sure that doesn’t happen? Here are five key things to focus on and consider this year.
Five retail customer experience strategies you should focus on in 2025
1. Empower your employees with data-driven decision making
The most effective way to improve your retail brand's CX strategy is through data analysis and employee empowerment.
That may sound oxymoronic, but combining the two improves customer experience. By giving your employees the data they need to succeed, you empower them, and this leads to better CX outcomes.
By using customer feedback analytics tools such as Chattermill (other tools are available), companies have access to real-time information from every feedback interaction customers have with your brand and products – whether they be positive or negative. And it distils it into meaningful trends that are easy to understand and act on.
Want to see Chattermill for yourself? Try it for free.
As Forrester Research suggests, “the ability to analyze large amounts of data across multiple channels provides organizations with insights into how best to meet consumer needs and expectations.”
Having these insights readily available allows your employees to make better decisions based on actual customer feedback analytics rather than gut feelings or assumptions. It also helps identify problems before they become major issues.
If your feedback analytics tool is telling you that hundreds of customers every month are having issues with delivery fulfilment, or that there are universal concerns about the environmental impact of your packaging, you know where to improve.
By fixing those problems, you'll build trust among your existing customers, attract more loyal ones in the future, and drive growth.
2. Focus on the consumer experience across multiple channels
One of the biggest challenges any retailer faces today is being not just present everywhere your customers expect you to be, but consistently present.
In 2018, Amazon reported that almost 90 per cent of consumers use two or more different devices while shopping. They want to see reviews, compare prices, read descriptions, watch videos, and even chat live with sales associates via video calls.
This isn’t anything new of course. It's been happening since the dawn of eCommerce. What's changed now is that we've entered an era where technology makes it possible for us to do so to a far greater degree.
Today, we can interact with our favourite brands wherever we happen to be. We can get answers without having to wait hours for someone to call back. And we can share our experiences with friends and family members right away.
While this is great for the consumer, it’s becoming difficult for brands to achieve consistency across every customer touchpoint. Few brands get this right.
And they should. Because as Wunderman Thompson research suggests, 42% of consumers say a seamless experience across all devices and channels is a “top expectation”.
Achieving consistency across your channels should be a key CX strategy.
This is no simple endeavour, of course. The best (and perhaps only) way to achieve this is to bake CX into your business’ entire operations. In 2025, you need to move towards becoming a customer-centric company – not just in name, but in reality.
3. Deliver more personalised experiences
Creating personalised experiences is nothing new in the world of CX. We all know that if we’re to attract and retain loyal customers, and deliver growth, our customers’ experience of our brands needs to be both memorable and personal.
The data backs this up. Research conducted by Forrester reveals that 77% of consumers have chosen, recommended, or paid more for a brand that provides a personalised service or experience.
There are many ways to go about delivering personalised experiences. These include using personal names in customer communications, for example.
Rewarding customer loyalty is another go-to tactic.The problem is: every successful brand is employing these tactics. And if you’re not, then this is definitely the first thing you should do.
But to deliver personalised experiences memorable enough to turn customers into fans, you need to look beyond these tactics. Leveraging customer data is a good approach.
75% of consumers are more likely to buy from a retailer that recognises them by name, recommends options based on past purchases, or knows their purchase history. (Accenture)
The only way you can achieve this and deliver personalised, memorable experiences is by leveraging your existing customer data – information on previous purchases, conversations, tracking, and CLTV, for example.
To access this data you must look to use customer service software that can collect this data from multiple channels, and present it quickly and clearly to your customer support and service teams.
4. Use Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning to improve your retail CX strategy
AI and machine learning have become indispensable for retail CX in 2025. These technologies allow retailers to analyze massive datasets, uncover hidden patterns, and predict future trends. Advanced tools, like those powered by natural language processing (NLP), can quickly decipher sentiment from customer feedback, providing actionable insights.
For instance, combining customer feedback from surveys, social media, and chatbots with support interactions can give CX leaders a holistic view of customer sentiment. This enables proactive solutions that enhance CX before issues escalate.
Actionable 2025 Strategy:
Incorporate AI-powered platforms to gain predictive insights and automate responses, enabling your team to focus on high-value customer interactions.
This technology can also be applied to customer support interactions, which is something we’ve recently introduced at Chattermill.
By combining the two sets of insights from customer support interactions, and customer feedback (whether these are fromTrustpilot, NPS surveys, chatbots, or app store reviews), CX leaders can use this new AI-powered technology to give a complete, holistic oversight that delivers a more proactive CX strategy.
For 2025, this is a strategy that all CX leaders should consider.
5. Ditch the surveys, embrace predictive analytics
The rise of predictive analytics in 2025 signals a shift from traditional survey-based approaches to more dynamic CX strategies. While 93% of CX leaders still rely on metrics like CSAT and CES, many are exploring predictive analytics to uncover root causes of customer behavior.
A recent McKinsey report on The Future of CX suggested that predictive analytics may take over from traditional survey-based approaches to CX.
So what’s the issue with the survey-based approach to CX?
Well, the report reveals that just 16% of CX leaders that believe the current approach think it allows them to uncover root causes of performance. Does this mean we should all flock towards predictive analytics in 2025?
Qualitative insights remain vital. A blended approach, combining predictive analytics with qualitative feedback, provides a comprehensive understanding of customer needs and expectations.
Next Step for 2025
Adopt predictive analytics tools to anticipate customer behavior while complementing this data with rich qualitative feedback to ensure you’re addressing nuanced customer challenges.
The future of customer experience in retail
Move over product and service quality, these days it’s all about great customer experiences. Customers want to be looked after well and 86% of shoppers are willing to pay more for a better shopping experience.
Insightful research shows that quality customer experience is more important than product and price and needs to be the number one priority for retailers. By so doing, there’s potential to double revenue. Yet another reason to make CX your highest priority now and in years to come.
By focusing on these updated strategies for 2025, retailers can stay ahead of evolving customer expectations, delivering experiences that foster trust, loyalty, and long-term growth. Whether it’s through empowering employees, integrating channels, or leveraging advanced AI, the path to CX excellence starts with actionable insights and a customer-first mindset.
How to improve in-store retail customer experience in 2025
Your physical stores should seamlessly integrate with your digital presence, creating a unified omnichannel retail experience. In 2025, treating in-store interactions as standalone events is a missed opportunity—each touchpoint, whether online or offline, must align to deliver a cohesive customer journey.
Ensure Consistency Across Channels
Customers expect the same level of quality and experience whether they’re visiting your store, scrolling through your social media, or using your app. Consistent messaging and seamless interactions build trust, satisfaction, and loyalty, reinforcing your brand identity.
Leverage Customer Data for Insights
Deepen your understanding of customer preferences by harnessing data collection and analytics. Use these insights to create tailored marketing strategies and offer product selections that resonate with your audience.
Make Your Store an Experience
Transform your brick-and-mortar location into more than a retail space, make it a destination. Introduce creative, interactive, and personal experiences that draw customers in, such as AR-powered fittings, exclusive in-store demos, or special events.
Offer Personalised Services
Differentiate your in-store experience by providing services like styling consultations, custom fittings, or exclusive in-store deals. These personal touches create memorable experiences, fostering stronger customer engagement and loyalty.
In 2025, the key to in-store success lies in blending digital innovation with human connection to make every visit remarkable.
Improving Digital Retail Experience in 2025
Post-pandemic, it’s been harder to encourage customers back into stores. Retailers need to adopt different initiatives to drive old and new customers to travel to a retail store.
Personalised experiences are important offline as well as in physical stores. Develop personalised insights that promote one-to-one relationships with your customer.
Augmented reality allows people to try before they buy. See how a sofa would look in your living room or try on a hot new lipstick shade to see if it suits your complexion.
Listen to the voice of customers and learn from that customer feedback. Data analysis is a game changer for the retail industry. You’ll be making decisions based on robust data rather than gut feelings.
Empower your teams. Customer service employees in-store and online will feel more motivated when they’re informed and engaged with your customer strategy. This employee engagement and enthusiasm will result in a better user experience and customer retention.
Focus on overall satisfaction
Investing in your customer service team and empowering them to resolve issues confidentlty is hugely important. These three initiatives can improve the retail experience.
Close the loop with detractors
Turn a negative into a positive experience. The way you deal with customer feedback will determine your customer’s future relationship with your brand. By engaging the customer in a conversation about their feedback, taking time to listen, empathise and resolve the issue, you can leave the customer remembering the positive experience of the interaction rather than the negative issue that they raised initially. That customer is likely to share word of mouth recommendations, advocating your brand afterwards.
Leverage your loyalty program
Your customer loyalty scheme is a goldmine of powerful information. This database of your most loyal customers reveals demographics, buying behaviours and preferences. Those insights can form the basis of your retail CX program. Use that data to target customers with stuff that will interest them.
Use a single integrated CX management platform
Your customer experience management platform needs to collect, analyse and act on data from across your entire business, but distribute it to the right people at the right time. Chattermill produce dashboards to do just this - highlighting the important data to specific teams so that they can base their decision-making on it.
How do you measure customer experience for retailers?
There’s myriad ways to measure customer experience so they can be tailored to your business needs. Examples include:
- Customer feedback surveys
- NetPromoter Score (NPS)
- Social media
- Text analysis
- Online reviews and ratings
- Website data.
Retail customer experience example
Five Guys
The restaurant chain engaged with Chattermill to deliver industry-leading customer experiences across the UK, France, Germany and Spain with the aim of increasing customer loyalty and retention.
Paul Hamilton, Brand & Customer Director at Five Guys said:
“To continue delivering exceptional experiences for our customers, we need insights that inspire action at a store-by-store level. To accomplish this, we needed a single source of customer truth.
Chattermill enables this by unifying our CX data, analysing it at scale using deep learning AI, and delivering insights that help us understand the Five Guys customer experience at a granular level.
With Chattermill, each of our customer service and operations teams now have the insights they need to improve CX day to day, week to week, country to country and store to store.”
Conclusion - The Future of Retail CX in 2025
The importance of customer experience (CX) in retail cannot be overstated. In 2025, brands that fail to evolve and meet rising customer expectations risk being left behind. Growth and success hinge on adopting forward-looking strategies that position CX as a competitive advantage.
The five strategies outlined in this article provide a robust starting point. By empowering employees, leveraging data-driven insights, and embracing innovative approaches, you’ll not only elevate your CX but also gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ needs and behaviors.
That said, these strategies are just the beginning. Success in CX demands attention to detail and a commitment to getting the fundamentals right. Combine the basics with bold, customer-centric initiatives, and you’ll be well on your way to creating experiences that delight and inspire loyalty in 2025 and beyond.
