only what will be the most repeated retail buzzwords of 2025, but also the consumer drivers behind them. Buzzword one: Tariffs and dynamic pricing At this point, we now know that import tariffs are no longer a possibility, but a reality. At the time this article was written, a 25 percent tariff had been imposed (and delayed by one month) on many goods from Mexico and Canada, an additional 10 percent tariff had been placed on Chinese goods (which China matched in retaliation), and a 25 percent tariff had been placed on all steel and aluminum imports. The resulting expenses being imposed on retailers, combined with all the attention an election year has brought to consumers’ financial standing, has created an environment in which consumers are hyper cautious of their expenses. While 2024 was the year in which ‘spaving’ (spending more to save more) became popularised, 2025 will likely be the year that shoppers go back to simply saving, or attempting to, without the excessive spending to do so. Although some retailers are declaring that they have diversified their supply chain enough to avoid raising prices, Nobel Laureate and economist Joseph Stiglitz declared that “virtually all economists think that the impact of the tariffs will be very bad for America and for the world,” acknowledging that price hikes are an inevitable outcome. As a result, pricing strategy and the technology that allows pricing strategy to be a sustainable competitive advantage will be the differentiator for winning retailers. Dynamic pricing technologies will play a key role here, and retailers will be tasked with making price variability appealing to consumers given its current reputation among shoppers for ripping them off with surges. Retailers will have to vary prices in responsible ways that demonstrate that they’re for the consumer rather than exploitative. Brands will need to craft transparent messaging that highlights to shoppers examples of dynamic pricing that helps them save money. For example, grocers could tag discounts on soon-expiring products as ‘dynamically priced’ to encourage positive associations with the term. Similarly, promotional combo meals, one-off discounts on limited-time upsells, and excess inventory requiring fast sell-through could be tagged this way. Personalised discounts could also be offered on products consumers already have a consistent history of buying, as a reward for the volume driven. This would be notably different from the initiatives that drove spaving, because this discount would come in when the consumer’s buying history actually indicated the product was needed again, rather than to encourage them to stock up. Buzzword two: RFID and Inventory management With overall retail return rates averaging almost 15 percent, online returns reaching about 18 percent, and new Environmental Protection Agency sustainability reporting regulations for brands beginning in 2025, inventory management has been climbing up retailer radars for more and more reasons. Now that over 90 percent of retailers worldwide have embraced RFID tagging, a new level of command over inventory management is possible. The granular data RFID tagging provides is facilitating faster replenishment rates, reductions in store associates’ labour hours merchandising new items, more frequent opportunities to cycle count, trendier product development, reduced waste and better visibility into sustainability reporting. As retailers look to leverage the vast amount of supply-chain data and their improved capacity for analysing it, thanks to AI innovation, inventory management and demand forecasting will reach new heights. We may also anticipate renewed interest in membership models, which when paired with RFID technology, really level up control over the supply chain. Retailers might attempt to stock up on items they worry might face more taxation, especially as tariffs get raised. RFID tagging can provide the real-time reigning in retailers would need to avoid the excess inventory situation faced over the 2022 holiday period. Buzzword three: Generative AI and agentic AI Agentic AI has seemingly overtaken generative AI as the hottest version of AI being talked about, but I don’t believe that consumers are ready for the retail that takes AI from generative to agentic. Agentic AI leverages generative AI to not only understand, communicate and create with consumers but also to plan how a particular objective can be accomplished, what tasks need to be done and in which order using the tools available. You could create a solution that uses generative AI to write personalised product descriptions, making the most relevant product attributes pop to the right consumers, creating product imagery based on particular criteria, and building shopping lists from recipes and a shopper’s current items in the cupboard. Contrastingly, agentic AI acting as a personal shopper would decide if, when and for what reason to use those capabilities. Agentic AI solutions give more autonomy and the ability to explore how to achieve the objective in less pre-determined ways. Considering how frequently consumers in our surveys tell us they want to feel in control of their shopping experiences, I’m not convinced that the time for agentic AI to take off is here just yet. So, although the industry is abuzz with this term, consumers will need plenty of time to catch up. Buzzword four: Vibes and aesthetics Thanks to TikTok, Pinterest and Instagram, many (especially young) consumers are looking for a specific aesthetic, vibe or look when they shop. They’re extremely specific in what they’re searching for from a visual perspective because of the aforementioned platforms’ prominent role in the discovery phase of shopping. This ability to so pointedly curate one’s personal style, in tandem with the fact that the TikTok algorithm is based on predicted resonance, not just on accounts users already know, means there’s more opportunity for brandless, organic exploration. This is why so many small brands have found success on TikTok. We don’t know what the future of TikTok in the US holds, but this searching mindset for a look will carry forward across other platforms, regardless. Consequently, retailers will need to optimise their search capabilities to ensure they’re able to keep up with how quickly language evolves. Censorship on platforms continuously forces consumers to change their vernacular, and search queries need to stay prepared for that. Moreover, visual search functions should be implemented and fine-tuned so that consumers can easily upload imagery that conveys what they’re looking for. Homepages will be more effective if they’re highly visual, with a wide variety of cohesive looks for consumers to browse off the bat, and filter options should include descriptors of various aesthetics to help shoppers get to the vibe they’re looking for more quickly. Revolve has already taken the lead on merchandising by vibe, with ‘Cool Girl Western’ and ‘Rich Girl’ shops. Alex Cooper’s recently launched hydration beverage, ‘Unwell’ is marketed on an array of channels, including a website full of imagery demonstrative of the expansive occasions lending themselves to a need for the product. Spotify’s AI-generated playlist themes were in jest (for example, ‘Pink Pilates Princess Strut Pop’), but they were ironically successful because they captured the feelings users were trying to indulge with their music choices. Retailers should apply this lesson with their visual merchandising, and from an accessibility standpoint, with their descriptive tagging as well. In some ways, the overarching through line for 2025 is ‘what’s old is new again.’ Tariffs were a touchy subject during Trump’s first turn as president. Walmart’s adoption of RFID technology in 2003 first brought industry-wide attention to its capabilities. In the early 2010s, there was a second resurgence before it took a backburner spot until recently. AI has been used in the retail space for over two decades, and aesthetic-centric social networking site Tumblr reached peak popularity in early 2014. However, if QR codes are any indication, it always takes multiple tries for retailers to get technology not just right, but completely aligned with consumers’ perceptions, desires and expectations. So 2025, it’s these four trends’ turn. This story first appeared in the March 2025 issue of Inside Retail US.