Top Trends from NRF 2025

1AI is here: How can retailers use it?

In past years, AI was touted at NRF as “the next big idea”. This year the French fry-cooking robots, “smart shopping carts”, and AI-powered sales associates on the show floor made it plain to see that AI has arrived.

Now that AI tools are more commonly accessible, many retailers are looking beyond basic data collection and interpretation. Instead, retailers may turn to solutions that can also help them convert their AI insights into actions.

A PayPal-sponsored session, “Leveraging AI and data to transform digital ad spend,” explored this topic. The session highlighted the ways AI can be used to take a more targeted approach to performance advertising.

As a result, retailers can explore hyper-relevant marketing and sales strategies to better understand, and connect with, their customers.

2Fraud, security, and privacy: Protect customers and assets in the tech age

With great customer intelligence comes great responsibility to secure data and build trust.

The advancement of AI and other tech tools have made it more pressing—and more challenging—to protect against bad actors. Another challenge is remaining compliant with ever-evolving consumer protection regulations.

In one NRF 2025 panel discussing checkout optimization, VP and Head of Fastlane at PayPal Billy Conway referenced a stat from a 2023 Statista study. He revealed that fraud losses worldwide are at a 40% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). ¹

Statistics like this show that it can be beneficial for retailers to focus on robust security measures. These measures include real-time fraud protection powered by machine learning and 24/7 risk monitoring.

Additionally, retailers should look to adapt risk tools catered to their specific business needs and risk strategy. They should do this without increasing complexity across the entire transaction lifecycle.

Combining advanced risk solutions that adapt to evolving threats can help retailers address chargebacks and other losses.

3Personalization: Better experiences and data-driven targeting

The development of advanced tech tools means retailers have the capability to provide nearly any customer with personalized service.

One NRF 2025 session explained personalization as an unlikely continuum in which technology enables human connection, and human insight guides technology.

Personalization can be achieved by leveraging detailed customer data based on individual behavior. The data can be used to serve customized content to a shopper. Customized content includes product recommendations, location-based offers, and even dynamic pricing.

As another example, retailers can use personalization to discover and surface a customer’s preferred payment methods at checkout. This tactic creates a personalized experience that feels more tailored and less transactional. Personalization can help to build trust and loyalty over time.

4Omnichannel shopping: Streamlined sales from start to finish

Shoppers have come to expect a streamlined experience. This expectation applies whether they’re browsing online, shopping in-store, or bouncing between both.

This omnichannel journey extends from the product discovery phase and beyond checkout to include returns and post-purchase customer service.

NRF 2025 was abuzz with solutions that can help businesses ease the disconnect between “online” and “irl.” We observed omnichannel tools, such as kiosks that allow in-store customers to peruse online stock. Another example was software that simplifies inventory management between virtual and physical storefronts.

For retailers, creating a smooth omnichannel experience also requires integrated payment solutions. As an example, Tap to Pay is available through PayPal’s point-of-sale solutions along with streamlined online checkout. With PayPal, customers can shop the way they want—in-store or online.

5Optimization: Reducing friction and cart abandonment

At NRF 2025, industry leaders emphasized that online shoppers increasingly expect fast and convenient checkout experiences. Customers often choose guest checkout due to perceived time or privacy issues.

Offering an improved guest checkout solution like Fastlane by PayPal can provide customers with the convenience they desire. Fastlane also gives retailers the power to create a more positive shopping experience.

Additionally, integrating payment strategies like secure vaulting, global network intelligence, and real-time decisioning and risk management can be helpful. These measures support smooth, secure checkout transactions while improving the customer’s experience.

Explore further: Catch an in-depth recap of our NRF 2025 panel “Turning Guest Checkout from Liability to Revenue Driver”