At this year’s Shoptalk, one thing was crystal clear: Retailers are no longer just competing on price or product—they’re competing on experience. And in that race, customer expectations are not just the starting line—they’re the finish line, too.
Over three days of discussions, demos, and side conversations, Shoptalk 2025 delivered a fresh look at how brands and advertisers are adapting to an increasingly blended retail environment. The show spotlighted not just what’s new in retail media and AdTech—but how the industry is rethinking the entire shopper journey.
What we heard again and again on the ground was this: there is no one-size-fits-all playbook anymore. Every retailer is navigating their own unique mix of identity, data, tech, and consumer needs. The winners will be those who stay nimble while staying connected to what customers actually want.
Experience is everything
Across sessions and show floor chats, the core message was this: customers expect more—and retailers must rise to meet that moment. Whether it’s a personalized in-store interaction or a seamless connected TV (CTV) ad experience, people want value, inspiration, and storytelling wherever they shop. That means digital and physical channels must work together effortlessly.
Retailers aren’t just “digitizing” the in-store experience anymore—they’re rethinking how to make the entire shopping journey feel easy, consistent, and enjoyable. This shift isn’t just about touchpoints. It’s about changing the way retailers think about the customer experience.
Loyalty isn’t a program, it’s every interaction
Loyalty emerged as a major theme—one that goes well beyond points and perks. Speakers from Wayfair, DSW, and Lowe’s emphasized that every customer interaction, not just formal programs, should be viewed as an opportunity to build emotional loyalty. Sarah Crockett, CMO of DSW, shared that emotional tactics resonate more deeply than transactional rewards—echoing a broader shift toward customer-centric, experience-driven engagement.
“Loyalty today isn’t just about perks. It’s about trust, connection, and knowing your customer on a deeper level. Every interaction is a chance to build that relationship.”
Sam Zahedi, Sr. Enterprise Partnerships Manager
Retail media gets real
Retail media networks (RMNs) took center stage, but the tone is changing. With so many players flooding the space, retailers and advertisers alike are asking tougher questions: How do you stand out? How do you prove value? And perhaps most critically—how do you build trust?
Standardization came up in several sessions, but as Harvey Ma from Sam’s Club MAP pointed out, standardization alone won’t fix what’s been lost: foundational trust and transparency. Advertisers want more than impressions—they want insights, outcomes, and measurement they can count on.
“There’s no one playbook—nor should there be. Every retailer, every RMN, and every customer is different. Success comes from building strategies as unique as the audiences they serve.”
Anne Passon, Sr. Director, Sales, Retail
Many brands came to our team asking how Experian can help extend their audiences into new environments like social and CTV. Here’s how we do it:
- We work with our RMN partners to take their organized, clean, complete, and highly usable customer records and expand them to include other digital identifiers. By adding digital IDs such as hashed emails (HEMs), mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), CTV IDs, and Universal IDs like Unified I.D. 2.0 (UID2) or ID5, we ensure that the retailer’s entire customer base can be reached.
- On their own, RMNs only know the digital identity of a portion of their customer base. With Experian’s help, they can add digital IDs to their entire customer base.
- As a result, marketers can reach all of an RMN’s customers, including those whose identities were previously unknown. They can reach these customers both onsite and offsite, thanks to the array of addressable IDs we provide. This increase in addressability leads to higher revenue for the RMN.
Moving at the speed of people
One of the most thought-provoking moments came from Nikki Laughlin from McClatchy Media during a Brand Innovators session. She asked a simple but powerful question: How can we move at the speed of people if we’re always looking backward at data?
It’s a challenge we’re hearing more often—marketers want to be proactive, not just reactive. That requires faster insights, cleaner connections between signals, and a shift from static audiences to living, evolving ones.
Experian’s identity and data solutions aren’t just about better targeting—they’re about helping brands activate smarter, faster, and with more confidence across the full media ecosystem.
A marketplace of possibilities
The best part of Shoptalk? The spontaneous moments. The side conversations where ideas turned into opportunities. We had several discussions that signaled new partnerships on the horizon—some with current clients, others brand new. What united them was a desire to co-create: to build something more tailored, more agile, more customer-first.
Of course, there were also shared challenges. Retailers are navigating how to stay customer-centric while grappling with complex, sometimes controversial tech—from AI to influencers to evolving data privacy norms.
But if there was one consistent thread, it was this: retailers are hungry for clarity and collaboration.
Forget the playbook, follow the customer
Shoptalk 2025 reminded us that while tech and trends come and go, the most successful retail strategies still start with one thing: knowing your customer. That’s what fuels smarter activation, stronger measurement, and more meaningful experiences—whether online, in-store, or across emerging media channels.
If you’re rethinking your retail strategy or want to explore how Experian can support your goals across identity, retail media, or CTV, let’s talk.
Let’s connect and explore what’s possible
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Are Traasdahl, CEO and founder of Tapad, the leader in cross-device marketing technology and now a part of Experian, has been named Founder of the Year by the Global Startup Awards. The Global Startup Awards' Founder of the Year Award recognizes an individual that has pushed the boundaries of technology to empower new innovations and ideas. The Global Startup Awards places each year's regional category winners against each other to determine whose achievements stand out from the rest of the startup ecosystem through nomination, voting and jury evaluation. In May 2016, the Nordic Startup Awards named Traasdahl Founder of the Year. "Are is a force of nature and his creativity and passion know no boundaries, it seems," said George Tilesch, Global Startup Awards juror and U.S. managing partner of Innomine Group. "Extra kudos for the mentoring work and the Norwegian superfund plans. Are knows giving back is of the utmost importance." "Are is a superstar within the Norwegian startup ecosystem," said Kim Balle, founding partner and CEO of the Global Startup Awards. "From the jury feedback I could see that not only are his impressive achievements the reason for their rating, but also his focus and ability to give back to the startup scene played an important factor in him winning the category." "It is an enormous honor to be named Founder of the Year by the Global Startup Awards," said Traasdahl. "I am so committed to fostering entrepreneurship both at Tapad and throughout the startup space. This win is a remarkable bookend for a stellar year that began with our acquisition by the Telenor Group and continued with best-in-class product innovation, superior solutions for our clients and our Propeller Program that is so dear to my heart." Tapad's Propeller Program hosts five early-stage companies at Tapad's New York headquarters for one year to mentor them through global expansion. The participants of this inaugural program come from Traasdahl's native Norway. For more information on the Global Startup Awards, please visit: http://www.globalstartupawards.com/#gsa. Contact us today
NEW YORK, Nov. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — For the second consecutive year, Tapad, part of Experian, has been listed among Deloitte's Technology Fast 500™, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America. Tapad, number 147 on the 2016 Deloitte list, is the leading provider of unified, cross-device marketing technology solutions. "It is an honor to once again be recognized by Deloitte for our growth and momentum, particularly given the stature of the other technology companies on the list," said Are Traasdahl, founder and CEO of Tapad. "Our product innovation, particularly in TV analytics and measurement, is a major contributor to our progress. I'm extremely proud of our hard-working, talented team for continually executing at such a high level." "Today, when every organization can be a tech company, the most effective businesses not only foster the courage to explore change, but also encourage creativity in using and applying existing assets in new ways, as resourcefully as possible," said Sandra Shirai, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications industry leader. "This ingenious approach to innovation calls for the encouragement of curiosity and collaboration both within and outside the office walls." "This year's Fast 500 winners showcase that when organizations are open to diverse perspectives and insights, they are able to create an environment for their employees and customers to see the possibilities and ingenious solutions that might lie ahead," added Jim Atwell, national managing partner of the emerging growth company practice, Deloitte & Touche LLP. "Entrepreneurial environments foster change and innovation within businesses, and we look forward to watching these companies continue to drive change across all sectors." Contact us today