Retail is no longer just about grabbing groceries or finding the perfect outfit. It’s about connection. Today’s shoppers are looking for brands that align with their values, respect their time, and are just as focused on building relationships as they are making a sale. In response, retailers are turning to innovation to build customer experiences that are deeper, more meaningful, and more profitable than ever before.
We now live in an era where mobile devices are the new storefronts, AI makes recommendations instead of salespeople, and augmented reality redefines how we explore products. But with opportunity comes complexity. Delivering these cutting-edge experiences requires more than just great ideas—it demands seamless execution.
Here’s a look at the technologies transforming retail in 2025 and how continuous testing can empower retailers to stay ahead in a fast-changing landscape.
AI and Machine Learning
During the 2024 holiday season, AI-driven recommendations took center stage, boosting online sales by nearly 4% year over year thanks to targeted promotions, product recommendations, and chatbot checkouts. By analyzing shopper preferences and behaviors, AI empowers retailers to craft tailored shopping experiences that reduce the likelihood of returns while strengthening brand loyalty. Product return rates have grown to 28%, which has many retailers concerned about how this rate reduces overall profit margins.
While chatbots have been around for years, it’s only in the last year or so that generative AI has made chatbots viable as a primary customer touchpoint. But while they’ve allowed stores to scale their customer support, chatbots remain a double-edged sword. For every intuitive chatbot experience, a shopper can just as easily get stuck in a circular conversation with an AI that moves them no closer to accomplishing their goal–increasing the risk of cart abandonment and lost customer loyalty. In 2025, retailers will need to improve these tools by designing experiences that prioritize empathy and quick resolutions so brands can strike a balance between efficiency and personalization.
Beyond customer-facing applications, AI is revolutionizing backend operations. Automation in inventory management, logistics, and demand forecasting allows businesses to adapt more quickly to changing market conditions. For example, predictive algorithms can help retailers anticipate stock shortages, optimize supply chains, and ultimately reduce costs.
Omnichannel Retail Experiences
The line between online and offline shopping isn’t just blurring—it has virtually disappeared. Today’s consumers don’t differentiate a store’s physical location, retail mobile app, e-commerce website, or social channels. To them, it is all one store – and they expect a unified experience no matter which channel they choose.
Mobile apps are the centerpiece of the omnichannel retail experience. Customers demand intuitive, responsive apps that make the entire shopping experience effortless, whether it’s browsing a new collection, getting tailored recommendations, or managing returns. To power an integrated experience, retailers must also consider the quality of their employee-facing tools, including inventory management systems, point-of-sale devices, and digital scanners.
When these systems fall short, it’s not just employees who feel the impact; it’s the shoppers using the mobile app or waiting in line. Take the self-checkout line, for example. Once seen as a convenience, it has increasingly become a frustrating experience when unreliable retail software leaves customers wrestling with frozen screens and error messages. While many retailers are moving away from self-checkout and investing more heavily in their other digital touchpoints, it still shows that digital quality has an important role to play even in brick-and-mortar locations when delivering a winning omnichannel digital experience.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are redefining shopping by melding screens with the store aisle experience.
AR is quickly becoming a standard feature for retail mobile apps. With AR, customers can see what an object looks like from every angle without having to visit the store. Whether virtually trying on different outfits, building a customizable product, or seeing how a couch might fit in a living room, AR can help customers better understand the product and improve the shopping experience, reducing the risk of product returns.
Similarly, VR can do things like let shoppers browse virtual showrooms, visit a virtual production facility to see how products get made, hang out at virtual events with other fans, and other memorable digital experiences.
Social Commerce
Social media is where many Gen Z and Millennials get their shopping inspiration:
33% of Gen Z have bought a product recommended by influencers in the past three months
80% of Gen Z consumers use Instagram and other social sites for product discovery
97% of Gen Z consumers use social platforms for shopping inspiration
As a result, social commerce has emerged as a powerful source of revenue as retailers integrate their sales experience with platforms like Instagram and Facebook to turn casual scrolling into meaningful transactions.
Key to social commerce is the ability to tap into influencers, leveraging their authenticity and reach to connect with highly engaged audiences. A single recommendation from a trusted creator can easily outperform a traditional ad campaign.
Fraud Prevention
As retailers continue to shift to digital, the stakes for security have never been higher. In addition to protecting against fraudulent sales and returns, retailers must protect against cyberattacks targeting their vast troves of customer data and credit card numbers. Fraud prevention for retail encompasses three categories:
Loss prevention has evolved beyond theft in physical stores to encompass inventory accuracy across digital and physical channels. Real-time monitoring systems are critical for detecting shrinkage and inconsistencies, while advanced analytics can uncover patterns in fraudulent returns or suspicious activity.
Fraud detection algorithms can flag unusual transaction patterns that may indicate account takeovers or payment fraud. These tools work in tandem with automated workflows, allowing teams to respond to threats in real-time without disrupting legitimate purchases.
PCI compliance requires retailers to conduct regular audits, encrypt customer data, and ensure payment platforms function seamlessly across devices.
How Continuous Testing Powers Innovative Retail Technology Trends
As retailers embrace cutting-edge technologies to redefine the shopping experience, the complexity of their digital ecosystems has grown exponentially. Delivering these innovations requires flawless execution.
Continuous testing ensures quality throughout the entire retail app development lifecycle, enabling teams to identify bugs, optimize performance, and scale across a growing number of device and browser combinations. By simulating real-world scenarios—such as high traffic volumes, seamless checkout processes, or AR rendering—retailers can ensure their applications meet customer expectations in even the most demanding conditions. Tools like Network Capture can help retailers validate their analytics to capture the key data points they need to make decisions and drive strategy.
Here’s how continuous testing applies to the top technology trends in retail:
AI and Machine Learning: Test automation validates the accuracy and reliability of AI-powered recommendations and chatbot functionality while ensuring that backend systems like inventory management are optimized for use by AI.
Omnichannel Retail Experiences: Continuous testing ensures seamless performance across customer-facing apps and employee tools, validating integrations between physical and digital touchpoints like in-store pickup systems.
AR and VR: Automated testing ensures AR and VR applications provide immersive, glitch-free experiences while validating critical features like at-home try-ons and virtual showrooms for accuracy and responsiveness.
Social Commerce: E-commerce software testing verifies smooth purchase flows within social platforms while ensuring the site can handle the load with real-time inventory updates.
Fraud Prevention: Continuous testing can verify payment processing workflows, validate secure user authentication, and ensure compliance with PCI standards.
With billions of people shopping online, development teams are embracing continuous quality to ensure seamless customer-facing experiences alongside efficient internal mobile testing across devices. In an environment where mobile is the new storefront, software quality is the foundation of customer loyalty, revenue, and profitability. Continuous testing is critical to delivering quality apps, protecting customer data, and empowering innovation.
Learn how Sauce Labs helps retailers leverage continuous testing to deliver exceptional shopping experiences across every channel.
