New research shows how retailers can meet consumer expectations

April 08, 2025 at 08:31 AM EDT

(BPT) - Consumers today expect seamless, personalized, convenient shopping experiences wherever they shop. How can retailers stay competitive while ensuring they meet these expectations and stay competitive? Global technology leader in supply chain and omnichannel commerce Manhattan Associates recently launched its 2025 Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail, co-sponsored by Google Cloud and conducted by Incisiv, to evaluate how 220 North American retailers are demonstrating exceptional omnichannel commerce maturity and delivering highly personalized experiences to their customers, both in-store and online.

The biggest takeaway? Only 5% of retailers achieved "Leader" status, demonstrating the ability to consistently deliver the much desired personalized experiences.

Learn from the Leaders

The overall Leaders of the 2025 Unified Commerce Benchmark study were: Apple, Best Buy, Boss, Dick's Sporting Goods, IKEA, Lululemon, Neiman Marcus, Nike, Ralph Lauren and Sephora. On average, these Leaders achieved 31% lower fulfillment costs and 24% higher customer satisfaction.

A key finding was that from 2023 to 2025, the bar for unified commerce has risen dramatically. One-third (33%) of the capabilities that differentiated Leaders in 2023 are considered basic requirements today, while an all new set of unique capabilities defines Leadership in 2025:

Shopping experience: Today's consumers move seamlessly across channels and touchpoints. Multi-channel shoppers spend 15% more per order as they blend shopping across social media, online marketplace and brick-and-mortar stores. Leading stores understand this shift (which influences up to 34% of all digital discoveries) more than 1.5 times the industry average.

Woman working in a retail clothing store using a digital tablet.

Checkout experience: Checkout must be reimagined to seamlessly blend operational efficiency with deeper engagement and personalization. 70% of Leaders offer intelligent cart experiences that sync and adapt across channels, compared to just 31% of others. Retailers treating checkout as a strategic touchpoint - optimized for today's generation of tech-savvy shoppers - see 20% lower cart abandonment rates than the industry average.

Fulfillment experience: Today's consumers - accustomed to same-day delivery, real-time tracking and flexible pickup options - are redefining fulfillment expectations. 50% of industry leaders empower customers to modify their orders and delivery preferences post-purchase, compared to just 13% of others, setting new standards for convenience and flexibility.

Service experience: Consumers don't see channels, they see relationships. They expect every interaction to build seamlessly on the last without repeating themselves, no matter who they're speaking to. 90% of Leaders have unified customer service touchpoints to ensure smooth transitions between store, digital and phone support. The result? They witness half as many support escalations, particularly related to orders, compared to their peers. Additionally, their rapid adoption of GenAI self-service agents should reduce support calls even further.

"Every aspect of unified commerce is a driver of business success, and true leadership requires unwavering focus on every stage of the customer journey - from shopping and checkout to fulfillment and service," says Ann Ruckstuhl, SVP and CMO at Manhattan.

As the commerce ecosystem transforms at a blistering pace, retailers must continuously evolve their unified commerce capabilities to move forward. Unified commerce integrates all aspects of retail operation, from online and in-store sales to inventory management, order fulfillment and customer data, into a seamless, unified system capable of meeting consumer demand.

Female retail sales person helping another woman try on jewerly.

Factors making the difference

Businesses succeeding in this complex retail ecosystem are leveraging the latest technology to enhance shopper experiences. The conventional wisdom that operational excellence requires trading off efficiency for customer experience is being upended. When done right, customer-centric innovation actually drives operational advantages across every metric.

Optimizing GenAI: While 77% of retailers deploy chatbots for self-service, only 5% harness GenAI to elevate that experience. These technologies can scale personalization, streamline complex decisions and extend human expertise across channels with unprecedented efficiency.

For example, GenAI can use a customer's purchase and preference history to fix problems - like missing items or returns - before they even complain. Agentic workflows can check inventory and process returns without staff intervention, helping streamline processes.

These technologies don't simply connect channels; they solve complex challenges that previously limited unified commerce potential. As these capabilities improve, faster adoption will redefine what's possible in connecting physical and digital retail.

Solving inventory challenges: Real-time inventory visibility drives revenue. Digital integration improves inventory visibility so retailers know exactly where their sellable inventory is - helping them overcome any disruptions and ensuring products they need are in the right place at the right time.

"The outsized impact of inventory on top-line revenue growth is evident. Inventory visibility, availability and seamless shipping have become critical levers for driving business performance in today's competitive retail landscape," explained Ruckstuhl.

Woman retail salesperson in a clothing shop using a tablet.

Maximizing customer relationships: The 24% higher customer satisfaction rate among Leaders demonstrates that operational excellence results in loyalty. In fact, operational excellence and customer experience aren't tradeoffs anymore - they amplify each other and are redefining loyalty. Today's multi-channel shoppers don't draw distinctions between channels. They blend discovery, purchase and service, including returns, across channels, demanding consistent expertise at every touchpoint.

Customers who witness consistently convenient, trouble-free experience are more likely to remain loyal to those brands, whenever and wherever they shop.

Learn more about the impact of unified commerce by downloading the 2025 Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail or visiting manh.com.

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New research shows how retailers can meet consumer expectations

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