Deloitte’s Retail Forecast Sets the In-Store Vision. Here’s How to Deliver It.
Retail is entering another new era, one defined by transformation and urgency.
Deloitte’s biennial Global Powers of Retailing 2025: Improving Effectiveness and Unlocking Growth in the Year Ahead outlines four macro trends reshaping the future of the industry:
- AI-Driven Tech Transformation
- Strategic Operational Efficiency
- Sustainability and the Circular Economy
- Alternative Revenue Streams, like retail media
These trends reflect seismic shifts in how retailers compete, connect with customers, and grow.
But while Deloitte offers invaluable strategic insight, one essential question remains:
How do these trends translate to execution on the ground, in stores, at scale?
That’s where we come in.
At One Door, we help leading retailers bridge the gap between boardroom strategy and store-level execution.
Through visual merchandising, space planning, compliance automation, and real-time retail analytics, we empower teams to act with clarity, speed, and measurable impact.
Here’s our perspective on what these trends really mean — and what it takes to capitalize on them:
Trend 1: Strategic Operational Efficiency
Our take: Yes, Strategic Efficiency Is the New Competitive Advantage.
As economic pressure persists and consumer demand fluctuates, efficiency has evolved from a cost-cutting initiative into a strategic differentiator.
Deloitte’s outlook is clear: Between rising costs, automation investments, and supply chain volatility, retailers must do more with less — faster, smarter, and at scale.
But true operational efficiency isn’t just about trimming labor or consolidating systems.
It’s about applying intelligence to the areas that drive cost, complexity, and customer experience, especially in space planning, visual merchandising, and store execution.
At One Door, we believe efficiency begins with visibility. Our platform empowers merchandising and operations teams to:
- Reduce rework and miscommunication through real-time store planning and localization
- Optimize planograms and floor execution to maximize revenue per square foot
- Use Store Insights to surface performance trends, flag execution gaps, and drive action through data
Efficiency today is about enabling smarter, more synchronized decisions from HQ to the store floor.
And, as Deloitte notes, retailers are increasingly outsourcing capabilities like schematic design and visual planning.
But One Door offers a modern, intelligent alternative: A centralized platform for retail truth designed for agility, not rigidity.
The retailers that thrive in this environment won’t be the ones who automate everything.
They’ll be the ones who simplify complexity, prioritize adaptability, and equip their teams to act with confidence.
Trend 2: AI-Driven Tech Transformation
Our take: AI Is Everywhere, But Intelligence Is What Retail Needs Most.
AI dominates the headlines — and it’s easy to see why.
With billions of dollars invested in generative tools, predictive models, and intelligent systems, nearly every major retailer is chasing AI’s promise.
But here’s what often gets lost: AI isn’t the destination. Retail intelligence is.
Too often, AI is treated as a siloed solution. It’s used to personalize shopping offers, generate creative assets, or automate repetitive tasks.
But those applications don’t capture the full complexity of retail, where execution is physical, visual, regional, and constantly evolving.
Without context, AI is just noise.
At One Door, we embed AI directly into workflows where it can make the most impact: Within the layered decisions that define visual merchandising, store compliance, and space planning.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Image IQ: Our computer vision feature instantly verifies display compliance, automatically flagging deviations from resets. It eliminates manual audits and accelerates approvals.
- Smart Containers: These dynamic filters simplify hyper-localization by allowing teams to segment assortments by region, language, or performance. No duplication or workaround required.
- Store Insights: This AI-powered retail analytics engine connects merchandising execution to outcomes with natural-language reporting, predictive trend analysis, and real-time data syncing.
The power of AI doesn’t lie in novelty. It lies in making everyday decisions smarter.
The retailers who win won’t be those who deploy the most AI tools.
They’ll be the few who embed retail intelligence into the systems and workflows that shape the in-store experience.
Trend 3: Sustainability and the Circular Economy
Our take: We Agree. Sustainability Is No Longer Optional. It’s Operational.
Deloitte’s report reflects a growing reality: Sustainability is no longer a side initiative. It’s a core business driver.
With 85% of retail CxOs increasing sustainability investments and 62% citing it as a revenue enabler, the focus has shifted from “why” to how.
But achieving meaningful sustainability requires more than intent. It demands visibility, accountability, and executional infrastructure.
At One Door, we help retailers translate sustainability goals into action through:
- Localization and smart planogramming that reduce overproduction and minimize print waste
- Tools to adapt displays and assortments based on regional sustainability initiatives
- Store Insights analytics that tie product performance to lifecycle efficiency, space utilization, and fixture impact
Sustainability isn’t just about product sourcing or aspirational marketing.
It’s about how goods are presented, allocated, and maintained across hundreds or thousands of stores.
And as circular models, like “recommerce” and upcycling, scale, retailers will need the operational agility to support them. One Door makes that possible with smart merchandising systems built to evolve alongside sustainability goals.
The retailers who win here will be the ones who can operationalize eco-consciousness, not just talk about it.
Trend 4: Alternative Revenue Streams
Our take: Retail Media Is Booming, But Store Execution Will Define Who Wins.
Retail media has officially moved from trend to revenue engine.
What started as an experiment in monetizing endcaps and apps is now a cornerstone of growth strategy for retailers across grocery, mass, and specialty channels.
Deloitte forecasts explosive expansion — and for good reason.
Retailers like Kroger, Schnucks, and Hy-Vee are turning carts, cooler doors, and fixtures into interactive ad platforms. (Download our guide to 2025 Retail, Visual Merchandising, and AI Trends for details.)
The space once reserved for branding is now being leased to the highest-bidding CPG.
But here’s the truth: Media revenue doesn’t materialize from impressions alone. It depends on precision, relevance, and consistency at scale.
And that’s where most traditional merchandising systems fall short.
At One Door, we help retailers close the gap between media strategy and in-store execution with tools that can:
- Localize and assign ad placements at the store or region level
- Ensure compliance and visual accuracy across all media-enabled fixtures
- Surface performance data through Store Insights to demonstrate value to brand partners
When every aisle becomes an ad channel, visual merchandising can’t operate in the dark.
Retailers need infrastructure that supports campaign accountability and executional clarity — the very areas where One Door leads.
Retail media isn’t just a new revenue stream. It’s a new layer of execution, and the brands that treat it that way will be the ones that win the long game.
From Strategy to Store: Make Your Execution a Competitive Edge
AI is reshaping decision-making. Retail media networks are redefining revenue. Sustainability and efficiency are now core metrics of success, not fringe brand values.
Execution is the connective tissue that determines whether these trends remain ideas or drive results.
Deloitte’s report highlights what’s coming.
At One Door, we focus on helping retailers actually deliver on it.
Because the winners in 2026 won’t just talk strategy. They’ll have the systems, intelligence, and agility to execute that strategy at scale.
Want to know what poor merchandising could really cost you?
Download our latest report, The Cost of Poor Merchandising: The $125 Billion Challenge, to explore how disconnected planning, inconsistent compliance, and outdated tools are holding retailers back.