Ecommerce in 2025: What Every Multichannel Retailer Needs to Know

Inflation fears make customers cautious about spending. Tariff uncertainty disrupts supply chains and inventory planning. Meanwhile, customer expectations continue rising for fast delivery, seamless experiences, and AI-powered recommendations.

Yet opportunities exist for multichannel retailers who adapt quickly. Companies that embrace AI optimization, streamline operations, and build flexible supply chains are surfing market volatility without falling off the board.

How are they doing it? This guide covers five strategies thriving retailers use to turn 2025's challenges into competitive advantages: AI-driven discovery, supply chain resilience, operational efficiency, strategic automation, and holiday readiness.

Instead of avoiding change, the key to success is adapting faster than your competition.

1. Learn to use AI-driven shopping discovery to your advantage

Artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed how customers find and buy products. Now, 72% of consumers regularly use AI tools for shopping decisions. Traffic from AI sources to retail websites exploded 3,300% during Prime Day compared to 2024.

Retail Brew reports that AI has become the third most popular source for purchase recommendations. Only physical stores rank higher, with AI now ahead of social media recommendations.

Tyler Angelos, CEO of the fifth-generation family business Angelus Direct that sells leather paint and sneaker customization supplies, sees this shift firsthand. "Even now with AI, if you ask how to paint shoes, it'll include my brand," he explains. "It's a new wave of SEO."

This organic visibility in AI responses reveals a fundamental shift from traditional SEO tactics. Instead of catering to Google's algorithms, retailers must now publish content that resonates with AI systems that directly influence purchase decisions.

Make your website AI-friendly

Some retailers are already implementing AI-friendly website coding. This involves adding specific markup that tells AI systems which content to crawl and index. This requires understanding how AI systems consume information.

"You make your coding crawlable on your site," Tyler notes. "Let the AI know, 'Hey, crawl me. I'm good for your search. I'm allowing this.'"

This involves adding structured data markup that helps AI systems identify and trust your product information—similar to how schema markup once helped Google understand webpage content, but tailored for AI recommendation engines. The system recognizes and trusts the data, making recommendations more likely.

One way to attract attention is by writing product descriptions the way customers speak and search. Instead of technical specifications, use conversational language that answers common questions. For example, instead of 'Premium leather conditioner with pH-balanced formula,' write 'Keeps leather boots soft and prevents cracking—works on all leather types.

While it feels daunting to learn a new way of doing things, Tyler says adapting can make or break a business. “Because of the advancements of AI, if your company is not adapting, you are going to be really hard-pressed to get market share back.”

It’s not minor tweaks to existing strategies. Retailers should consider fundamentally reimagining how customers discover their products. Retailers who want to wait and see risk becoming invisible in the discovery channels their customers increasingly rely on.

While mastering AI discovery positions your brand for customer visibility, economic headwinds demand equal attention to your supply chain strategy. The same adaptability that helps you optimize for AI algorithms is helpful when navigating tariff uncertainty and inventory challenges.

2. Withstand economic uncertainty and disruptions

Tariff conditions in 2025 are a complex puzzle for multichannel retailers. At the moment, a baseline 10% tariff applies to most imports, with higher rates for specific countries. The U.S. government collected nearly $30 billion in tariff revenue in June alone.

Average tariff rates have reached their highest levels since the 1930s. This creates ongoing uncertainty for businesses planning inventory and pricing strategies.

Supply chain experts are tracking the widespread impact of this uncertainty. Jeff Berman, Group News Editor for Logistics Management and related publications, said, “It makes it incredibly hard to plan your supply chain, to plan your manufacturing production, even to forecast.”

The inability to plan affects every aspect of retail operations, from cash flow management to customer satisfaction.

Tyler says companies remain stuck dealing with inventory purchased at “120-150% tariff rates.” Even when tariffs decrease, businesses can't immediately lower prices because they're selling through expensive inventory.

"The people that did bring products in are now stuck in a weird position where they need to lose money to keep their business going," Tyler notes.

This creates strange market dynamics where some retailers must liquidate expensive inventory while others gain competitive advantages.

Adapt by being flexible

Successful companies are adapting their sourcing strategies to maintain flexibility. “At times, it feels like there is a lot of pressure and uncertainty, but I think businesses that can pivot and move effectively are doing great right now,” Tyler explains.

At Angelus Direct, the approach is to focus on importing components instead of finished products. "We try our best to keep overseas imports to only components and not actual products. That keeps us very adaptable.”

This strategy provides several advantages:

• Reduced tariff exposure on finished goods

• Flexibility to adjust production based on market conditions

• Faster response to regulatory changes

Being American-made has competitive advantages during tariff volatility. Domestic manufacturers can adjust quickly without worrying about shipping delays or fluctuating costs.

Reflect on inventory management lessons learned from past uncertainty

Retailers can use valuable inventory planning lessons from the pandemic and apply them to tariff uncertainty. For example, Angelus Direct maintains approximately one year's supply of materials.

"We learned from the pandemic that when something comes your way, no one's going to feel sorry for you,” Tyler explains. “Customers won't wait six months for restocking during disruptions. They'll find suppliers with available inventory they can buy from now.”

Avoiding customer churn requires larger upfront investments but provides crucial flexibility during market volatility.

Supply chain resilience is the foundation for growth, but long-term success requires you to distribute risk across multiple sales channels like Shopify and Amazon. Smart inventory management and flexible sourcing give your multichannel operations the stability they need.

3. Improve your multichannel integration and operations

Seamless ecommerce integration, like Amazon Multichannel Fulfillment, across all sales channels will help ensure 2025 ends as a success. How are successful retailers weathering the current climate? Jeanel Alvarado, Founder & CEO of RETAILBOSS, has a front-row seat to ecommerce success stories. She says the answer is diversification:

“The most resilient retailers operate on a ‘no single point of failure' principle,” Jeanel explains. “This means maintaining an active selling presence across at least three systems, with no single channel exceeding 40% of social commerce revenue.”

While a savvy safety strategy, managing multiple channels can be time-consuming. The key is unified management rather than handling each platform separately. This integration prevents common multichannel selling problems like overselling, inconsistent pricing, and delayed inventory updates. When a product sells on one platform, inventory automatically updates across all channels.

A centralized multichannel ecommerce shipping software like Veeqo, which includes inventory, warehouse, and shipping management software along with a profit analyzer for analytics and forecasting, can eliminate many of these headaches by reducing errors, saving time, and creating a smoother experience for your team and customers.

Streamline your operations

According to Shopify, shipping represents 90% of total fulfillment costs, making operational efficiency crucial for profitability. Some retailers balance cost effectiveness, delivery speed, and reliability through multiple carrier partnerships.

Veeqo's free shipping software combines rate shopping, multichannel inventory and warehouse management, profit analysis, and shipping credits that give you up to 5% back on eligible shipments.

4. Be strategic about ecommerce automation

Managing multiple channels efficiently becomes exponentially easier with the right automation strategy. Rather than manually coordinating inventory, high-volume orders, and customer service across channels, strategic automation creates the operational backbone you need to scale ecommerce operations.

Tyler's approach to automation emphasizes process improvement rather than replacing human workers. "For us, using AI is for processes. How do we mitigate this response? How do we make these more streamlined?" he explains.

Inventory management software is one tool you can use to streamline your operations. It helps track inventory and auto-sync stock levels across multiple platforms. This prevents overselling and inventory discrepancies that leave your customers disappointed

Beyond inventory management software, look for areas in your shipping process that don’t require the human touch, and consider automating those:

• Process multichannel order information

• Create and bulk print shipping labels

• Select carriers and find the best shipping rates

• Set custom shipping rules and presets

• Manage your warehouse

• Analyze your profit data in real time

This focus on streamlining operations creates efficiency gains while maintaining the human touch for complex tasks.

Level up customer service with automation and AI

AI is also transforming multichannel customer service operations. Tyler's team uses AI to handle routine inquiries that were burning out human staff.

"How do I keep my customer support person answering, 'Where's this order?' for the 5,000th time and burning them out if I can just have a robot respond back, 'Hey, here's your order,' at any time in the day?" he asks.

Angelus Direct’s solution uses a "soft step" approach. AI handles basic 24/7 support for order tracking and simple questions, and human agents step in for complex issues requiring product expertise. This hybrid approach frees up skilled staff for higher-value activities like product consulting and wholesale account management.

The key is transparency. Let customers know they're interacting with AI initially, but make it easy to access human support for complex issues.

5. Prepare for an unpredictable holiday season

Automated inventory and shipping systems are a lifeline during peak selling periods. With your operations streamlined through automation, you can focus on the strategic planning that makes or breaks holiday performance in an unpredictable market.

Holiday shopping behavior has evolved beyond simple discount-seeking. Marty Bauer, Ecommerce Expert at Omnisend, explains, “Shoppers have become numb to exclusive deals and will respond better to clear, helpful messaging like back-in-stock alerts, personalized bundles, and practical updates.”

Since holiday predictability has shifted, Marty says Black Friday and Cyber Monday are no longer “one-shot” events, but a longer ramp with unpredictable peaks. “Planning marketing strategies around this volatility is critical, and many brands are starting that process now.”

Are you starting the process, too? If so, Marty says to focus on clear, helpful messaging rather than promotional hype.

Plan a flexible shipping strategy

Wish you had a crystal ball to predict how the shipping industry will handle this holiday season’s shipping demands? Ben Graham, VP of Marketing at Joe & Bella, says the ecommerce retailer has already experienced tariff and shipping challenges. One of Joe & Bella’s new products was stuck at port due to a shipping container backlog.

“We've learned over the last few months to be quite flexible and keep our expectations low for quick and accurate deliveries,” Ben explains. “We're a new and smaller company, and often our small shipments are deprioritized to take care of the big players. So we're rolling with the punches and planning further ahead with restocking inventory to anticipate delays.”

Any customer who pays attention to current events can see what’s happening. Many customers’ expectations have shifted from speed to trust, and they accept longer delivery times if you communicate transparently about timing.

Schedule inventory and promotions so they’re ready at the right time

Smart retailers are implementing early promotions and maintaining better inventory levels for greater control during the holiday season.

At Joe & Bella, they’re trying a new strategy. “Political headwinds and tariff uncertainty have taught us to pre-book critical inventory and build small buffer stocks for local sales,” Ben explains. “We now offer 'order-now ship-later' options so last-minute shoppers aren’t left hanging when carriers hit capacity.”

Angelus Direct is also preparing for the holiday season. "For greater control, we're doubling down on early promos, better inventory, and in-house fulfillment," Tyler said.

Retailers might also consider allocating inventory based on trending social and ecommerce platforms and regions to maximize sales opportunities while minimizing stockouts.

Embrace change to build resilience

Despite current pressures, opportunities exist for retailers who adapt quickly and execute well.

Market conditions in 2025 require fundamental adaptation rather than minor adjustments. Tyler puts it simply: "There's a giant wave coming. You can either try and swim with it and adapt with it, or you can fight against it and drown."

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