Retail Tech for the Holiday Season 2025: How AI Is Powering a Smarter BFCM
It’s that time of year again, when retailers and e-commerce brands are gearing up for the holiday frenzy, and the margins for differentiation are thinner than ever!
In a season saturated with discounts, deals and urgency, any brand that hopes to break through needs more than just price cuts, they need smarter, more connected, more personalized infrastructure.
This year, the major shift isn’t only about volume, but is fueled by the onslaught of AI. The brands that win will be those that use AI today to personalize, optimize, and scale operations for the holiday sprint.
As each brand and retailer is distinct owing to its product offering, operations, audience demographic, and more, if you need help finding the best technologies for your brand, we are happy to help guide you. Let’s chat!
Why Retail Tech for the Holiday Season 2025 Feels Different
AI-powered retail is going mainstream. U.S. holiday e-commerce sales are forecasted to grow another 8% YoY, surpassing $260 billion, driven by AI-powered personalization, fulfillment automation, and predictive analytics. Adobe projects that AI-driven recommendations will influence over $30 billion in global BFCM sales this year, which is double 2024’s figure. Plus, 55% of retailers using agentic AI saw improved gross margins compared to just 22% among non-users, as per Salesforce and ServiceNow.
The three main pillars of success driven by AI-Driven retail tech for the holiday season 2025 seem to be: personalization and discovery, operational and fulfillment optimization, and finally, visibility, trust and creative differentiation.
1. Personalization & Discovery: The AI Advantage
Every shopper wants the store to know them, what they love, when they want it, and how they like to shop. This year, personalization isn’t optional, but it’s the conversion driver, which we have discussed before.
And how can AI help? Predictive analytics can identify shoppers most likely to convert, personalize offers dynamically, and even tailor site layout and content based on purchase probability. Retailers deploying personalization AI see conversion uplifts up to 4x higher than static websites.
Startups we recommend to watch in this space include:
SayWhatt: An AI agent that sits on top of your e-commerce shop and serves as a personal shopper, able to make human-like conversations and recommend products based on personal preferences
TNGshopper: TNGShopper (The Next Generation Shopper) promotes local and in-store products through AI-driven visibility tools, bridging the online-offline discovery experience.
KanduAI: AI-powered shopping assistant that turns browsing into buying through real-time conversational discovery.
Limy: AI search optimization for brands to appear as top results in AI-driven search engines and assistants.
MIRAKL: A marketplace platform that among other capabilities enables retailers to use AI to match supply and demand dynamically, managing third-party sellers efficiently during peak holiday traffic.
BrandLight: Measures how brands surface in AI-generated answers and helps optimize content for AI visibility.
Kahoona: Privacy-safe AI that delivers hyper-personalization without cookies, which is crucial for performance marketing in Q4.
Anagog: AI platform that combines physical and digital behavioral data to deliver timely, personalized offers.
2. Operations, Fulfillment & Efficiency: The Backend Brain
As BFCM traffic spikes, precision in logistics and pricing separates the winners from the out-of-stocks. AI can truly help here with predictive analytics which forecast demand and optimize restocking. Further, agentic AI systems automate procurement, and data intelligence platforms like ensure promotions and pricing execute flawlessly across digital shelves.
Startups we recommend to watch in this space include:
Triple Whale: Provides AI-driven, agent-powered analytics for marketing and revenue intelligence, enabling retailers to act on real-time insights.
Belle AI: AI-driven platform that automates digital catalog creation and content optimization, accelerating time-to-market for holiday campaigns.
Onebeat: Synchronizes inventory and demand data with AI, helping retailers predict sales velocity and restock efficiently.
ServiceNow: Automates workflows across fulfillment, service, and store operations to handle BFCM spikes efficiently.
QuickLizard: Dynamic pricing platform that leverages AI to adjust prices in real-time based on demand, competition, and inventory.
Adapt: Monitors pricing, promotion, and inventory execution across millions of SKUs to prevent revenue leakage.
Emerix: AI-powered procurement automation that handles POs, delivery optimization, and supplier coordination.
Bazaar.ai: Automates B2B procurement decisions by analyzing market dynamics and inventory availability in real time.
Propin: AI-driven location intelligence helping retailers select optimal store sites and improve operational efficiency.
Gain: Deploys procurement AI agents as virtual employees for smarter, autonomous category management.
Sierra: A conversational AI platform that manages end-to-end customer queries, streamlining post-purchase support during high-volume periods.
SparkBeyond: AI decision-intelligence platform helping retailers optimize pricing, promotions, and supply chains.
3. Visibility, Trust & Creative Differentiation
Winning BFCM in 2025 also means being visible, not just on Google or Amazon, but inside the recommendation engines and AI assistants consumers now trust. AI can truly help by generating creative assets instantly to track brand sentiment across generative AI tools, these startups ensure brands stay discoverable, trusted, and on-message. Retailers embracing creative analytics and AI-driven visibility optimization report up to 25% higher ROAS in their holiday campaigns.
Startups we recommend to watch in this space include:
Alison.ai: AI creative performance analytics that decode which visuals, words, and colors drive conversion.
Bria: GenAI platform that generates on-brand visual content at scale for campaigns and product pages.
Loops: AI growth co-pilot that turns scattered data into actionable, prioritized marketing insights.
Nimble: Streamlines data collection for pricing intelligence and competitive benchmarking.
Anonybit: Enables secure biometric authentication for loyalty and checkout, preserving trust while improving UX.
Dragonfruit: Uses AI-powered video analytics to optimize in-store operations, layout, and traffic management, ensuring better CX during peak seasons.
Fashable: A generative AI platform that creates fashion and lifestyle visuals at scale, enabling retailers to produce campaign-ready, photorealistic content without traditional shoots.
Pele AI: An AI-native e-commerce experience platform that enables virtual try-ons, precise size recommendations and auto-styled looks, turning static product imagery into personalized, shoppable experiences.
Rocketium: AI-powered creative automation suite that streamlines content production for ads, product videos, and personalized assets, empowering retailers to scale creative output efficiently during high-volume campaigns
Tips for Brands and Retailers for AI-Powered Retail Tech for the Holiday Season 2025
Evaluate your AI readiness: Map where AI can enhance impact across the customer journey, from acquisition to fulfillment.
Prioritize quick wins: Identify high-impact areas where automation or personalization can deliver measurable holiday results within weeks.
Ensure data integrity: Clean, connect, and structure data across systems so algorithms perform accurately during high-traffic peaks.
Align cross-functional teams: Bring marketing, operations, logistics, and service under a unified AI-informed strategy for real-time agility.
Optimize for AI visibility: Make sure your brand content, product data, and digital assets are discoverable across generative AI and voice platforms.
Strengthen trust and transparency: Clearly communicate how AI is used in recommendations, pricing, and personalization to maintain consumer confidence.
Measure and iterate: Define success metrics, monitor results continuously, and refine models based on real-time performance insights.
Final Thoughts
Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025 will test not just pricing strategy, but AI readiness. The smartest retailers will view AI not as a tool, but as a full-stack operating system, from driving personalized experiences, operational precision, and creative visibility. The good news is that it’s not too late. Adopting even one or two AI solutions now can yield a measurable lift this holiday season. The difference between participating in BFCM and winning it often comes down to how intelligently you act today.
If you need guidance on which retail tech and innovations will be the best fit for your brand, we are happy to help. Let’s chat!
Yael is the CEO at Re:Tech, Israel's biggest community of retail related tech companies and industry leaders. She is also the CMO of buywith, the leading Livestream shopping platform, and an advisor to ReturnGo and Belle AI.
