Balanced Builds: The Foundation of Brick-and-Mortar Resilience

Despite the rapid growth of e-commerce and online-first models, just 11% of retail sales in Latin America came through digital channels. The continued popularity of in-store purchasing is no doubt tied to the immediacy of the experience — the instant gratification that comes with the ability to touch, explore and assess products’ quality in person and in real time, and to walk away with the item in hand at the moment of the exchange. 

The desire to “see for yourself” before handing over hard-earned money is foundational and it’s likely to grow amid today’s uncertain economic climate. With consumers facing higher prices, less certainty, and growing distrust in the global supply chain, it’s likely they will flock to the peace of mind that comes with local brick-and-mortar stores. 

However, brick-and-mortar businesses would be unwise to mistake this moment as an “easy win” in the battle to maintain an edge over online-first sellers. 

Same Coin, Two Sides

The factors that fuel in-store shopping’s popularity can also put traditional sellers on the back foot if not addressed. Supply chain and economic concerns have the potential to diminish shopper experiences. Behind-the-scenes factors can surface on the front-end, like out-of-stocks, increased theft activity and long lines at checkouts and service desks. These are challenges that must be avoided or addressed, as experiential advantages remain the crux of in-store retail’s sustained dominance.

To continue to outperform digital-first competitors, physical retailers will need to navigate these sometimes-competing external pressures. This can be challenging in an industry where everything is connected and seemingly small changes to improve one area can have unforeseen impact on another part of operations. For example, pushes to remove traditional EAS hard tags from sales floors to expedite checkouts and reduce labor demand have all but vanished after early experiments revealed a slew of unexpected downstream impacts.

Retailers who traded out traditional EAS hard tags for RFID-only options saw shrink grow between 40% and 70%, some within just a few weeks. Store associates reported feeling less safe at work, potentially exacerbating labor challenges. Meanwhile, shopper perceptions are mixed. A 2019 study showed that visual deterrents make shoppers feel safer in stores, but the 2025 report above indicates consumer frustrations with physical deterrents may now outweigh their safety benefits. 

This is a powerful example of how seemingly simple steps toward improved experiences may actually be bottlenecks in disguise, throwing a wrench in productivity. It also serves as a critical reminder that the best solutions are usually somewhere between extremes. After all, siloed or ultra-targeted efforts to control things like shrink, ORC and the rest can negatively impact shoppers and drive the very behaviors they seek to mitigate. 

Incremental Results, Lasting Impact

As retailers seek to grow trust and deliver exceptional experiences amid external pressures, keeping this fact in mind will be critical. Finding this balance in the coming months and years will be a key differentiator among brick-and-mortar retailers. To do it, retailers will need to dig into their tech stacks and develop a keen understanding of what each technology does (and what it doesn’t). What they’ll most often find is that emerging tools are complements to the technologies that are already working for them.

Consider the hard tags example above. Retailers testing hard tag-free loss prevention strategies went all-in on RFID-driven predictive insights to get ahead of theft. RFID enables item-level visibility, reduces human error and provides analytics that help retailers identify the root causes of shrink and inventory disruptions. But the removal of another piece of the puzzle had trickle-down impacts that they weren’t immediately prepared to address. 

This lesson isn’t unique to this instance, though. It’s universal, representing a critical shift in thinking that can help retailers preserve and enhance customer experiences amid both emerging trends and age-old challenges. The future of retail technology isn’t built on a strict adherence to the way things are, but it’s not built on wholesale change, either. It’s built on the middle ground.

With retail enterprises now tangibly connected via end-to-end digital systems, retailers are finally in a position to find that middle ground. Data-driven analytics systems make it possible for retailers to view their operations holistically, connecting the dots between obstacles and impacts on consumers, employees and bottom lines. It’s within those insights and understanding that retailers find an informed path forward and the technologies that will get them there.