On the Future of Retail - View our New Report Today
Stores-as-a-Wardrobes, Double Decker Shops, Zone-in-Zones....
Today, I’m sharing a summary of my new PSFK Future of Retail report. By studying the weak signals that my tools have been gathering over the last 90 days of 2024, I’ve collected enough data to conduct pattern recognition and identify trends and market drivers.
My aim this year is to fully leverage the corporation tracker Broadmind.ai, the conference-speech tracker Eventmind.ai, and the research & analysis engine Trend God to gather extensive data across industry verticals and then I will run ‘human-powered’ pattern recognition across the set. Once I’ve done that enough times, I’ll fine-tune the Trend God analysis agent with my own human analysis as a training file - so we can get to identifying and activating these trends.
The Future of Retail (Q2 2025)
For retail, there was a lot to learn from the data gathered in the last 3 months of 2024.. To simplify things, I’ve split the trends into Now, Next, and New buckets. Trends in the Now section have numerous data points and case studies, making them more mainstream. Next trends have fewer data points, signaling an emerging trend. And with New… well, you get it.
At first glance, it might seem like not much is changing in retail—you could even complain that Piers’ document is full of the same old trends. But when you look closer, you’ll notice subtle evolutions within these familiar themes, and that’s where the opportunities lie. For example:
Private label is a massive and growing business today, but it’s evolving into a more collaborative “partner label” model.
Circular economy efforts have been steady, but the nuance now lies in “longevity,” with brands and retailers focusing on keeping products in use or wear for longer.
Locally focused retail is evolving around identity, with retailers signaling “we see you” to certain groups and their allies.
Shop-in-shops, which I first identified in my Future of Retail report in 2010, have become “Zone-In-Zones.” Cute phrase, I know—but it reflects how retailers are creating multiple zones within their stores to engage customers.
AI in retail is currently enhancing assortments, but I foresee it evolving to where digital representations of both the customer and retailer help shoppers find the right product at the right price.
I expanded on that last point in the ideation section of the report, where we explore how readers can turn these ideas into actionable solutions. For instance, retailers could develop digital twins of their creative leaders to serve customers both online and in-store.
The full report is available to view for the next 7 days for paid subscribers in the paywalled section below. (There’s a mini version you can download on LinkedIn too). If you do the paid subscribe thing, you’ll also get access to my upcoming reports on beauty, consumer goods, and beyond (yes, I’m going through the alphabet).
OK - AND REMEMBER: What excites me most is when clients ask me to present this work, adapt it to their needs, or commission original research. If that’s you, hit me up at hello@psfk.com.
Thanks - Piers, PSFK
