V is for verticals in 2026: retail

The A-Z of 2026 technology predictions continues with:

V is for verticals: retail

AI

Source: Mondelez.
Desai.

"More commercial and route-to-market teams are set to increasingly adopt AI, shifting its role from a mere reporting tool to a predictive engine that enables real time insights into customers, consumers and overall market dynamics," said Jeal Desai, Director of Mondelez Digital Services, SEA Mondelez International.

"Companies are already leveraging machine-learning models, trained on years of granular store-level data, to streamline operations, optimise routes, and recommend product assortments for micro-markets. The bigger leap will be AI that anticipates demand at the specific street and individual store level, allowing for unparalleled precision in planning and execution."

Mobility

The mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) is evolving. According to Ben Wong, GM, Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, Adyen, the POS is "moving into a new phase where mobility is a foundational capability across retail, hospitality, and service-driven sectors".

"As payment journeys become more mobile - happening in-aisle, at tables, or at pop-up events - businesses are reassessing what reliability means when payments occur anywhere and everywhere," he said.

"In Southeast Asia, densely populated urban centres and mobile-first consumers are driving the shift towards flexible yet resilient payment touchpoints. Payments infrastructure must adapt to where these transactions happen."

There is a major standards switchover slated for 2026, Wong added. "Mobility as a core operational asset is not enough - security is also a central tenet. The current PCI PTS 5 standard - a global framework for security concerning payment terminals - will expire in April 2026, prompting the industry to move towards an upgraded PCI PTS 6-certified device," Wong explained.

"As organisations rethink their commerce strategies, the question is now about ensuring interoperability, reliability, and consistent security standards across a diverse mix of devices and environments. The evolution of mPOS is ultimately pointing toward a future in which payments infrastructure must adapt to where interactions happen—not the other way around."

Widjaja (left) and Yong (right).

Marketing

"(In) this era, brands are not defined by what they sell, but how they make people feel," said Charina Widjaja, CEO of DFW Creative and Co-founder of Extensive Interactive, during a conference at Singapore Tech Week in October 2025. 

Widjaja touched on winning strategies for retailers in a session titled The Rise of Immersive Commerce: Spatial Tech, AR, and the Future of Retail Engagement.  "I can see clearly that the retail scene is at a crossroads, I'm seeing a lot of challenges, especially rising costs and changing consumer sentiment. Retailers grappling with what to do next," she said. 

"The reality is that retailers are losing a lot of consumers to online sales and also other brands globally," she explained, adding that consumer spend has gone down significantly at the same time.

According to Widjaja, we are currently in the era of emotion, experience and environment. "Audiences crave connection, not just communication," she said. 

Widjaja said marketing is now phygital, blending digital and physical touchpoints in real time. 

"From the first time (a customer) visits, (the store) should already know if you’re an old customer," she said. "(The store) needs to know what they want, to feed them custom ads based on historical behaviour."

Widjaja suggested deploying immersive technology to enable phygital experiences that 'stick'. "A brand is remembered by how it makes people feel," she said.  

"The real results come from storytelling, strategies, and technology."

Jaclyn Yong, Director of Industry Relations - Singapore Retail Association, said large brands are already offering immersive experiences at their stores. "Smaller retailers are open but cautious in their implementation," she said. 

"The key to demystify technology is to show them.. that there is a return on benefits, (that technology is) drawing customers, increasing footfall, increasingly dwell time...If they see small wins, they will be ready to embark on the next stage."

"The opportunity is not about going high-tech overnight," Yong added.

"It’s about helping retailers to rethink (their) business, what customers want, what journey you want on your website, and focus on baby steps... You do not need to be the most innovative, because the market is not ready. The  best technology could be whatever has been done a long time ago." 

Some of the most impactful implementations use augmented or virtual reality, which are relatively old, she said. 

"To be honest, to have the latest and greatest, you need to be early adopters, which SMEs cannot afford," Yong added. 

Security: search

Chatbots are likely to become a common product discovery tool across online marketplaces, uncovering probably-sensitive data such as preferences, constraints, and contextual information. "This shift expands the privacy attack surface, as platforms accumulate richer user profiles through chat interactions. As a result, chatbot logs may become as sensitive as transactional data, increasing the risks of over-collection, misuse, or exposure of personal information," noted Kaspersky in a list of 2026 predictions.

AI-powered shopping assistants will show up increasingly outside retail platforms, embedding themselves into browsers, mobile apps, and third-party services, Kaspersky added. "While designed to simplify navigation and price discovery, these tools shift data collection beyond the retailer’s perimeter, creating new and less visible privacy risks. To function effectively, external AI shopping agents require continuous access to user behaviour, including browsing activity, search intent, location context and product interactions across multiple sites. This enables the aggregation of detailed behavioural profiles outside the direct control of both users and retail platforms, increasing the risks of over-collection, opaque data usage, and unintended exposure," the company said. 

"Search itself is changing, including how people look for products online. In 2025, there was a gradual shift from simple keyword queries to more conversational and visual ways of finding what to buy. As these models rely on broader user input, careful handling of the data involved will remain an important consideration for maintaining user trust,” observed Anna Larkina, Web data and privacy analysis expert at Kaspersky.

Security: regulations

Changes in taxes and trade rules might also be exploited for online fraud, Kaspersky added. "Modifications in taxes, import duties, and cross-border trade rules are likely to be used as lures in phishing campaigns and fraudulent online stores, promoting unrealistically cheap offers or claims of avoided fees. As pricing and fee rules continue to evolve across markets, it may lower vigilance, increasing the effectiveness of such schemes, particularly against small and mid-sized retailers," Kaspersky warned. 

Security: images 

Source: Infoblox. AI images are now in use in spam campaigns. In this image, there is malformed 'Amazon' text.

 

“Infoblox Threat Intel has uncovered an increasing use of AI images in spam campaigns, with one example utilising a legitimate marketing firm and impersonating Amazon. If you look closely, you’ll see the malformed ‘Amazon’ text. But for those who don’t stop and pause, it may be too late," said Scott Harrell, President & CEO, Infoblox.  

"Lookalike scams are also on the rise. Infoblox Threat Intel has observed an array of spam campaigns which direct shoppers to malicious domains, posing as luxury brands and retailers to do so."

Another image-based vulnerability is through image-based product searches, Kaspersky said. "Previously, the main privacy concern around user images in e-commerce was limited to photos voluntarily shared in product reviews. However, image-based product search is expected to make photo uploads a routine part of the shopping experience across major retail platforms. 

"While this feature improves product discovery, it also increases the risk of unintended exposure of personal data. User-submitted images may contain faces, home environments, or sensitive details, such as names, phone numbers, or addresses visible on shipping labels or packaging, making secure processing, data minimisation, and limited retention critical requirements for retailers," the cybersecurity provider said. 

SME refers to small and medium sized enterprises. 

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