Retailers boost performance with personalisation & new tech

Cloudinary has released findings from its global retail survey, revealing how brands increasingly employ visual media to achieve diverse business objectives.

The research highlights that 93% of surveyed retailers reported improvements in outcomes of up to four times due to personalisation efforts. This focus on personalisation is being applied to both online and in-store experiences, as brands seek to offer frictionless and customised interactions to their customers. In parallel, retailers are addressing accessibility, sustainability, and immersive technologies.

Personalisation is a key driver of success, with 88% of respondents indicating that it is critical to their digital strategies. Retailers are adapting their visual content for multiple factors, including language, currency, browser, device, geographic location, and bandwidth. Automation is commonly used to achieve these adaptations, with 67% of retailers dynamically adjusting content for specific user factors, 65% tailoring experiences by geographic location, and 50% optimising content for the user's bandwidth.

The survey underscores the importance of accessibility, with retailers taking various steps such as optimising content for screen readers (62%), adding alternative text to images and videos (57%), and providing closed captions (56%). Approximately two-thirds of retailers expressed confidence in their preparedness for upcoming regulations like the European Accessibility Act.

Enhanced performance and accessibility allow retailers to reach broader audiences, contributing to the significant improvements attributed to personalisation. The survey found that nearly all retailers (93%) estimated business improvements up to fourfold due to their personalisation strategies.

Next-generation digital experiences have become a focus for retailers, beyond simply maintaining basic personalisation. The survey found that in 2025, retailers are prioritising video (62%), virtual try-on (53%), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) (46%), and three-dimensional experiences (36%). These technologies assist customers in making faster and more informed decisions, but also help reduce the financial and environmental costs associated with product returns.

Sustainability has also risen to prominence among retail priorities. With 62% of retailers tracking energy consumption and implementing environmentally conscious digital practices, efforts include optimising media delivery to lower energy use (50%), recycling or repurposing digital content (47%), reducing redundant asset storage (46%), and tracking and reporting the carbon footprint from digital operations (41%).

Retailers are now integrating ecommerce practices in physical stores to digitise the in-store experience and minimise friction. The survey indicated that 66% of retailers use QR codes for product details and promotions, 64% employ mobile apps for in-store navigation and assistance, and 32% deploy augmented reality to create unique in-store and online experiences.

Commenting on the survey findings, Wanda Cadigan, SVP of Marketing at Cloudinary, said, "For the last several years, retail has been battling several external factors, from the effects of Covid to supply chain challenges. Today's global survey paints a refreshingly optimistic picture, showing retailers of all sizes coming through this adversity, not only rising to the technical challenges of delivering highly personalised and digitised experiences online and in-store, but also raising the bar by prioritising video and next-gen experiences like virtual try-on and 3D."

The Cloudinary Global Retail Survey 2025, conducted by Researchscape International, included responses from 448 retail workers across 14 countries. To qualify, organisations surveyed were required to manage over 1,000 images and more than 100 videos on their website or mobile app.