Retail Gets a Reality Check: Listrak’s H2 2025 Outlook Arms Brands with Survival Tactics for an Uncertain Second Half

If the first half of 2025 taught retailers anything, it’s that flexibility beats foresight. Now, Listrak, the marketing automation platform known for its people-first, data-smart approach, is offering retailers a compass for the chaotic terrain ahead.

With newly released Retail Outlook Reports tailored for Fashion, Beauty, and General Retail, Listrak is equipping brands with strategic, data-informed guidance to maintain momentum through the year’s most volatile shopping season. Spoiler: the second half of 2025 won’t be business as usual—and that’s precisely the point.

“Retail success isn’t about prediction anymore—it’s about preparation,” says Jamie Elden, Chief Revenue Officer at Listrak. “We built these reports to help retailers adapt, not react.”

From inflation-fatigued shoppers to an AI-assisted buying journey, Listrak’s insights double down on what’s actually changing—and what to do about it.

Price Sensitivity Rules Holiday Strategy

Consumers are tightening belts. 37% of shoppers say they’ll cut non-essential spending, which spells opportunity for private labels, resale markets, and value-first marketing. Think price drop alerts, personalized discount journeys, and dynamic clearance promotions.

Listrak’s take:
Trigger-based messaging is king. Brands should deploy automated price drop alerts across email, SMS, and app notifications, and segment out sale-hunting users for specialized journeys. Even the email nav bar needs a tune-up—clearance and secondhand sections deserve premium real estate.

Supply Chains Still Wobbling

A 65% YoY drop in imports from China and a 60% spike in canceled orders (vs. 2020) show that supply chain disruptions haven’t gone anywhere. Product availability is already stretched—and that’s before the holiday rush.

Listrak’s fix:
Retailers need to rethink inventory triggers and alerts. Raise low-stock thresholds to reflect faster sell-through, and extend “back in stock” timelines to account for longer restock windows. Smart merchandising beats panic discounting.

AI Becomes a Retail Channel, Not Just a Tool

More than half of shoppers—53%—plan to use AI to guide purchases this year. Search behavior is migrating from traditional engines to assistants like ChatGPT and other AI shopping tools.

The playbook:
Listrak urges brands to personalize onsite pop-ups for users coming from AI referrers, and segment journeys by channel affinity—meeting customers on their most active platform, first. With AI-driven product recommendations, retailers can adapt in real-time as users browse.

What This Means for Retailers

The thread running through Listrak’s outlook is clear: reactive retail is dead. Today’s winners will be the ones who:

• Automate intelligently, not blindly

• Align messaging with economic realities

• Leverage AI not just in ops, but in the customer journey

While many retailers are still trying to stabilize after pandemic-era whiplash, Listrak’s H2 2025 playbook points to a sharper, more tech-enabled strategy. And with shopping behavior becoming more fragmented and AI-influenced by the day, the retailers that thrive will be the ones who optimize not just for sales, but for agility.

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