While President Donald Trump was signing an order extending the deadline for a tariff agreement between the US and China last week, retail executives were putting on their lanyards and loading up their tote bags at eTail Boston 2025.
The extension came as retail leaders shared the sentiment that big changes could be coming—just not yet. “The macroeconomic environment is certainly top of mind,” Melissa Worth, SVP of the Americas at New Balance, said in a keynote session. “We feel we’re in a strong place right now,...but yeah, to be determined as these tariffs take effect in what happens in the back half of this year.”
That view was echoed by Poonam Goyal, senior equity analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, who said the real risks from tariffs won’t come until 2026: “What happens in the spring when you’re getting all this new inventory at the higher prices? Are consumers going to still be willing to pay?”
Whatever happens, retailers appear laser-focused on finding other ways to engage consumers outside of price. Indeed, personalization emerged as one of the key themes of the conference. Here’s a roundup of some notable quotes on the topic:
Asked about how shoe brand Kizik tailors its value proposition to a broad consumer base, its CMO Elizabeth Drori said, “What we’ve learned is that value is highly personal,” and that “people will value the product for different reasons, depending on how they need it in their life.” This approach, she added, has led the brand to produce marketing content that is tailored to different types of consumers, saving promotions for those more price-sensitive customers who need a little extra incentive to convert.
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However, keeping up with consumer preferences is getting harder, Feliz Papich, SVP of digital technology at Crocs, explained, because platforms such as TikTok are training shoppers to expect highly personalized messaging and recommendations in real time. “They don’t want any friction, especially in the digital environment,” she said. “They expect everything to be exactly what they’re looking for.”
The upside, she said, is that AI is making it easier to personalize and segmentize its marketing materials with tools that are constantly iterating and generating new content.
“I think AI is kind of pushing all of us and the consumer is pushing all of us into being more specific in real time,” she added.
Big box chains are similarly facing pressure to personalize. Ron Baker, VP of technology at Lowe’s, said its customers want an “experience that is tailored to them,” and so, the company’s future technology investments will “focus on leveraging a lot of our AI capabilities to really home in on that.”
Christina Monkman, head of e-commerce at IKEA US, made a broader point about how the furniture chain is focusing less on value, in the sense of price, and instead pitching itself as a problem solver for consumers.
“If you think about profitable growth, the more that you can help customers understand how things work together, you have an opportunity to drive that basket size up,” she said.