Steve Streit on the Changing Retail Landscape — 7 Trends to Watch

The retail landscape is changing fast. This isn’t news to retailers or their suppliers and vendors. Neither is it news to most shoppers paying attention at the store and in the online aisles.

What is easier to underestimate is the speed and scale of that change. Retailers are no longer deciding whether they need a digital presence. They are deciding how well they can connect stores, websites, mobile apps, payments, inventory, fulfillment, and customer data into one experience.

If we’re being honest with ourselves, we’re simply not prepared for the retail industry of the future. Nevertheless, we can rely on insights from people who know the retail landscape very well. Steve Streit is one such person. His venture capital firm, SWS Ventures, backed technology-enabled retail ecosystem companies like Shipt.

Streit and his fellow retail experts have watched the industry for years and understand where it’s headed. While they don’t have all the answers, their expertise is valuable for those of us whose businesses — and livelihoods — depend on proper positioning. It’s also useful for consumers wondering how to make sense of a fast-evolving retail landscape.

Steve Streit’s perspective is useful because the changes affecting retail are not limited to one technology or one type of retailer. They are changing how consumers discover products, make purchases, and interact with brands.

Here’s where they see the retail industry today and where they believe it’s going in the near future.

1. The Lines Between “Brick and Mortar” and “Digital” Are Disappearing Fast

For years, “brick and mortar” retail was all but walled off from digital retail, even as the latter ate into the former’s market share. Then, larger retailers began adopting digital strategies, which we see today in the “omnichannel” postures of major chains like Walmart.

The progression didn’t stop there. Nowadays, most innovative retailers have digital strategies, regardless of size. That includes single-store, highly local retailers that advertise and sell on social media, national brands like Walmart and Costco, and everyone in between. This trend will only continue, to the detriment of smaller retailers that fail to see the importance of digital.

The scale of this shift is reflected in the growth of the Omnichannel Retailing Market. According to Coherent Market Insights (CMI), the market is estimated to be valued at USD 11.57 billion in 2026 and is expected to reach USD 29.30 Billion by 2033, registering a CAGR of 14.2% from 2026 to 2033. CMI's analysis covers two major retail formats — brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce platforms — as well as industry verticals including fashion and apparel, electronics and appliances, FMCG and grocery, and home improvements.

That growth is not simply about retailers selling more products online. It reflects a broader change in how physical and digital channels are being connected.

2. The Future Is (Still) Omnichannel

The transition to digital will involve a continued transition to true “location-agnostic” sales. In the near future, it's possible that cashierless brick and mortar stores will replicate the online shopping experience in person. New technologies like augmented reality could provide shoppers with even more information — and confidence — as they decide what to buy (and how). And a continued reduction in sales friction (more on that in a moment) will support more pleasant, expedient transactions everywhere.

One of the biggest market trends supporting this shift is the growing use of unified commerce. Rather than treating a website, mobile app, physical store, and point-of-sale system as separate operations, retailers are increasingly connecting them through shared platforms and data. This can give retailers real-time inventory visibility and help customers move between channels without having to start the shopping process over.

The other major trend is the rise of mobile commerce. Smartphones have become an important part of product discovery, comparison, purchasing, payments, and order tracking. Retailers that can make these mobile interactions work smoothly with their physical stores have more opportunities to keep customers engaged across the entire buying journey.

E-commerce platforms already account for a 69.7% share of the global Omnichannel Retailing Market, according to CMI. Brick-and-mortar stores remain important, however, because they provide immediate product access, face-to-face service, and physical experiences that digital channels cannot fully replace.

Its growth is being supported by convenience, mobile shopping, digital payments, personalized recommendations, and easier product comparison, while retailers increasingly use these platforms as part of a wider omnichannel strategy. This is why the future is not necessarily about online retail replacing physical retail. It is about the two working together.

3. Consumers Are More Careful About How and Where They’re Spending

With rising housing, insurance, and food costs, it’s no surprise consumers are being more cautious with their dollars. While consumer spending remains strong by historical standards, retailers need to position for it to be increasingly selective. Indeed, this is good advice regardless of where we find ourselves in the business cycle: Careful retailers tend to do better to attract dollars from careful consumers.

That makes convenience and personalization increasingly important. Consumers may be more selective about spending, but they are also more likely to notice when one retailer makes shopping substantially easier than another.

CMI identifies changing consumer behavior and expectations, the growing importance of e-commerce, increasing mobile adoption, and personalization and customer experience among the major factors driving the Omnichannel Retailing Market.

For retailers, the lesson is fairly straightforward: competing for cautious consumers is not only about price. A retailer that offers accurate product availability, flexible fulfillment, useful recommendations, easy returns, and a consistent experience across channels can give shoppers another reason to complete a purchase.

4. Impulse Spending Remains a Source of Growth

Consumers are more cautious than before, but not that cautious. Impulse spending is still an important growth area for many retailers, especially in the “lifestyle” ecosystem.

This is where it pays for smaller retailers to invest in a sophisticated digital strategy. With microtargeted ads and an iterative product cycle to meet consumers where they’re at, they can keep pace with better-resourced retailers and capitalize on the incredible power of social media and digital ads to drive impulse spending.

Omnichannel strategies can strengthen this opportunity because consumers may encounter the same product across several touchpoints. A product discovered through social media can lead to an online purchase, a store visit, or both. Personalized recommendations and targeted promotions can also make those interactions more relevant.

This is one reason personalization has become an important part of the market. Retailers can use information from different customer touchpoints to understand preferences and purchasing behavior and then tailor recommendations, promotions, and offers accordingly.

5. “Experience Spending” Is Still a Thing

“Experience spending” has been on the rise for many years, according to an analysis by McKinsey. Unfortunately, because many “experiences” fall outside the traditional definition of retail, this fact often gets overlooked by many retailers. In fact, it’s sometimes seen as a problem, because consumers only have so many dollars to spend.

The better approach might be for retailers to offer more experiences alongside their products. This is an excellent way to add value and separate smaller shops from the more old-fashioned pack.

This is particularly relevant as retailers experiment with technologies that connect physical experiences with digital ones. Augmented reality and virtual try-on tools, for example, can give online shoppers more confidence before buying while also adding a new layer to the in-store experience. CMI identifies the growing use of such technologies as part of the broader development of omnichannel retailing.

Fashion and apparel is a good example of how these technologies can bring digital and physical shopping experiences closer together. Shoppers can browse products online, use virtual try-on tools, and then visit a store to see or try an item before buying. The combination of physical stores, websites, mobile shopping, social media, and technologies such as virtual try-on can be particularly valuable because consumers often want to see or try a product before buying, while digital channels offer convenience, product discovery, reviews, and personalized recommendations.

The growth of this sub-segment is therefore being driven by changing shopping habits, mobile commerce, personalization, and retailers' efforts to make online purchasing more engaging. Virtual try-on and similar technologies can also help address a long-standing e-commerce problem: uncertainty about how a product will look or fit, which can contribute to returns.

6. So Is Values-Driven Spending, With a Catch

For good or ill, consumers are also still spending in alignment with their personal values and politics. This is an important trend for niche retailers to tap. Building loyalty within a relatively small “tribe” of like minded customers is often more effective than trying to be something to everyone. The latter is almost guaranteed to turn off some prospective customers.

But values are only one part of the equation. Customers also expect retailers to provide the convenience they have become accustomed to elsewhere.

That means a niche retailer may have a strong brand identity and loyal customer base, but still lose business if its online ordering process is difficult, inventory information is unreliable, or customers cannot easily move between online and physical channels.

The most effective omnichannel strategies bring these pieces together: brand identity, convenience, personalization, and a consistent customer experience.

7. There’s Still Too Much Friction in Sales

Those old enough to remember when it was normal to pay by check at the grocery store know that it has become much easier — and faster — to pay for things in the real world. However, many retail innovators believe there’s still too much friction in the buying process, and that retailers should look for ways to reduce it.

That might mean going cashless, adopting cashierless points of sale, or even enabling RFID checkout (although this technology may not quite be ready for prime time). Regardless of the specific strategy, it demands thought from retailers accustomed to doing things a certain way.

Reducing friction is becoming a market trend in its own right. Consumers increasingly expect flexible options such as buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS), curbside pickup, same-day delivery, and easy cross-channel returns. They also expect product availability and pricing to be consistent across channels.

The challenge is that making all of this work requires retailers to connect systems that were often built separately. Inventory, point of sale, e-commerce, customer relationship management, payments, and fulfillment all need to communicate with one another.

That is where the broader Retail Digital Transformation Market comes into the picture. CMI's research on this market looks at the wider technology-driven transformation taking place across retail, including the adoption of technologies that help retailers improve customer experiences and modernize operations. In practical terms, much of that digital transformation provides the underlying infrastructure needed to make omnichannel strategies work.

The U.S. is also a particularly important market to watch. CMI identifies North America as the leading region in the global Omnichannel Retailing Market, with a 37% share, supported by advanced digital infrastructure, widespread smartphone adoption, and the presence of major retailers such as Walmart, Amazon, and Target.

U.S. consumers are increasingly accustomed to services such as curbside pickup, same-day delivery, mobile loyalty programs, online ordering, and flexible fulfillment. Retailers are responding by investing in real-time inventory tracking, AI-driven personalization, analytics, and systems that connect stores with digital channels. These investments are not only about improving convenience; they can also help retailers manage inventory, personalize promotions, and make fulfillment more efficient.

At the same time, retailers have to deal with technological complexity, data privacy concerns, and the challenge of connecting legacy systems. That combination of strong consumer expectations and continued investment in retail technology keeps the U.S. at the forefront of omnichannel development.

The companies operating in this market also illustrate just how broad the shift has become. CMI identifies Amazon, Walmart, Alibaba Group, Target Corporation, JD.com, eBay Inc., Best Buy Co., Inc., Zara (Inditex Group), The Home Depot, Inc., Nordstrom, Inc., Macy's, Inc., Costco Wholesale Corporation, Apple Inc., Tesco PLC, and ASOS PLC among the key companies covered in its Omnichannel Retailing Market analysis.

Their strategies differ, but the common objective is to make shopping across channels easier. Walmart, Amazon, and Target, for example, have helped normalize combinations of online ordering, physical stores, pickup, delivery, and personalized digital experiences.

For smaller retailers, competing with these companies does not necessarily mean copying every technology they use. It means identifying where customers experience the most friction and using digital tools to solve those problems.

Get Ready for What’s Next in Retail

The retail industry is experiencing a period of unprecedented change. This is said about many industries these days, but in this case, it’s really true. A convergence of factors, from high-speed mobile internet to low-friction payment methods, have made it so.

What can retailers and their suppliers and vendors do to adjust to the new normal? Those still in business have already done quite a lot, to be sure. But the disruptive period we’re in right now isn’t likely to let up anytime soon. In fact, as these trends hint, we could be in for a period of even deeper change than we’ve seen already. The numbers reinforce that point. CMI projects the global Omnichannel Retailing Market to grow nearly 2.6X by 2033.

Experts like Steve Streit know that tomorrow’s retail leaders will be the ones that prepared early and thoroughly for what’s next, and that there’s little time to waste. Act accordingly.