Key Trends and Strategic Shifts in Measuring Retail Customer Experience by Lisa Garthside, Principal Experience Consultant at Medallia

Medallia were delighted to host a roundtable discussion over dinner in conjunction with The
Customer Experience Alliance (CXA). The discussion focused around unlocking the true
business impact of CX. We were joined by a number of people from leading retail brands to
explore the current state and future of customer experience. Here are some of the top trends
and insights shaping the CX retail landscape that we explored.

Understanding the holistic customer experience
We are starting to see a shift in focus from surveys to wider listening, with our approach at
Medallia echoing this. While NPS and social review scores remain valuable, we see the focus
shifting to behavioural insights that link CX initiatives to concrete outcomes like sales uplift,
retention, and customer lifetime value. The new frontier is listening everywhere, from social
media and chat to contact centre transcripts and digital behaviour. Retailers, particularly those
with high volume businesses, face data overload, but they are using conversational intelligence
to start to make sense of the volume of data. That said, ROI is still a challenge. Boards and stakeholders are asking for clearer financial linkage — a gap that platforms like Medallia are helping to bridge.

Engaging through storytelling, and the role of AI
Forward-thinking brands are embracing storytelling to enhance CX and build trust, closing the
loop with customers using a “you said, we did” approach on survey invites and websites.
Personalising the experience is key, particularly for our luxury retailers. From pre-sales to
post-purchase, clienteling & genAI are streamlining and personalising the customer journey.
Leading retailers are already seeing significant wins using AI to surface insights, summarise
interactions, and recommend actions that improve experience and unlock value.
The next evolution in CX is foresight: understanding and acting on customer needs before
they’re voiced, predicting next best actions and automating resolution, and helping businesses
stay one step ahead of customer expectations.

Personal touch remains key in retail
Initiatives such as inclusive campaigns for shoppers and celebrating employees demonstrate
how emotional connection and human touch drive loyalty, even if it’s not easily quantifiable. The
impact of employee engagement on customer experience is something that we see time and
again at Medallia, with a clear link between highly engaged teams and great experiences.

Next Generation CX: Evolving from Feedback to Foresight
The future belongs to businesses that break down silos, unify their data, and use AI to deeply
understand — and anticipate — their customers’ needs. Those who embrace this shift will not only improve experience, but also unlock new growth, loyalty, and competitive edge. Those who don’t? They risk being left behind.

For more information about Medallia, please visit www.medallia.com or contact Andy Walker at
[email protected]