Navigating ecommerce in 2025 presents retailers with many challenges and opportunities for growth. In Searchspring’s recent report, “Thrive in ’25: Achieving Ecommerce Success Through Data-Driven Strategies and Trends,” we highlighted the hurdles retailers face and actionable strategies to overcome them.
In this first article in our three-part blog series focused on enabling retailers to achieve success in 2025, we explore some of the key findings from our survey of over 500 ecommerce leaders and offer insights to help retailers stay competitive and drive sustainable growth by adapting to shifting consumer behaviors, advancements in technology, and market dynamics.
Top Challenges Facing Ecommerce Brands in 2025
Retailers planning their ecommerce growth strategies this year must first understand the many challenges they will encounter along the way, including the following considerations.
Subpar On-Site Search Functionality
One of the top pain points for online shoppers is poor search functionality. Slow, inaccurate, or outdated search results frustrate consumers and lead to lost sales. In fact, our survey revealed that 77% of ecommerce professionals consider on-site search accuracy and relevance critical to delivering a satisfactory customer experience.
To address this challenge, retailers can invest in advanced search technologies, such as AI-powered Generative Discovery, which leverages natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). These tools can better understand user intent, handle complex queries, and deliver more relevant results to enhance online shopping experiences.
Personalization at Scale
While personalization has become a buzzword in ecommerce, delivering truly tailored experiences at scale remains a big challenge. Our survey discovered that 41% of retailers want to improve their personalization capabilities in 2025. While they know that consumers expect relevant product recommendations, personalized content, and customized offers, many retailers struggle to effectively leverage their data to meet these expectations.
AI-driven personalization engines can help retailers create more granular customer segments and deliver hyper-personalized experiences. By analyzing browsing behaviors, purchase history, and other relevant data points, retailers can craft targeted marketing campaigns and product recommendations that resonate with each shopper’s preferences.
Cart Abandonment
Online shopping cart abandonment continues to be a persistent issue for retailers, with rates often surpassing 70% worldwide. Common reasons for cart abandonment include unexpected shipping costs, complex checkout processes, and lack of preferred payment options.
According to our survey, 18% of retailers observed more abandoned carts last year, and 12% said reducing cart abandonment was their biggest concern going into the 2024 holiday shopping season.
To combat this challenge, retailers can implement advanced product search and discovery tools, streamline the checkout process, offer transparent pricing information upfront, and provide a variety of payment methods—including popular options like buy now, pay later (BNPL).
Rising Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)
As ecommerce competition continues to increase, the cost of acquiring new customers has skyrocketed. Our survey found that the average CAC surged by 222% between 2013 and 2024, rising from $9 to $29. With digital advertising becoming more expensive and less effective, retailers need new and innovative ways to attract, engage, convert, and retain customers without breaking the bank.
Prioritizing customer retention through referral and loyalty programs, exceptional customer service, and personalized experiences can increase customer lifetime value (CLV) and reduce the need for constant new customer acquisition. Additionally, focusing on organic ecommerce strategies—such as search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and social media engagement—can help decrease reliance on paid advertising.
Ecommerce Growth Strategies for 2025
To be successful in 2025, retailers need to adopt forward-thinking ecommerce strategies to overcome challenges and capitalize on opportunities. Fortunately, there are several ways to drive sustainable growth online.
Personalize Customer Interactions with AI
AI is transforming the way retailers interact with customers. By leveraging AI and ML algorithms, retailers can deliver more personalized experiences that boost engagement and drive conversions.
Implementing AI-driven, intelligent product recommendation tools that analyze shopper behaviors are crucial for suggesting relevant products. In addition to improving the shopping experience, this also increases average order value (AOV) and customer satisfaction.
Providing dynamic pricing is also an important personalization strategy. By using AI to optimize pricing strategies based on factors such as demand, competitor pricing, and customer segments, retailers can offer more flexible and competitive pricing that boosts sales and maximizes profits.
Personalized email marketing can also help drive ecommerce growth by leveraging AI to create highly targeted email campaigns that deliver personalized content, product recommendations, and offers based on individual customer preferences and behaviors. AI chatbots and virtual assistants can provide 24/7 customer support, answer questions, and guide customers through the purchasing process, which can dramatically improve customer service while reducing operational costs.
Ultimately, investing in AI-powered personalization enables retailers to create more engaging, relevant, and efficient shopping experiences that drive customer loyalty and increase revenue.
Optimize for Mobile-First Shopping
Retail leaders in our survey observed that mobile usage increased 35% last year. With mobile devices accounting for an increasing share of ecommerce transactions, optimizing for mobile-first experiences is no longer optional.
Retailers’ ecommerce sites need to employ responsive design to provide a seamless experience across all devices and screen sizes. This includes optimizing images, fonts, and layout for mobile viewing. Mobile-friendly navigation—with simplified menus and intuitive, touch-based interaction capabilities—is important for making browsing easy on smaller screens.
Integrating popular mobile payment options—such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and mobile wallets—streamlines the checkout process for mobile shoppers. Retailers can also consider developing a mobile app to provide a more immersive and personalized shopping experience for their most loyal customers.
By prioritizing mobile optimization, retailers can capture a larger share of the growing mobile commerce market, provide a superior shopping experience, and boost conversions.
Leverage Advanced Product Search and Discovery Tools
Improving product discovery is critical for increasing conversions, reducing cart abandonment, and boosting AOV. There are several different features retailers can implement for advanced search and discovery. Aforementioned AI-powered tools using NLP and ML algorithms can better understand shopper intent and deliver more accurate search results—even for complex or conversational queries.
Semantic search is an advanced search feature that can understand the context of search queries to provide more relevant results and product recommendations. Shoppers also appreciate faceted search features that enable them to narrow down search results based on specific attributes (e.g., size, color, and price).
Another popular feature is visual search, which uses image recognition technology to allow customers to search for products using pictures, enhancing the product discovery process for visually-driven categories like fashion and home décor.
Implement Omnichannel Strategies
Consumers expect to be able to interact with retailers seamlessly across online and offline channels. Whether they research a brand’s product on its website and then travel to a brick-and-mortar to store to make the purchase—or vice versa—consumers want their shopping experience to be consistent, smooth, and easy. Integrating and unifying customer data from all touchpoints helps achieve the consistent, accurate, and personalized experiences consumers desire.
Implementing a robust omnichannel strategy is essential for ecommerce growth and can include many different components. For example, identical branding, messaging, and pricing across all channels reinforces brand identity and builds trust, while click-and-collect fulfillment options enable consumers to buy online and pick up in-store (BOPIS)—bridging the gap between online and offline shopping, providing convenience for customers, and driving foot traffic to physical stores.
Cross-channel inventory visibility is also important for providing real-time inventory information across channels, allowing customers to check product availability online before visiting a physical store. Retailers also need an easy, flexible, and convenient returns process that allows customers to return online purchases to physical stores.
By creating a cohesive omnichannel experience, ecommerce businesses can meet customers wherever they are, improving satisfaction and increasing loyalty across all touchpoints.
Take Advantage of Ecommerce Growth Strategies in 2025
Retailers that remain agile, customer-focused, and technologically advanced will be best positioned to thrive in 2025. By continuously adapting to changing consumer behaviors, embracing emerging technologies, and refining their strategies, retailers can overcome challenges and capitalize on the many opportunities for ecommerce growth.
Want more insights on the ecommerce challenges and strategies impacting the industry this year? Read our comprehensive report, “Thrive in ’25: Achieving Ecommerce Success Through Data-Driven Strategies and Trends,” for survey results, in-depth analyses, predictions, tools, and tactics to optimize your ecommerce operations and improve customers’ shopping experiences.
