The most successful retailers today have one thing in common: they’ve simplified their technology.
Running a retail business means managing inventory, serving customers across channels, and making quick decisions based on data. While many businesses still struggle with multiple systems for these tasks, the future of retail is becoming clear: a single platform where POS and ecommerce naturally work together, without complex integrations or middleware.
This unified commerce approach is delivering real results. Retailers report lower costs, increased customer loyalty, and more efficient operations.
Below, you’ll learn everything you need to know about retail technology solutions, with real examples from brands like Parachute, Rebecca Minkoff, and others who are transforming how they serve customers and run their operations.
The future of retail: why unified commerce is no longer optional
New research shows businesses using unified commerce platforms like Shopify POS see 22% better total cost of ownership and 20% faster implementation. Learn what this means for your retail strategy.
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What is retail technology?
Retail technology is every tool, system, and software you use to help you manage the operations, sales, customer interactions, and inventory of your retail business.
There are a lot of different kinds of retail technology, but the core components are:
- Point-of-sale (POS) systems: This is what you use to process transactions, accept payments, and collect sales data.
- Ecommerce platforms: Used for managing your online storefront, keeping track of digital transactions, and fulfilling online orders.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) systems: Allows you to store and manage customer data (like purchase history and contact info), which you can reference to create personalized shopping experiences for your customers.
- Inventory management systems (IMS): To monitor your inventory, track product movement, and manage supply chain operations.
- Payments and checkout tools: For processing various types of payments, preventing fraud, and keeping customer data secure.
- Data analytics and AI platforms: To collect sales, customers, and operational data. This information gives you insight into how you can streamline processes and better allocate resources.
The point of all these technologies is to make your business run more efficiently. The best way to implement them is through a unified commerce approach.
Unified commerce connects your front- and back-end retail tech so they can be managed in one place. Instead of fragmented systems that silo your data in separate systems, Shopify unifies it into a single business “brain.” The approach has been proven to reduce integration costs by 11%, reduce middleware expenses by 27%, and enable faster delivery of new features with a 40-60% improvement in development speed cycles.
Retail technology solutions for 2025
If you want to stay competitive and keep your customers happy, staying on top of retail technology is a must. Here are some retail solutions to keep an eye out for in 2025.
Point-of-sale systems
A point-of-sale (POS) system isn’t just a cash register. Many vendors are now integrating unified commerce and AI into many of the processes needed to run a business—like stock management, delivering personalized marketing, and analyzing analytics to offer personalized insights into how you can grow your business.
If you walk into one of Parachute’s home furnishings stores, for example, you’ll notice retail associates have handheld POS devices to serve customers during busy events. These devices not only process payments—they also allow staff to check inventory in-store, look up a customer’s purchase history, and offer ship-to-home services for out of stock or bulky items.
Parachute’s approach to a unified POS system has paid dividends:
- Average order size has grown by 12%
- By decreasing the size of its engineering team, the retailer saved over $1 million in operational expenses
- Revenue from omnichannel shopping options like buy online, pickup in-store has grown by 5x
“Being able to unify our tech stack and lower its footprint has changed what we can do as a company,” says founder Ariel Kaye. “This creates more focus for us and allows us to spend our resources building differentiating features instead of basic functionality, while reducing risk.”
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Interactive kiosks
Interactive kiosks are self-service touchpoints that can give information, make sales (self-checkout), and answer frequently asked questions. They can help to shorten checkout lines, direct in-store traffic, and lighten the load on retail staff.
Italian streetwear brand SlamJam is a great example of how you can use an interactive kiosk in-store. Customers can approach the touchscreen to buy products without the need for assistance from a retail associate—the fuss-free experience that some shoppers seek.
Inventory management
The goal with inventory management is simple: Make sure your customers can get what they want when they want it, and help your store run more efficiently and save money.
In the past, in order to keep track of stock, inventory had to be counted or scanned manually. Today, retail tech for inventory management uses things like:
- Internet of Things (IoT) planning and RFID tags for real-time tracking of inventory
- AI and machine learning for demand forecasting
- Robotics in warehouse automation
- Cloud-based platforms for cross-channel visibility
- Blockchain for better transparency in supply chain operations
This type of retail tech solution helps to reduce operational costs, prevents waste, improves customer trust, and maximizes sales opportunities for your business.
💡Tip: The Stocky app gives you advanced inventory management features within the Shopify POS interface you already know and love. Raise purchase orders with suppliers, track bestselling products, and avoid stockouts.
Track inventory with the Stocky app for Shopify POS.
Customer experience optimization
The experience your customers have shopping at your store is the main marker for success of your retail business. According to the State of Customer Support report, 72% of customers switch brands following just one negative experience.
Use AI to tailor recommendations based on past purchases, create more ways customers can get what they’re looking for (like buy online, pickup in-store or home-delivery), and streamline their shopping experience.
Many clothing retailers, including Rebecca Minkoff, also expand their retail technology solutions to include augmented reality (AR). Online shoppers can interact with a product in 3D from the comfort of their own home. The retailer found that when this happens, customers are 44% more likely to add an item to their cart and 27% more likely to place an order.
Loss prevention
The Council on Criminal Justice found shoplifting rates have escalated. In 2023, Los Angeles experienced an 87% increase, and New York saw a 55% rise in reported shoplifting incidents compared to 2019.
In response, loss prevention tech is getting more sophisticated. Retail AI is being integrated into security cameras, self-checkout systems are becoming smarter, and more stores are adopting smart inventory tracking with RFID technology.
Smart shelf technology
Shelves themselves are becoming smart with retail tech. You can now get weight sensors, digital signage, and dynamic price tags to optimize the shopping experience for your customers and streamline the operational experience for you.
Using electronic sensors on shelves allows you to monitor inventory in real-time and alert your staff when shelves need restocking. Digital displays can be used to show product information, answer FAQs, and offer personalized recommendations when customers approach, and digital price tags allow you to update prices with a few taps on your phone.
Mobile solutions
For many people, their phones hold their entire lives. A national survey done by the American Bankers Association found 55% of bank customers use mobile apps as their top option for managing their bank accounts. So it only makes sense that retail tech would focus on mobile solutions as well.
Mobile retail tech allows you to be more efficient and flexible with smart solutions like:
- Making POS systems mobile so staff can process mobile payments anywhere in the store
- AR apps that customers can download for personalized shopping experiences and marketing opportunities
- Self-checkout apps that let shoppers scan and pay for items on their phones—completely eliminating checkout lines
Turn your smartphone into a card reader with Tap to Pay on Shopify.
Surveillance systems
AI-powered cameras, smart sensors, and real-time analytics are all helping to prevent theft, improve store operations, and protect customers as well as staff. Smart cameras can be integrated with POS systems to spot fraud at checkout, while cloud storage lets retailers access footage remotely.
Surveillance systems now use facial recognition to identify known shoplifters and detect suspicious behavior patterns, and can even alert security staff when help is needed. Some systems can even use license plate recognition to monitor parking lots and support curbside pickup security.
Generative AI
AI in retail is helping business owners by automating tasks and creating personalized shopping experiences. For example, Shopify Magic helps you create product descriptions, answer customer questions, and optimize your email marketing automatically.
AI is being used in all aspects of the retail industry, including smart inventory management, marketing content creation, AI-powered virtual shopping assistants for customers, surveillance, and chatbots. These tools help stores reduce costs and labor while still improving customer service.
Enterprise solution providers
Instead of cherry-picking retail tech services from different providers and trying to figure out how to plug them into your operations, there are companies that offer complete packages for your retail business. Here are five enterprise solution providers and what sets them apart.
Shopify
Shopify takes a fundamentally different approach to retail technology. Instead of connecting separate systems, Shopify is the only platform where POS and ecommerce naturally work together—built this way from the ground up. This means:
- Store associates can serve customers anywhere with complete information at their fingertips
- Inventory stays accurate automatically across all sales channels
- Customer profiles include all interactions, whether online or in-store
- New capabilities can be added without complex integrations
This architectural advantage helps retailers boost sales by an average of 8.9% while reducing total cost of ownership by 22% compared to traditional enterprise solutions. Shopify also has major operational benefits: Retailers launch new stores 20% faster, sync inventory instantly across channels, and create seamless shopping experiences without the technical headaches of connecting separate systems.
Plus, Shopify’s AI assistant, Shopify Magic, has made handling day-to-day operations easier and faster. It writes product descriptions, suggests pricing strategies, and even predicts inventory needs before stockouts happen. Major retailers report cutting their inventory costs while keeping more items in stock.
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IBM
IBM has combined AI with cloud computing. Its retail solutions focus on three key areas: smart automation, data analytics, and seamless integration.
At the heart of IBM’s retail tech sits Watson AI. The system learns from each interaction, helping retailers predict inventory needs, spot emerging trends, and reduce stockouts. Watson is used to analyze customer behavior across both online and in-store purchases, creating a comprehensive view of customers’ shopping patterns.
IBM’s hybrid cloud platform processes transactions while maintaining real-time inventory accuracy across multiple stores. For loss prevention, IBM’s AI cameras can detect and predict theft—identifying suspicious behavior patterns before incidents occur.
Cognizant
Cognizant’s specialty is making all the pieces of modern retail work together—from store operations to supply chains. Its AI-powered systems manage inventory across thousands of stores in real time, while smart algorithms predict what customers want, helping retailers stock the right products at the right time.
The company’s Store 360 platform lets you use:
- Augmented reality displays to visualize merchandising plans
- Monitor shelf stock and automatically triggers reorders using retail AI
- Smart cameras and sensors to track customer flow patterns, helping stores optimize layouts and staffing levels for peak efficiency
On the back end, Cognizant’s supply chain systems handle supply chains using machine learning algorithms that can adapt to disruptions in real-time, rerouting shipments and adjusting schedules to maintain on-time deliveries.
Endava
Instead of pushing one-size-fits-all solutions, Endava builds custom digital systems that match a retailer’s needs. It focuses on connecting physical and digital retail worlds. For example, customers could start their shopping journey on their phone, continue at a store kiosk, then finish at home.
Endava’s analytics systems help retailers understand what customers buy and why they buy it with predictive AI tech. Smart algorithms spot trends, helping retailers stock the right products at the right time—helping to cut inventory costs and boost sales.
Endava’s flexible and modular approach lets retailers plug in new technologies as they’re needed. However, be warned—Endava is a lot more expensive than other enterprise solutions, so it’s better for large-scale enterprises that need fully customized retail technology stacks.
CDW
CDW uses both physical hardware and smart software to turn retail spaces into intelligent environments. For example, it can take existing security cameras and use AI to map customer journeys through stores. When someone lingers in an aisle, the system automatically alerts staff to offer help.
CDW’s smart inventory systems combine RFID tags with AI to track every item in real time. Mobile POS systems allow store associates to complete transactions, check inventory, and access customer profiles, all on mobile devices.
Create better shopping experiences with Shopify
Picture this: A customer spots a dress on Instagram, saves it to their wish list, and stops by the store to try it on. The store associate sees their complete profile—including size preferences and past purchases—and quickly checks availability across all locations. If the perfect size isn’t in stock, they can arrange next-day home delivery right from their mobile device. This isn’t future tech—it’s happening now in Shopify-powered stores.
Modern retail demands more than just connected systems. It requires a foundation where:
- Every customer interaction enriches their profile automatically
- AI helps you make smarter decisions about inventory and merchandising
- Store staff have complete information at their fingertips
- New capabilities can be added without disrupting your business
Join the retailers who are building their future on Shopify’s retail platform—where everything you need to grow naturally works together.
See how Shopify POS offers 22% lower TCO
See how Shopify POS reduces retail operating costs and increases revenue better than the competition, based on real data and research conducted by an independent consulting firm.
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Retail technology solutions FAQ
What are digital retail solutions?
Digital retail solutions are technologies that help businesses manage and streamline their retail operations across both online and physical stores. They include things like point-of-sale systems, ecommerce platforms, inventory management tools, and customer relationship software. The goal is to help retailers run their business more efficiently, whether they’re selling in a physical store, online, or both, while creating better shopping experiences for their customers.
What technology do you use in retail?
- Point-of-sale (POS) systems: Process transactions and manage in-store sales.
- Ecommerce platforms: Run online stores and handle digital transactions.
- Inventory management systems: Track stock levels across locations.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) software: Stores shopper data and helps personalize experiences.
- Payment systems: Process transactions securely and prevent fraud.
What are the future retail technologies?
- Artificial intelligence (AI): Allows for personalized recommendations and automated inventory management.
- Augmented reality (AR): Lets customers interact with products virtually, like trying on clothes or visualizing furniture in their homes. Smart mirrors enhance fitting room experiences with product suggestions.
- Computer vision: Enables cashierless checkout.
- IoT sensors: Monitor inventory in real time.
- Digital payment solutions: Support cryptocurrencies and contactless transactions.
