Retail Trends & Challenges 2026–2029: Ten Shifts and How to Solve Them
9 min read
Ten market shifts reshaping European retail through 2029 — from AI-led discovery and fragmented data to returns, cybersecurity, loyalty, and checkout friction — with the problem each creates and how Vaneigens helps solve it.
Ten market shifts are reshaping retail between 2026 and 2029 — from AI-mediated discovery to fragmented data, supply-chain volatility, and checkout friction. For each shift below you'll find the problem it creates and how Vaneigens helps solve it with the Salesforce platform.
01 — AI is replacing search as the shopping front door
The problem. Nine in ten retail executives expect AI to be increasingly used over search engines by 2026, and half expect today's multi-step shopping journey to collapse into a single AI-driven interaction by 2027 — with 81% believing generative AI will weaken brand loyalty as it favours value and fit over brand recognition. Retailers risk becoming invisible in AI-mediated discovery if their data isn't structured for it.
How Vaneigens helps. Data Cloud to structure product and pricing data for AI-readability, paired with Agentforce Commerce to deploy an owned shopper agent instead of ceding discovery entirely to third-party AI platforms.
02 — Customer data remains fragmented across channels and systems
The problem. Only 15% of retailers have fully realised unified commerce value, and store associates now manage an average of 16 systems daily, up from 12 in 2023. Product data and purchase histories sitting in silos break context as customers move across channels, causing inconsistent recommendations and service.
How Vaneigens helps. Data Cloud / Customer 360 unification as the prerequisite foundation for any AI or personalisation initiative — not a bolt-on feature.
03 — AI investment is accelerating, but adoption is stuck at the pilot stage
The problem. 47% of European grocery CEOs now name adopting AI and automation as a top-two priority — up four ranks from 2024 — yet only 3% report an EBIT increase of more than 5% from AI, since many retailers are still piloting. Budget is being spent without governance or scale to show for it.
How Vaneigens helps. Position engagements explicitly as pilot-to-scale work — data governance, architecture, and phased Agentforce rollout — rather than another isolated proof-of-concept.
04 — Customer service teams are overwhelmed, and case complexity keeps rising
The problem. 77% of service agents and 74% of mobile workers report increased and more complex workloads compared to a year ago, with over half reporting burnout — and 69% of agents say they struggle to balance speed with quality. AI currently resolves roughly 30% of service cases, a share expected to reach 50% by 2027, but only where the underlying data and platform foundation supports it.
How Vaneigens helps. Service Cloud + Agentforce implementation for case deflection and agent-assist on routine inquiries, freeing human agents for complex, relationship-driving work — plus Data Cloud so agents work from one customer view instead of switching between systems mid-conversation.
05 — Tariffs and geopolitical volatility are disrupting supply chains
The problem. 95% of retail executives expect global trade policy to push costs higher, and 66% plan to restructure their supply chains through onshoring, nearshoring, or supplier diversification if input costs rise in 2026. European retailers are increasingly building tiered EMEA vendor bases and piloting micro-manufacturing to boost agility.
How Vaneigens helps. MuleSoft integration work connecting supplier, logistics, and inventory systems for real-time visibility, supporting the nearshoring and vendor-diversification moves already underway.
06 — Product returns are growing in volume and cost
The problem. U.S. retailers expect $849.9 billion in merchandise returns in 2025 (15.8% of sales), with online return rates running higher at 19.3%, and 9% of all returns classified as fraudulent.
How Vaneigens helps. Service Cloud + Commerce Cloud returns workflow redesign that treats returns as a retention touchpoint, with Agentforce handling routine return and fraud triage.
07 — Cybersecurity risk is rising, increasingly via third parties
The problem. 48% of breaches in the 2026 dataset involved a third party — a 60% year-over-year increase — and vulnerability exploitation has overtaken stolen credentials as the top breach entry point for the first time in the report's 19-year history.
How Vaneigens helps. Build platform governance and identity/access hygiene into every implementation scope by default, not as an afterthought.
08 — Retail media is growing fast but remains fragmented and unstandardised in the Dutch market
The problem. Retailers vary widely in the platforms, attribution models, and reporting they use for retail media, making campaign performance hard to compare across retailers.
How Vaneigens helps. Data Cloud + Marketing Cloud as the unification layer that makes retail media measurable and comparable across channels and partners.
09 — Loyalty programs are proliferating, but a third of memberships go unused
The problem. 77% of shoppers now belong to at least one loyalty program, yet 35% belong to one they've never actually used — meaning loyalty data is more often collected than acted on.
How Vaneigens helps. Data Cloud + Marketing Cloud to activate loyalty data for real-time, individually relevant offers rather than generic point balances, turning loyalty programs from a cost center into a genuine retention lever.
10 — Checkout friction is costing retailers recoverable revenue
The problem. The average cart abandonment rate across e-commerce sits at 70.22%, and Baymard Institute estimates $260 billion in orders across the US and EU are recoverable through better checkout design alone — with unexpected costs revealed at checkout the single most common cause.
How Vaneigens helps. Commerce Cloud checkout configuration and optimisation — transparent pricing earlier in the flow, fewer form fields, guest checkout options — positioned as a direct, measurable revenue-recovery engagement rather than a broad platform sell.
