Retailers’ constant experimentation with new concepts and formats helps to lay the groundwork for the industry’s future. In 2025, one of the most important areas of innovation in retail formats – new digital interfaces – focuses on the online realm. Another – experiential retail – focuses on the offline. This emphasis on both the digital and experiential dimensions of shopping underscores the strategic role that new concepts are playing in shaping the retail industry’s evolution.
Integrated loyalty and payment features enhance retailers’ mobile apps
In 2025, the global retail industry faces many obstacles, including an ongoing cost-of-living crisis and looming storm clouds of economic and political uncertainty. Amidst the challenges, however, retail e-commerce remains a bright spot, with online retail sales recording strong growth as consumers spend more time on their smartphones and shift more of their spending to digital channels. In this environment, consumers increasingly look to utilise retailers’ websites and mobile apps to find promotions, compare products, and make savvier purchasing decisions.
One area in which the evolution of retailers’ digital interfaces is most evident is in the increasing integration of loyalty programmes into their mobile apps. In November 2024, home furnishings giant Ikea relaunched its loyalty programme under a new name – Ikea Family. The revamped loyalty programme – which is accessible through the Ikea app – rewards customers for interactions beyond simply buying products, such as creating wish lists, meeting with designers, and even logging into the app. It also offers personalised benefits, allowing members to choose the benefits they want, including things like free delivery, a free meal at the Ikea restaurant, or a voucher for products or discounts.
Another way retailers are improving their digital interfaces is by expanding the number of payment methods supported within their mobile apps. For example, in September 2024, Philippines-based grocer Puregold partnered with GCash, a leading player in the Philippine finance app space, to offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) options to sari-sari operators that are part of Puregold’s Tindahan ni Aling Puring (TNAP) programme. (Sari-saris are the small neighbourhood stores that have served as the traditional bedrock of the Philippines’ retail landscape.) The development allows stores that accept the GGive/GCash app to pay for up to PHP5,000 of inventory using credit. This new option is expected to increase sari-sari operators’ access to affordable working capital.
Retailers look to make shopping in stores more entertaining
As e-commerce continues to advance, more retailers are embracing experiential retail concepts in a bid to bring customers back to their brick-and-mortar stores. In light of this, many retailers are transforming stores into immersive spaces that entertain customers, create a sense of community, or bring aspects of the digital world into real life. By creating physical retail spaces that offer consumers memorable experiences, retailers can better differentiate themselves in an increasingly digital age. This trend is illustrated by Euromonitor’s Voice of the Industry Survey, where 59% of industry professionals in 2024 reported that improving the customer journey and user experience was their most important commerce-specific goal over the next 12 months.
Explore other new retail formats through the lens of the themes of new digital interfaces and experiential retail – as well as responsible retail, data-driven retail, and simplified shopping – in our new strategy briefing, New Concepts in Retail.