The world of payments moves fast, and industry experts are always tuned in to the most relevant topics and trends being discussed – especially in a moment such as this, as we enter a new year. To kick off the event calendar for 2025, NRF Retail’s Big Show reunites key retail leaders to dive into the conversations that will guide the segment in the next few months.
The event took place in New York City from the 12th to the 14th of January, and with the help of an expert delegation of PagBank executives, we’ve selected the key topics from NRF and how they converse with cross-border online merchants. From AI to omnichannel, keep reading our blog post to understand what the major event had to say about key e-commerce trends and how you can benefit from them:
Digital transformation and adaptability
With e-commerce being the preference for more and more customers, but physical retail remaining the heart of the industry, merchants seek new strategies to reinvent their business and connect with today’s clients. Thus, the first key topic from NRF has to be digital transformation – we will dive into specific tech and processes later on, but it is clear that more than applying technology, retailers must understand what they want to improve or enable through it.
In this context, the need to adapt – to new consumer trends, new sales strategies, new technology – is one of the main drivers of digital transformation in the industry. The ability to quickly change and improve strategies and processes that are not working, to not fall behind competitors, to not become unaligned with customers’ evolving needs, is one of the most important characteristics of today’s retailers.
This goes beyond adopting new tech – it requires an understanding of what you want to achieve and how to best do it, which can be through trendy new tech or not.
Focus on customer engagement
Boosting customer engagement is the way to go for e-commerce merchants that want to establish a strong relationship with their clients – and keep them coming back again and again. One of the trends discussed about this at NRF 2025 was the subscription business model, which can work for both digital and physical goods – for example, through subscription boxes where the customer receives selected goods every month – alike.
Besides offering a different way to keep your brand in the customer’s mind, subscriptions also ensure a consistent revenue, thus being a great way to scale your business while fostering long-term connections with your audience.
This is aligned with another recurring topic at the event: hyper-personalization. Through data analytics and AI, for example, retailers can offer highly personalized shopping experiences – from product recommendations based on browsing history to personalized marketing messages, not only boosting engagement but also increasing conversion rates and customer retention.
Omnichannel is the way to go
Omnichannel is not a new topic at NRF Retail’s Big Show, having been a huge part of last year’s edition, but it made an even stronger appearance in 2025. With e-commerce more and more relevant to the industry, brick-and-mortar stores take on new roles – they are no longer just somewhere to browse and pick up items, but a place where customers go to connect with the brand through experiences, sensations, and feelings.
However, customers demand to be able to navigate seamlessly through all a retailers’ touchpoints, such as the physical store, e-commerce website, apps, and social media. They value the convenience and flexibility of starting their shopping journey on one channel and completing it on another, or to request support through social media about a purchase made on the app.
Through omnichannel strategies such as integrated payments, synchronized inventories, and allowing online purchases to be picked up or returned at a physical store, you not only enhance customer satisfaction but also build brand loyalty, as customers are more likely to return to retailers who offer a smooth and integrated shopping experience.
How Artificial Intelligence is helping retail
No matter the segment – every industry event in recent times is going to have Artificial Intelligence as a key subject.
For retailers, when applied in alignment with customer-centric strategies, it can tremendously help to improve operations, create hyper personalized shopping journeys, and much more. For example – some retailers, such as Lowe, use AI to create “digital twins” of their brick-and-mortar stores to simulate layout options and optimize operations, thus being much more assertive when actually bringing it to the real world.
With data from NRF showing that 9 out of 10 companies already use AI in their businesses – and 4 out of 5 specifically using Generative AI –, it’s true that the technology can bring phenomenal value to retailers, allowing them to test strategies and innovate their interactions with the customers. However, it must be applied strategically and with a clear goal in mind, as with all new technology that becomes such a buzzword as AI.
The strategic importance of payments
With innovating and improving the shopping journey being a common preoccupation around NRF, payments come around not as a necessity, but as a strategic part of that path. After all, when a retailer is able to take a customer all the way to the checkout page, offering a poor payment experience can lead to card abandonment, severely impacting conversion rates.
One of the most important aspects of the payment experience is to allow your customers to pay in the way they prefer to. By offering several different payment methods, from credit cards to alternative ones such as instant payments and e-wallets, you improve the chances they will complete the purchase.
Having a reliable, fast payment processing also improves the checkout experience, especially in the context of Latin America, where the majority of online sales are made through mobile devices. Understanding the payment behaviors and preferences of your audience, then, becomes essential to the payment strategy.
That is why counting on an expert partner can be key for retailers, especially if you want to take your business further and enter new markets.
If you want to strengthen or start a presence in Latin America, PagSeguro’s cross-border payment solution allows you to offer over 140 payment methods in 17 Latam countries – including the region’s main markets, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Peru. You can also count on our expertise of more than 20 years in Latin America, and our deep understanding of how the customers from each of its countries prefer to shop and pay online.
Click below to get in touch with us and come boost your business in Latam!