Luxury Retailers: Can You Offer the Premium Shopping Experience Your Customers Want in 2025?
April 3, 2025
The modern consumer is redefining luxury. In 2025, it’s more than just high-end goods with prestigious brands. It’s about seamless interactions, interactive experiences, a sense of community, and a sustainable way of life.
Can your brand successfully cater to these evolving shifts in customer expectations? Let’s take a closer look at each shift to help you find the best luxury retail tactics for your business in 2025 and beyond.
Luxury Retail Customer Expectations in 2025
1. Digital-first Mentality Across Channels
In today’s hyper-connected world, customer journeys are no longer linear.
As the Verint Experience Index: Retail report revealed, 63 percent of customers start their shopping journey by visiting a store, while 37 percent begin online via websites or social media. In general, consumers engage with companies across various channels, often at the same time, urging brands to offer frictionless omnichannel journeys.
Additionally, according to the State of Digital Customer Experience Report 2024, 39 percent of consumers find it frustrating if their channel of choice isn’t an option.
Source: Verint Experience Index: Retail.
The expectations for seamless integration between their physical (in-store) and digital shopping experiences are even higher among younger, digital-native generations.
Brands that can leverage advancements in automation and AI to offer personalized CX across channels, such as digital appointment booking and queue management solutions, are best positioned to stay relevant in the long run.
2. Personalized Retail Experiences
Multiple recent reports, including our retail survey of over 2,000 US consumers, found that 36 percent of respondents shop in-store only, and cumulatively 34 percent shop at both stores and online. This clearly signifies that physical stores remain a key touchpoint today.
In the luxury retail sector, brick-and-mortar stores are evolving into spaces that go beyond just points of sale. Leading luxury brands are increasingly into transforming their flagship stores into immersive spaces, where customers can connect, learn more about the brand, and enjoy premium events, workshops and more.
Personalization is central to these experiences. Luxury consumers seek products specifically designed to suit their style and personality, for which they are willing to spend more. Personalized products and services also enable brands to gather valuable data on customer behaviors, needs and preferences—in real time.
These insights can significantly enhance store experiences, improve employee productivity, and build long-term brand loyalty.
Source: 3 Ways Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Can Improve Customer Experience. Verint.
3. Exclusive Communities
As mentioned above, the modern consumer expects more than just goods and services from their favorite retailer. In addition to their preference for products that reflect their personality, customers also seek to join selected communities and connect through authentic and meaningful moments.
Millennials, often referred to as the “experience” generation, value experiences over products. For luxury customers, it means craving exclusive experiences that they can share within their private communities, such as exotic trips, gastro events with star chefs, and VIP access to limited products.
Luxury brands that can effectively combine community building with a sense of exclusivity have a strong potential to retain their customers and turn them into brand advocates.
However, understanding your audience and organizing events designed for their preferences is just one part of the equation. To successfully engage and interact with digital generations, top retailers are using seamless event booking solutions that provide real-time notifications, timely reminders, and additional information about upcoming events.
4. Sustainable Products and Processes
Today’s definition of luxury has shifted from excessive consumption to being more centered around preserving value—be it upcycling vintage items or using eco-friendly and plant-based textiles.
In addition to looking for personalized experiences and exclusive communities, modern high-end customers expect brands to operate in line with sustainable and ethical practices. Today, sustainability is not an added value; it’s a fundamental requirement, especially among younger customers who wish to see responsible business practices, transparent supply chains, and hands-on actions that go beyond “greenwashing” (claims of sustainability without providing proof).
Retailers that fail to communicate relevant and trustworthy information about their brand can quickly lose relevance among conscious customers. Prominent luxury retailers are increasingly focusing on green practices, including making conscious decisions about the fabrics they use, the processes they follow, and the certifications they obtain.
For example, a leading luxury fashion brand has been praised for stopping the use of fur and leather to lower its environmental impact and cater to its customer base.
Top Luxury Retail Tactics to Create Personalized Experiences
Brands that can design personalized in-store experiences and integrate digital and physical channels to empower their store teams with valuable customer insights to cater to evolving consumer expectations will take the lead this year.
Verint Customer Engagement Solutions for Retailers can help luxury brands provide an exceptional CX across all touchpoints to meet customer expectations and drive sales with cutting-edge solutions, including:
- Digital appointment booking
- Efficient queue management
- Seamless event management
- Real-time data insights
Source: www.verint.com
Read our latest eBook designed for luxury retailers to learn more about the top luxury retail tactics that can help you create personalized CX today and tomorrow.
