The first wave of digital retail transformation was reactive. Retailers rushed to stand up ecommerce, add curbside and click-and-collect, enable contactless payment and keep stores operating in a radically changed environment. What followed was more consequential: shoppers did not go backward.
As digital shopping became routine and stores reopened, consumers carried their new expectations with them. Mobile-first browsing, flexible fulfillment, tap-to-pay, self-service and seamless channel switching stopped feeling innovative and started feeling fundamental. Omnichannel was no longer a temporary response to disruption. It became the operating standard.
That shift has changed the retail mandate. The challenge is no longer simply how to offer digital options. It is how to make every part of the journey feel connected, intuitive and profitable.
Publicis Sapient’s research has shown just how high the bar has moved. Consumers are spending as much or more time online than they did during the height of pandemic disruption, and seamless experiences now directly shape where they buy. Convenience has become table stakes. Nearly half of shoppers say they are more likely to buy from a brand with an easy-to-navigate website or app. At the same time, friction remains costly: a large majority of consumers will abandon their cart if checkout is too difficult or confusing, and many will stop using a site altogether because of poor design.
For retailers, that reality has clarified the next phase of transformation. Winning in omnichannel commerce is not about adding more touchpoints. It is about removing friction across the ones that matter most.
The most resilient retailers are shifting from channel-first thinking to shopper-first design. That means organizing around how people actually shop: researching on mobile, checking store availability online, picking up in person, returning through the channel that is most convenient, and expecting their preferences to follow them everywhere.
This is where many retail journeys still break down. Publicis Sapient’s later research highlights four persistent pain points that continue to undermine conversion and loyalty: confusing checkout, poor search, weak returns experiences and fragmented journeys between stores and digital channels.
Each of these issues signals the same root problem. Too many retail organizations still operate as a collection of separate experiences rather than one connected commerce ecosystem.
If checkout is confusing, the brand loses revenue at the moment of highest intent. If search is weak, shoppers cannot find products fast enough to stay engaged. If returns are difficult, a post-purchase interaction turns into a loyalty risk. If the store and digital journey are disconnected, the retailer forces the shopper to do the work of stitching the brand together.
A shopper-first approach reverses that burden. It asks: how can the brand make discovery easier, buying faster, fulfillment more flexible and service more consistent across every touchpoint?
The store is still central to retail growth, but its role has evolved. It is no longer just a point of sale. It is part showroom, part fulfillment node, part service center and part data-rich experience environment.
That is why connected store strategies matter more than ever. As shoppers move fluidly between digital and physical channels, stores need to recognize and support those journeys. Online reservations, in-store returns, endless aisle experiences, click-and-collect and mobile checkout are no longer optional conveniences. They are core components of a modern retail experience.
Contactless innovation is a major part of that shift. Consumer demand for contactless payment and low-friction in-store interactions accelerated rapidly and has remained strong. For retailers, the opportunity extends well beyond hygiene or speed. Contactless experiences can reduce queue friction, improve convenience, support self-service and create more personalized store journeys when paired with real-time shopper data.
This is where POS modernization becomes strategic. Legacy point-of-sale systems were built for transactions. Modern retail requires platforms that can support loyalty, flexible fulfillment, digital promotions, mobile engagement and a unified view of the shopper. When POS is modernized, checkout becomes more than an endpoint; it becomes a connected moment in a broader omnichannel relationship.
Retailers cannot deliver seamless omnichannel experiences without a better command of customer and operational data. As consumers engage across web, app, marketplace, store, pickup and service channels, the organization needs a way to unify signals and act on them quickly.
This is why customer data platforms have become foundational. A strong CDP strategy helps retailers move from fragmented interactions to a more complete understanding of shopper behavior, preferences and intent. That makes it possible to personalize offers, improve recommendations, align messaging across channels and build more relevant journeys from discovery through fulfillment and service.
But the value of connected data is not limited to marketing. It also helps retailers address profitability challenges that became more visible as ecommerce matured. Better data can improve inventory visibility, support smarter demand planning, reduce stockouts, improve fulfillment decisions and limit costly mistakes that lead to returns.
That matters because omnichannel growth without operational alignment can erode margin. Publicis Sapient’s retail research shows that many executives recognize ecommerce profitability as a major challenge, even while knowing what improvements are needed. The barrier is often execution: legacy technology, siloed priorities, data complexity and lack of organizational alignment.
In other words, the omnichannel mandate is not just an experience challenge. It is an enterprise transformation challenge.
The next opportunity for retailers is to turn the lessons of the last few years into a more durable model for growth. That means focusing investment where it can simultaneously improve the shopper experience and strengthen economics.
A better checkout flow can lift conversion. Stronger search can increase product discovery and basket size. More transparent returns can protect loyalty while reducing service costs. Better inventory visibility can support flexible fulfillment without adding avoidable inefficiency. Modernized stores can play a bigger role in both customer experience and last-mile economics.
The most important shift is mindset. Omnichannel should no longer be treated as a set of separate digital initiatives. It should be approached as one connected commercial system spanning experience, engineering, data, operations and store transformation.
Retailers that embrace that shift can move beyond the stopgap solutions of the early pandemic era. They can create connected journeys that feel effortless to shoppers and work harder for the business.
That is the real post-pandemic opportunity: not simply to meet changed expectations, but to build a retail model designed around them.
The brands that lead next will be the ones that treat shopper-first design, contactless in-store innovation, customer data platforms, POS modernization and connected store experiences not as isolated programs, but as the building blocks of seamless, profitable omnichannel commerce.