E-commerce and retail — Unifying commerce, from the offer to the customer relationship

A market where connecting the offer, channels, and data becomes decisive

E-commerce has matured. Consumers now weigh price, quality, transparency, and the fluidity of the experience against each other. More than half of publicly traded DTC brands have seen their share price drop by over 50%, while omnichannel retailers posted up to 11% higher conversion. Without establishing a single causal link, this gap shows the limits of models too dependent on a single channel, and the advantage held by those who connect multiple touchpoints.

Retailers who orchestrate these dimensions capture more value and retain control of the relationship. The others progressively cede part of it — along with the associated data — to marketplaces, social networks, and AI assistants that control certain key moments of the journey.

Silos that limit margins

The new growth levers — resale, private label, retail media, AI recommendations, and new payment methods — all rest on the same capabilities: usable customer data, reliable product information, real-time inventory availability, and services connected across channels.

Companies that have integrated their operations and technology foundations achieve shareholder returns four times higher than competitors constrained by legacy systems. Yet only 6% of executives have a concrete plan to get there.

The market is also polarizing. Fast fashion and low-cost platforms capture consumers who arbitrate primarily on price, while a growing segment accepts paying more for offers that are more responsible and transparent. 62% of buyers under 30 say they are willing to pay up to 10% more for products with fully accessible traceability. Between the two, retailers without a clear positioning struggle to justify their difference.

At AREA 17, we approach these challenges as three dimensions of the same system: the brand and its positioning in the industry, the user experience across channels, and the technological and organizational foundations that make it possible.

Retailers who hand their resale program over to third parties lose both revenue and customer data. In the United States, this market is expected to reach $73 billion by 2028. Some 163 American fashion brands have already launched their own resale program, and 74% of major brands without one are considering it.

Private label addresses the same issue. Gen Z is expected to spend 18% of its consumer goods budget on private-label brands by 2026, more than any other generation. And 84% of consumers consider their quality equivalent to that of national brands. 

Reducing private label to a cheaper alternative therefore overlooks its real value: reinforcing trust, asserting a difference, and regaining control of the offer.

AI shopping assistants are also taking on a growing role in product discovery and selection. 46% of consumers believe a conversational AI could give them a more honest opinion than a friend on an outfit. At the same time, traffic from generative AI services to US retail sites grew 1,300% during the 2024 holiday season. 

Key takeaway

Resale, private label, and AI recommendation all help retailers regain control of the offer, the data, and the customer relationship. Brought together in a single strategy, these levers reinforce brand consistency and differentiation.

Mobile commerce is expected to account for 63% of global e-commerce sales by 2028. Nearly two-thirds of Gen Z already use social media to search for products — twice the rate of previous generations. 

Payment remains a critical point of friction. 59% of consumers abandon their cart when their preferred payment method is unavailable. Wallets and accelerated checkouts, such as Apple Pay or Shop Pay, reduce this friction and can show conversion rates up to 21% higher than standard checkouts.

The challenge is to unify product data, stock, prices, orders, and payments in real time, so the journey can continue seamlessly across the retailer's own channels, social platforms, and AI assistants.This foundation also makes agentic commerce possible. 

Key takeaway

Social media, mobile, and AI have become major entry points for commerce. The advantage lies in the ability to carry each interaction through, without a break, to payment and to the store — while retaining control of the data and the customer relationship.

In fragmented systems, every new channel, AI use case, or payment method requires its own integrations. Costs rise, timelines lengthen, and initiatives remain hard to scale. Retailers who have unified their technology foundations achieve up to 2.2 times higher return on invested capital. 

Retail media directly illustrates the value of this infrastructure. This market is expected to reach $165 billion by 2028 and represent between 14% and 24% of advertising spend. 

The same foundation makes it possible to accelerate AI-driven merchandising decisions — up to ten times faster — and to more easily integrate new payment methods, which could account for 82% of transactions by 2030.

Key takeaway

Retail media, AI, and payments create more value when built on shared foundations. Deployed in silos, they remain costly, hard to scale, and leave a growing share of value to intermediaries.

At AREA 17, we combine strategy and craft to help e-commerce and retail organizations create lasting value by acting on these three levers:

Strengthening the brand through control of the offer and recommendation, by making resale and private label concrete expressions of positioning, and preparing products to be understood and recommended by AI.

Bringing social media and AI into a seamless purchase journey, by ensuring continuity between discovery, site or app, store, and payment.

Unifying data and technology foundations, to deploy retail media, AI personalization, and new payment services as a coherent system rather than as isolated initiatives.

Facing these challenges? We'd love to talk.