Shoptalk 2025: Retailers see bright future for visual search
Search is turning visual, retailers have been busy preparing for tariffs, and next-gen AI is a mainstream utility.
These are three of the biggest narratives that came up across two days of on- and off-the record conversations with a variety of retailers at Shoptalk 2025 in Las Vegas. It was actually my first time attending Shoptalk, and the energy and focus on innovation did not disappoint.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these main themes from Shoptalk:
Visual search
Any time I attend a retail tech conference, I know there will be one topic that dominates the discussion, and usually I don’t anticipate it. Shoptalk delivered on those odds with a strong focus on visual search.
Retailers of all types and verticals, from disruptive digital natives to established traditional players, are actively developing image- and even video-based search functionality on their sites and apps.
Amazon and Google have been actively developing advanced visual search features for some time, but this is not simply a case of “follow the leader.” Retailers are finding that letting customers search by image streamlines the search and discovery process and also reflects the increasingly visual nature of digital content consumption, especially among younger consumers.
[READ MORE: Amazon continues Google competition with launch of new visual search features]
In addition, visual search essentially turns the world into your showroom. A customer can snap a photo of a product they like in any setting and instantly discover what similar items you offer, in what styles, sizes, colors, etc.
Visual search also enables customers to shop via inspiration from the increasingly important influencer segment, using photos of celebrities wearing or using a product to quickly find that exact or a similar item.
Bring on the tariffs
Retailers have not necessarily been looking forward to the implementation of tariffs, but conversations at Shoptalk indicated their general levels of concern may not be as high as expected.
The globalization of the supply chain means tariffs affect a wide range of retailers. However, many retailers began preparing for the possibility of tariffs as early as summer 2024 by acquiring extra levels of stock, identifying alternate product sources, and domestically relocating supply chains.
Moving forward, retailers plan to leverage advanced merchandising and inventory management solutions to continue identifying tariff-exempt supply chain flows and also keep products moving as efficiently as possible to help offset any extra tariff costs.
AI is still going strong
In my column reviewing NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show, I said artificial intelligence had reached a crucial tipping point in retail where it is serving as a practical enabler, rather than a showy attention-grabber.
Shoptalk 2025 confirmed this development, with retailers reinforcing the notion that AI is now an expected component of the retail IT enterprise.
Equipping store associates with AI, the hottest topic of NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show, was certainly an item of interest at Shoptalk. Retailers also continue to explore new ways to leverage generative AI, such as by giving employees the ability to interact with enterprise solutions using natural language prompts, commands and inquiries.
However, agentic AI, which can analyze massive amounts of data in near-real-time and then automatically take action based on the results, was a more prevalent topic of discussion than at the Big Show. Retailers are excited by the prospect of letting agentic AI solutions streamline the execution of lower-level, routine tasks and decisions, freeing human employees to manage more complex and higher-value workflows.
