EP.170/ SHOPTALK FALL 2025 RECAP
ShopTalk Fall 2025 Recap: AI, CX, and the Real-Time Retail Playbook
In this solo ShopTalk fall recap, Mariah breaks down the two themes that ruled the floor: AI everywhere and an uncompromising focus on customer experience. From post-purchase retention wins to why real-time analytics actually means to-the-second data, she shares five deeper takeaways you can put to work now. Hear what Wayfair revealed about promo-driven traffic vs. non-promo sales, why the U.S. Polo Assn. is leaning into live-streaming marketplaces, Hydrow’s candid take on “pivots,” and Gary Vaynerchuk’s advice to double down on high-view creative. Mariah also spotlights standout activations and partners from the show, plus brand goodies and tools she’s excited to try next.
Highlights:
AI as the headline act, with practical CX use cases across retail and DTC
Post-purchase retention matters because it grows revenue without extra CAC
Real-time means real-time: inventory and marketing decisions need second-level data
Live selling is rising; learn it before your competitors do
UGC > brand hype: let customers sell the story for you
Shoutouts include Wayfair, U.S. Polo Assn., Hydrow, Shopify, Attentive, Smile.io, Ampee, Insider, Tightly, Purple Dot, Dotdigital, and more, plus ShopTalk’s immersive on-site experiences that made networking actually fun.
EP. 170
MARIAH PARSONS
Episode Transcript
(0:00) Hello everyone and welcome back to Retention Chronicles. This is the ShopTalk fall recap (0:05) episode for 2025. I'm super excited about it and it is part of the reason that I love this industry (0:13) is the conferences are just so incredibly insightful and everyone there is so friendly.(0:18) So with that, let's dive into it. If you don't know ShopTalk, I highly suggest you check it out. (0:23) I've been to multiple of their conferences, both the spring conference that is traditionally in (0:28) Vegas, or at least I should say the times I've gone it's been in Vegas as well as ShopTalk fall (0:33) and that historically has been in Chicago for the past two years for 2024 and 2025 and their (0:39) ShopTalk fall in 2026 will be in Nashville.So without further ado, I wanted to give a recap (0:45) because I know I've been getting so many questions from people about how it was, what the rundown was, (0:52) who was there, all that fun stuff. So let's get into it because that's what this is all for, (0:56) right? It'll be to no one's surprise that AI was the forefront, the cornerstone, (1:03) the showcase of the show. It ruled the show.Everyone was talking about it and rightfully so (1:09) because we are just, it is a hot button topic. It is super relevant right now. Everyone's thinking (1:14) about it.And then the second biggest trend that I saw was just continued focus on customer (1:19) experience and ShopTalk focuses both on retail and DTC, but a little bit more leaning towards (1:25) retail if I had to say, which obviously I'm in the DTC space. So there's a lot of overlap, (1:31) but some differences, but customer experience, every single side table talk that I went to, (1:39) someone touched upon the customer experience, if not all. And obviously this is what I'm (1:44) most drawn to with this podcast, with my role as head of marketing at Milomo and customer experience (1:51) I know as a consumer and as a brand founder is super, super important.And I know you all (1:57) know that. So yeah, there was a lot of takes of how to make it better, how to focus on it, (2:01) what softwares people are doing to do that. Obviously specifically I focus on the post (2:06) purchase side of things with Milomo and using order tracking to really make sure that your (2:12) customers are not getting into the realm of buyer's remorse.And everyone I was talking to (2:17) at the show about Milomo was tuned in to how important that post-purchase retention is because (2:24) you're not paying for additional CAC. But I have more details that I want to go into with AI and (2:31) the customer experience. Now that I've gotten kind of those two big trends out of the way, (2:37) let's dive a little bit further, because these are my deeper takeaways.So I will give shout (2:43) out to the brands that were saying these things as I can remember them and as I took notes. But (2:49) obviously conferences sometimes are really hectic. So if I don't get the attribution correct, I hope (2:55) you'll forgive me.But I think I have all except for one. So first thing I wanted to point out was (3:00) Wayfair. And they were talking about how Halloween is a big season for them.And they had said that (3:08) 70% of sales during a promotional period are from non-promotional items. But what this does is it (3:16) gets customers excited and on site. And I thought that was really interesting.Obviously, that (3:21) statistic is too specific to them, but to know that 70% of sales during a promotional period are (3:30) not forced sale items was kind of mind boggling. And I just shopped actually tonight and used a (3:39) gift card that I had for a brand. And you know I was looking in the sales and clearance tabs just (3:46) to see what they had on there, fit what I am looking for, items to fill out my closet.And I (3:51) definitely see how obviously as a consumer, a sale gets you to go on site. If you get an email or a (3:58) text or something to check everything out, and then you go from there and make your buying decisions. (4:05) Second deeper takeaway I wanted to go into was the US polo team.Their rep was saying how (4:13) live streaming marketplaces are more and more relevant to them. And they are looking to Asia (4:19) because they are really setting the tone. In this industry, he talked about how marketplaces (4:24) are now shifting to where brands can decide the price and the fee of being on those marketplaces (4:30) rather than having a set fee from a marketplace.And I thought that was really interesting because (4:35) obviously I focus mostly on direct to consumer stores and branch out into retail a little bit. (4:42) But marketplaces is honestly something that I have been more and more curious about. And so (4:48) hearing someone talk about live selling and live streaming and learning how to do that, (4:55) because I tried to go on TikTok live once.And it was from my brand Havenova Swim. And it's hard. (5:01) It is hard when you feel like you're talking to a wall for live selling.This podcast, yes, (5:07) I also feel like I'm talking to a wall sometimes, but I'm not selling. And I think that's the (5:11) difference where this is value-based versus live selling is selling and conversions-based. So I (5:19) think that was a really good point of just knowing how to do live selling before all of your (5:25) competitors are doing that.So I highly suggest anyone to look into that because I know that's (5:29) now on my to-do list. Third thing was real-time analytics and the ways that AI opens the door (5:36) into this for us even more. And this is the one person who I can't remember exactly who it was.(5:43) So if it was you, please let me know. But they were talking about how you need to figure out (5:49) real-time data analytics and data that is one minute old is one minute old. That is not real-time (5:54) data.And they offer the example of thinking about it in terms of inventory. So say a thousand people (6:01) are shopping on your site. If you don't have the exact to the minute to the second correct (6:07) inventory, then you might get yourself into hot water.There might be someone who purchases you, (6:13) then you don't have stock for, so then you have to email them and then they are disappointed. (6:17) And it just, it has a lot of downstream effects or potential downstream effects. So he was really (6:23) articulating for the importance of real-time analytics across the spectrum, not just logistics (6:33) based analytics, but everything, even like marketing.And just, he was talking about (6:37) ad dollars and how you have to make sure that you are continuously getting real-time analytics. (6:44) Um, so that was, that was fascinating. And then hydro, they are a (6:53) rowing and sport equipment team.And he says something, it was so funny. And I wrote it down (6:59) because I was like, that actually is so true. They were talking about pivots in their session.(7:04) And he was like, a pivot is just a euphemism, euphemism, euphemism. I can't say that word (7:12) euphemism for death or near death. And I was like, that actually is so, so true where people (7:17) are just like, we're pivoting, but it's saying like something is changing and it needed to change (7:22) drastically.So I just liked that. He kind of called that out and shared that as a leader of (7:28) a brand that like, they have to kind of make a switch and figure it out. And they're still (7:32) in their learning process.But he said that companies can't really talk about their products (7:40) because people know that other people, people know that they're biased in that. And so he said (7:48) the real magic for them has been getting other people to talk about their products and say what (7:53) they like about them. And that's where UGC comes in.So I don't think that's necessarily shocking (7:59) to anyone in particular, but I think hearing that a company cannot necessarily talk about themselves (8:06) well and sell as best as another person can was super intriguing. And then my fifth kind of deep (8:16) dive top five takeaways was Gary Vaynerchuk speaking about how social media platforms (8:26) are aligned with us right now. And they've never been because they want your creativity and your (8:34) engagement to be phenomenal.And so he kind of broke down how in the past with media, say TV or (8:42) print, those distribution channels don't really care about engagement. They're just selling you (8:48) placement. And so he was saying how social media now they have a vested aligned interest in your (8:57) content being super engaging because then it keeps customers and viewers on their social media (9:04) platforms for longer.And I thought that was such an interesting view on it because it is the first (9:13) time that a distribution, a media distribution channel and a brand or really any company, but (9:19) companies can be aligned in terms of what their goal is. And so he was saying like capitalize on (9:26) this, amplify creative that works. Don't amplify creative that doesn't work.Like don't look at (9:32) engagement, look at views. And because you can skew comments and shares and all that stuff, but (9:39) he was like, well, look at views and the things that are getting the most views, amplify those, (9:44) put ad dollars behind those, because that is the true metric around social media distribution. (9:53) So I thought that was really, really interesting.Okay. Now I want to give out some conference (9:58) shout outs because I think that they're well awarded. So ShopTalk, the actual team themselves, (10:04) I think did a great job with ShopTalk fall.They had these activations. And to be fair, (10:10) I did not go to ShopTalk spring this past year. I couldn't, I had a wedding to attend.So (10:15) they might've done this in the spring of 2025. I just don't know. But in the fall of 2025, (10:21) they had these activations that were great because they gave you something else to do (10:25) outside of going and talking to people at the booths or attending these sessions.(10:30) And I feel like it really gave me something to bond with the other people on the floor (10:35) about and talk about. And it really fit their theme of alchemy well. And I love the intentionality.I (10:44) feel like this is where the customer experience, granted it's the attendee experience for a (10:49) conference, but you see those themes come alive where it's like, Oh, I'm going to think about (10:53) that now. And one of the things that they had, I literally have so much stuff next to me is they (10:58) did a little scent mixer station. I don't even know what you would call it.And I swear to God, (11:06) I feel like a chemist. Now this scent, I wish you could smell it. It smells so good.And the people (11:12) running it were so friendly. So they had this scent station. They had a color analysis person.(11:18) They had a barber hair and makeup station. They had a tarot card reading. There were so many (11:25) activations that I feel like really went above and beyond in terms of conference.They also had the (11:32) mystic Mart, which they've had in years past. And I literally put my goodies in a basket so that I (11:37) can bring them out for you all to share there. It was called the mystic Mart this year.And what (11:42) they do is showcase brands so that all the attendees can go and try out these different (11:49) brands. So I want to give them a shout out because those brands said yes to being in that (11:54) market. I've no idea what that entails.I don't know what that process looks like internally, (11:58) how they choose those brands or whatnot, but I want to give them a shout out. Cause like, (12:02) why not? I'm excited to try these products. So first thing is, and I know that this is reversed, (12:08) but Vena, I believe that's how you say it or Vena, V E N A, CBD skincare.It's a bath salt (12:14) soak. It's a CBD soaking salt. And I am so excited to try this on just a night that I need some (12:22) relaxation.They got some under eye repair masks from ENCO beauty. Their speaker at shop talk fall (12:33) was, I loved her. She was incredible.She was so entertaining and their business is run off of (12:39) dupes, which she was talking about. And I thought that was such an interesting business model. So (12:44) I might go into more detail about that later.Cause there was just a lot to go in there. (12:50) Next brand highlight we have is ritual and this is their sleep melatonin. I don't take melatonin (12:58) on the regular, but it is good to have it.I find, especially with traveling. If sometimes (13:04) I'm going to Japan in March. And so I know that it'll be coming with me just in case the flight (13:09) really messes me up.Their apple cider vinegar gummies. I've been seeing these on Tik TOK. So (13:16) when I saw them at shop talk fall, I was like, yeah, give me, give me a jar of those.So I'm (13:21) really excited. I already started taking them and they are delicious. They feel like candy.(13:26) They taste like candy. So that's exciting. And then one of the other things that I got from (13:33) we're not really strangers is this self love card deck, which incredible.If you know, (13:40) we're not really strangers. They are a question card deck company. Um, and I think it is awesome (13:48) that they came out with a self love deck.I'm all about mental health and self love and have (13:53) for years. It was actually my first podcast in that realm. Um, I'll have, you know, (13:58) and so now I'm journaling to one of these prompts a night and I I'm loving it.I'm three days in (14:04) and loving it. And then the other shout out is Fenty skin. This is their toner and, or I guess (14:10) it's called fat water.And I am so excited. This is the first Fenty skin product that I have. (14:17) I have their highlighter and their contour for their makeup selection.And I love it. So I'm (14:23) excited for this. I don't use toner and I know that that's maybe a hot take.Um, so I'm excited (14:29) to feel more mature in my routines. So that is all the shout outs that I had for the brands who (14:35) were part of the mystic Mart in shop talk. And I'm so excited to try all their products.I think (14:40) it's going to be so fun. I also just wanted to give out a shout out to all of the June. They (14:44) weren't part of the mystic Mart, but you can literally see how well used this is by me.(14:49) I have it on my nails currently and look how, look how shiny they are. It's their nail (14:54) strengthener because their team, their founder was also at a shop talk fall and I loved her (15:01) conversation. Um, so yeah.Okay. Next part of this episode that I wanted to kind of shout out (15:08) were the partners, the people who had booths and the people that I met at the conference, (15:12) um, who were working it were phenomenal. So can't also say this without also acknowledging (15:19) the goodies that they shared with everyone, the goodies that they shared at the conference.(15:24) But first is going to be Shopify. I host my site through Shopify. I have had all these brands on (15:30) this podcast.They're all hosted by Shopify. There's a reason that they are loved in the space. (15:36) So I feel like I don't have to say much there other than they gave me my first ever (15:42) glossier product and I am so exciting.I'm so excited. It is their after bomb. So it's their (15:51) moisturizer and I'm so excited.Like just look at this. If I can get it open, this is actually (15:58) so embarrassing. Okay.Look how pretty, look how pretty I'm so excited. Glossier obviously have (16:04) phenomenal things about their products and this, I can't believe that this is my actual first one. (16:11) Um, I've literally been in their stores before and taken a tour of their retail shop as part of (16:16) shop talk 2024 last year.Um, but I just didn't have time to purchase any products as part of the (16:22) tour and I haven't been back. So I'm really excited. Okay.Next partner shout out is attentive. (16:29) Next partner shout out is attentive. They are email and SMS platform and they're doing a lot (16:37) of cool stuff with AI.So I'm excited to look into that a little bit more. And they gave me a (16:43) salt and stone deodorant. I feel like this is all the rave right now.And their team was, I mean, (16:49) they're, they're one of the leaders in the DTC space for a reason as well. Um, they were talking (16:56) about how their AI can be predictive and really enhance push notifications, SMS, and email. Um, (17:05) I work with them as part of my full-time job with Malomo.And I was very excited to see them there, (17:14) um, representing as they always do in their classic yellow attentive color. So that was great. (17:19) Another part partner shout out is smile.io smile.io. And they are a loyalty enterprise platform, (17:30) but they did share that if you have less than 200 monthly orders, then they do have a free platform.(17:37) So I'm definitely going to check out more about that. I haven't done it yet, but wanted to give (17:42) out a shout out to the brands they were representing. So touch land is hand sanitizer.(17:48) Look at that cute, um, packaging also, I've always loved their packaging and they had, um, (17:56) like a mango scent. It smells so good. And then they were also repping Belissie.If you can see (18:04) that right there, and I wish you all could feel how soft this eye mask was. I told them that I (18:10) would put it on during my podcast, but I'm now recognizing that this is going to be difficult (18:16) to do one-handed. So we're getting silly and goofy with this.Okay. (18:20) Just Belissie. If you see this, know that I'm going to be repping this, this weekend (18:25) on my flight to Charlotte.And I love the yellow color. I'm obsessed. So I also think it was fun (18:32) that they had the tag kind of loose.So it, you can see it's like moving so that you can kind (18:37) of put it wherever you want so that it's out of your, you know, out of your way. Okay. Next partner (18:42) shout out is Amp.And I feel so, let me just say, I feel so grateful that I, I live in such a fun (18:51) ecosphere for work because I get to come home and share all these goodies with my girls and (18:56) share the love and share the wealth and do it on this podcast. So I really, really appreciate the (19:02) seat that I sit in and I'm super grateful for it. So yeah.Next partner shout out is Amp. (19:08) They're so smart. They put a little sticker on their Lego set and look how cute cherry blossoms.(19:13) They set me up and they were so, so, so kind. They also had seeds and Piper was walking me through (19:22) all the different ways and things that I could grow in my Chicago apartment, like outdoors, (19:28) indoors, even in New Jersey. She was like, take these home to Jersey.I was like, that's incredible. (19:32) Thank you. So that'll be a weekend project for me for sure.But what they do is Amp is a (19:40) agentic infrastructure for customer experience. So their AI improves customer interactions by (19:48) learning what each customer prefers and then intelligently delivering context and content (19:54) that they want to see. So I'll be honest, I still have so much to learn about like all the deep (19:59) ends of that.And it seemed like they were so smart and so technical on their team. I was like, (20:04) oh my God, this is some of it's going over my head, but I will learn. I will do my best.(20:08) Next shout out is Insider. They gave out some rockstar custom Nikes, and that is a sick promo. (20:17) They're a CDP for which connects customer data with behavior and mixes it with AI so that it (20:27) individualizes experiences.And their team was really cool. They have a beautiful booth with (20:33) just like your oasis, like I will, that's implanted in my mind now. So I spoke with a couple of people (20:38) on their team and they were, they were awesome.And then next shout out is Tightly. They gave me (20:45) a tote bag and they had an iPad giveaway, which I did not win, but whoever did congrats, that's sick. (20:51) But their team at Tightly was so friendly and knowledgeable.They are an inventory planning (21:03) tool. And so if you are, you know, if you are in the DTC or even just if you are in the business (21:10) of having a physical product, you know, the mess that inventory and predicting inventory and (21:18) planning it and everything can be. So they work to have a real time stock and ETAs that customers (21:26) can trust and that brands can trust.So their team was super friendly. It seems like they are (21:33) definitely doing a lot to build out an awesome platform for kind of the logistical ends of (21:39) brands. Few more shout outs.Let's rip through them. Letter Lab, they had four adorable French (21:46) bulldog puppies. And when I say I sat down in that little playpen, not once, but twice, (21:53) both mornings, I was overjoyed.So they very much deserve a shout out because great idea, (21:59) marketing, puppies. It can't go wrong. It's, it's incredible.And they do direct mail. So they were (22:07) telling me how they, in the beginning of stages of their company, they trained a robot to hand (22:15) write the founder's message with a ballpoint pen. So it was handwritten and it was the founder's (22:21) message, but it was scalable.And I thought that was really interesting. So yeah, really cool to (22:26) see. And then last two shout outs, Purple Dot, they had a fun spin action, spin the wheel.(22:34) Their pre-orders made easy and I feel like that there's not too many people in the pre-order space. (22:41) Maybe I'm wrong, but I haven't seen a ton. So shout out to Purple Dot and then Dot Digital.(22:47) They are a customer experience and data platform. So a CXDP and they improve the customer experience (22:53) by basically managing data effectively. So their team always crushes it at conferences and they (23:01) had a craft station.So they had patches that you could put on a scarf for your dog or a (23:12) fanny pack or a hat. And then they also had charms for a phone charm and look at how cute this is. (23:20) I literally sat there for probably 30 minutes just chatting with their team.And I think that (23:25) is such a cool way to just do something innovative, be like, come relax, kind of like dissociate from (23:31) conference for a bit. If you like crafts, then that's like definitely something I would want to (23:36) do because I love crafts and just like learn about their platform. Like they were super cool.(23:42) And this is the second time I've seen them do this. And I love it because it is just super, (23:47) super casual and it really provides value. You walk away with such a cute little charm.Like (23:52) I'm obsessed with this. I'm showing you again because that's how in love with it I am. So yeah, (23:58) that was awesome.Okay. I know that was a lot of shout outs. I know that was a lot to get through (24:04) in terms of takeaways and shop talk and conference and all that stuff.But I am truly just (24:10) so impressed by shop talk. So yeah, if you're curious, I highly suggest you look into some of (24:17) their content, look into their conferences. I know that there's other things I'm forgetting, (24:21) so I'll probably sprinkle those in in upcoming episodes.But I just wanted to give out a shout (24:27) out to Dory. She's a friend that I met at the conference and she was so incredible. (24:33) So girl, if you're listening to this, I had so much fun with you.It is always incredible when (24:38) I get to meet people from these conferences. And I met so many incredible people, but we spent (24:44) a good full day together. And I think that is incredible and it helps that we're in the same (24:50) city.So shout out personally to Dory. You're incredible. And I am so excited to continue (24:56) getting to know you.And that is what shop talk does. It makes connections. So yeah, (25:01) with that, I will sign off and stay tuned for our next episode.Thanks, everyone.
