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W ith the potential impact of tariffs on the prices of key consumer products, footwear not excluded, and the ever-changing, increasingly complex brick-and-mortar landscape, retailers already have much to address for the remainder of 2025, and for 2026 as well. The National Retail Federation says consumer fundamentals remain "healthy and intact," despite lower- than-expected spending during the first months of 2025 that was attributed to apprehensive households "carefully navigating lingering inflation and turmoil related to changing economic policies." But retailers have many issues to navigate this year beyond the buying habits of their customers. NuOrder by Lightspeed, which powers global wholesale buying and selling for over 7,000 brands and 500,000 retailers, recently published findings on the key trends and issues facing retailers worldwide. NuOrder's conclusions are based on a survey of global retailers with more than $50 million in annual revenues and focused on buying, merchandising and planning retail executives in the luxury, fashion, footwear, sports & outdoor, and beauty segments. e three greatest business priorities of the retail respondents were: improving profitability (95%), customer loyalty/consumer confidence (67%), and reducing inventory (58%). Other cited concerns included channel diversification (29%), investing in AI & automation (20%), implementing new sustainability initiatives (18%), and data privacy/security (2%). But in the "State of Retail" report, NuOrder points out that "the data shows a disconnect between where retailers want to focus their efforts (i.e. the customer experience) and where their time is mainly spent." Within the customer area, the retail respondents said the biggest challenges that they face today are improving the customer experience both online and offline (33%), meeting changing consumer needs (29%), and overcoming scalability and growth challenges (20%). On the operational side, the most pressing issues are inventory management (97%), supply chain demands (5%), and meeting omnichannel fulfillment (5%). e three key retail strategies driving profitability today are supply chain innovations, such as reducing stockouts and improving speed; the complete omnichannel experience ranging from BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up in Store) to curbside pick-up; and personalization via suggested promotions or content. "Retailers understand that personalization creates the greatest differentiation in the shopping experience, but in real time, supply chain innovations have the greatest influence on driving profitability," the report points out. Personalization is only credited with improving a retailer's profitability by 7 percent while getting the right product mix through eliminating low-performing brand or products (69%) and diversifying offerings across sales channels (56%) are more impactful. So, what are the top consumer trends shaping the retail business over the next 12 months? Enhanced shopping convenience (33%) through easier returns and improved product availability, heads the list. It is followed by highly personalized shopping experiences by using predictive analytics (27%) and AI & technology (20%) playing a larger role in the retail experience. Other top trends include elevated digital retail experiences to complement in-store shopping (13%) and sustainability (5%) having a bigger role. n The National Retail Federation says consumer fundamentals remain "healthy and intact," despite lower- than-expected spending during the first months of 2025 4 • March/April 2025 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com THE KEY ISSUES ON THE RETAIL RADAR NEWS & ANALYSIS

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