Retail Technology now sits at the center of global commerce, connecting demand, operations, and monetization at scale. As retail spend expands across both digital and physical channels, tech has become a primary lever for growth, efficiency, and margin protection.
In 2025:
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- Global retail sales reached $31.1 trillion
- Retail tech spend hit $282 billion
- Over 750 M&A and fundraising transactions occurred in the space
As Erik Hansen, Partner at Drake Star noted: “Retail technology is entering a structural consolidation phase, with M&A accelerating the absorption of fragmented point solutions into systems of record, action, engagement, and intelligence. This is creating powerful centers of gravity around robust core platforms that will shape the next generation of value creation across the $31 trillion global retail market.”
Our Retail Tech Market 2025 Report dives into deals and fundraising activity for the year, buyers and investors to watch, key market dynamics driving growth and shaping the sector in 2026 and beyond.
Key highlights include:
- Consumer and Macro Trends: With consumer demand, budget confidence, and channel patterns becoming increasingly volatile, retail technology is being pushed toward adaptive, real‑time decisioning rather than static planning
- The Retail Operating Agenda: Retail technology sharpens the retail operating agenda by illuminating the clearest levers for conversion and margin, ensuring ROI is visible and measurable across the business
- Market Map: The retail technology ecosystem is structured around a unified commerce flywheel – Plan, Market, Sell, Fulfill/Serve, and Learn/Monetize – bringing together capabilities across both digital and physical channels
- Segment Deep Dives: Retail technology is becoming a synchronized, data‑driven ecosystem where planning, retail media, ecommerce enablement, in‑store tech, and post‑purchase solutions operate as one stack to drive demand, conversion, experience, and profitability
- Capital Markets and M&A: The retail technology market is entering a consolidation phase where funding constraints and point-solution fatigue are catalyzing a wave of roll-ups by systems-of-record platforms to create integrated super suites
Download the full report below for highlights and in-depth insight into the Retail Tech sector.