Retail benchmarks 2025: what leaders are doing differently
Retail customer experience (CX) benchmarks have reached new heights in 2025, raising the bar for what shoppers expect. According to HappyOrNot’s 2025 Retail CX Insights Report, the global in-store retail CX score now averages 91.8% satisfaction. But averages only tell part of the story – top-performing retailers are achieving even higher scores and pulling ahead of the pack.
This article explores the latest retail performance metrics and benchmarks, and more importantly, what industry leaders are doing differently to optimize customer experience. By examining how retail CX innovators tackle challenges and drive improvements, we can uncover strategies and retail innovation techniques that others can adopt to stay competitive in the evolving retail market.
Benchmarking retail CX performance in 2025
Retailers today operate in a market where customer experience is a critical KPI. The HappyOrNot 2025 Retail CX Insights Report provides clear benchmarks to gauge performance. Globally, shoppers report very high satisfaction overall (over 91%), but the best retailers exceed these benchmarks.
For instance, certain sectors lead the industry: pharmacies top the charts at a 96.7% satisfaction rate, with convenience stores close behind at 93.9%, and consumer electronics/home stores around 92.4%. These figures set a high bar for excellence.
By contrast, other segments fall well below the average – for example, fashion and apparel retail averages only 81.8% satisfaction (significantly lower than the overall market). This wide gap highlights that CX excellence isn’t uniform across retail. Leading brands have managed to create consistently positive experiences, whereas others have notable room for improvement.
Managing retail industry challenges 2025
Why do these benchmarks matter? They give retailers a measurable target for customer happiness. A global CX score of ~92% suggests most customers leave stores satisfied, but top performers push satisfaction into the mid-90s. In practical terms, that could mean turning more of those light pink mildly unsatisfied experiences into truly happy customers.
In an industry as competitive as retail, even a small percentage gain in satisfaction can translate to stronger loyalty and higher sales. The 2025 benchmarks also reflect retail industry trends – for example, the sectors with the highest scores are often those focusing on quick service, essential goods, or high-touch support, whereas more discretionary segments face tougher challenges in delighting customers.
It’s also worth noting that CX metrics are trending upwards year over year. The 2025 Retail CX Insights Report indicates customer satisfaction ticked up about 1.7 points over the past year, showing that retailers collectively are improving experiences despite challenges. But rising tides lift all boats – if your business isn’t keeping pace, you could actually be falling behind the leaders.
As customer expectations climb, adequate service in 2024 may be below average in 2025. Benchmarking helps you identify that gap. Top retailers obsess over these metrics, constantly comparing against industry benchmarks and their own performance to ensure they stay ahead.
How top retailers outperform the rest
Achieving a high 90s CX score is no accident – it’s the result of deliberate strategies and operational excellence. The 2025 Retail CX Insights Report finds that brands with the strongest CX outcomes share common approaches. They emphasize swift problem resolution, empathetic staff interactions, consistent service delivery, and a proactive feedback culture. The retail market report also finds that top-performing retailers create a customer-centric culture where every level of the organization is tuned into the customer experience.
One major differentiator is responsiveness to real-time feedback. The 2025 Retail CX Insights Report reveals that the retailers leading in CX are those who act quickly and consistently on customer input as it comes in.
Rather than waiting for monthly surveys or quarterly reviews, they monitor feedback daily and empower staff to address issues immediately. If a complaint comes in about long checkout lines on a Saturday, they don’t wait – managers reallocate staff on the spot to open more lanes. This agility in closing feedback loops means small problems are fixed before they become big ones. It’s this mindset of continuous improvement that sets leaders apart from competitors.
Another hallmark of CX leaders is that they deliver consistency across all stores and times. Notably, the top quartile performers manage to keep satisfaction high throughout different times of day and week, not just during slow periods. This is a feat others struggle with.
Many retailers see their scores plunge during peak hours or busy shopping days. By contrast, leaders have learned to maintain service quality even during the Friday evening rush or the holiday crowds. This consistency builds trust – customers learn they can count on a great experience any time they visit. It’s no surprise those companies earn greater loyalty as a result.
So what exactly are top retailers doing differently on the ground? Below are some of the key strategies high performers use to effectively achieve customer experience optimization and outpace their peers:
1. Optimize staffing and service flow around demand
Leading retailers finely tune their operations to match customer traffic patterns. They schedule more staff during peak traffic windows (e.g. weekend or mid-day) and ensure coverage doesn’t lapse during rush hours.
By aligning labor to when and where customers need help, they reduce wait times and friction. Stores run efficiently even at 6 p.m. on a busy day because leaders anticipated the rush and had employees in position.
2. Address pain points proactively
Rather than reacting after complaints pile up, CX leaders fix operational issues before they spike dissatisfaction. For example, they know checkout is a perennial pain point – the 2025 Retail CX Insights Report shows lengthy checkout processes are the #2 customer complaint at 21.3% dissatisfaction.
Top retailers invest in faster point-of-sale systems, open additional registers during busy periods, and train cashiers to be quick and courteous. Similarly, if out-of-stock products frustrate shoppers, leaders tighten inventory management and restocking processes. By tackling these known retail industry challenges head-on, they protect customer satisfaction during high-traffic periods.
3. Leverage real-time feedback for continuous improvement
High performers treat every customer interaction as data. They employ real-time feedback tools (like feedback terminals, mobile surveys, etc.) to capture how shoppers feel in the moment, and then empower frontline teams to act on that feedback immediately.
If lunchtime shoppers indicate dissatisfaction due to a messy aisle, store employees get an alert and clean it up that same day, or even hour. This responsive, data-driven approach means issues are short-lived. Over time, it also creates a culture of accountability – staff see feedback results instantly, take pride in positive scores, and hustle to improve when metrics dip.
4. Apply peak-season lessons year-round
Many retailers pull out all the stops in Q4 (the “Golden Quarter”) – increasing staff, streamlining store layouts, and offering extra services to handle holiday crowds. CX leaders don’t limit these best practices to November and December. They treat every month like peak season in terms of operational excellence.
For instance, agile staffing and resolving issues on the spot are happening during spring and summer as well, not just during holiday sales. By using their peak-season playbook all year, they consistently outperform competitors. In fact, North American data shows CX scores rebounded to an annual high of 92.5% in Q4 when retailers executed well on staffing and planning – leaders aim to maintain that level of focus constantly.
These strategies are both actionable and data-driven, showing that any retailer can improve by adopting similar habits. The common thread is an emphasis on customer-centric operations. Top retailers view CX not as a static score but as a dynamic aspect of daily management – one that can be improved through careful attention and innovation.
Innovating the retail experience for competitive advantage
Beyond the day-to-day tactics, leading retailers are also investing in innovation to push CX to the next level. In a rapidly changing retail market, embracing new technology and ideas is part of what leaders do differently. According to industry experts, AI and advanced analytics are becoming central to retail innovation strategies. As consultant DeAnn Campbell notes in the 2025 Retail CX Insights Report, developing data systems that analyze customer data through AI – and even employing AI assistants – will be essential for retail moving forward.
Top retailers are already leveraging artificial intelligence to personalize shopping experiences (for example, using AI-driven personalization to recommend products and offers tailored to each customer). They use predictive analytics to anticipate customer needs and optimize inventory, ensuring shelves are stocked with what shoppers want before they even ask.
Crucially, CX leaders view great customer experience as a growth lever, not just a metric to track. This mindset drives them to innovate. If a new technology can reduce customer effort or increase delight, leading retailers will pilot it because they know it can translate into higher conversion and retention.
A quote from customer service expert Shep Hyken in the report underlines this philosophy: “A great experience builds trust, creates an emotional connection, makes price less relevant, and helps the retailer stand out in a very competitive marketplace.”. In practice, this means that while less savvy retailers compete solely on price cuts or product selection, the CX leaders invest in experience – friendly service, convenient processes, memorable moments – to differentiate their brand.
They understand that when customers feel valued and enjoy their time in the store, they are more willing to return and even pay a premium. This is especially relevant considering “prices” are the number-one complaint among shoppers (cited by 24.7% dissatisfaction globally as a pain point). The best retailers mitigate price sensitivity by delivering so much value through experiences that customers perceive it as worth it.
Finally, top retailers foster innovation by cultivating a proactive, feedback-driven company culture. They encourage teams to surface ideas from the frontline – after all, sales associates and store managers often see first-hand what could improve the customer journey. Organizations leading in CX treat feedback as a treasure trove of insights.
Conclusion
The retail industry in 2025 presents both a challenge and an opportunity: customer expectations are higher than ever, but we also have more data and tools than ever to meet them. The latest CX benchmarks show that retail market leaders are not just meeting expectations – they are redefining them with satisfaction levels in the mid-90s. These top performers distinguish themselves through responsive execution, strategic innovation, and an unrelenting focus on the customer. They turn real-time data into immediate action, fine-tune every aspect of operations for customer ease, and invest in new ideas that make shopping better.
For other retailers looking to close the gap, the path is clear. By studying what the leaders are doing differently – from aligning staffing with customer patterns to embracing technology that personalizes service – any brand can begin to optimize its own customer experience. It starts with measuring where you stand (using industry benchmarks and feedback metrics) and then taking bold, consistent action to improve.
In short, CX excellence has become a strategic differentiator in the retail industry. Those who treat customer experience as a core part of their strategy – and who continuously learn from the data and best practices – are pulling ahead. The 2025 Retail CX Insights Report provides a data-driven roadmap to these winning strategies. By following the benchmarks and lessons from retail’s top performers, you can not only meet the industry standards but potentially set new ones, turning great customer experience into your competitive advantage in 2025 and beyond.
Want to get your hands on the full 2025 Retail CX Insights Report? Download below!
