BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, January 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — According to RCP’s 26th Annual Customer Engagement, Unified Commerce & POS Survey, 54% of retailers have ranked growing and enhancing digital commerce as their top business priority for 2026. 53% of retailers second highest priority is expanding and enhancing the customer experience and capabilities. As retailers look to compete, customer experience is paramount, whether in-store or digital. The strategies to address physical versus digital experience are different, but regardless customers expect a seamless brand experience and often retailers struggle to deliver on online experience and capabilities. In-store, POS, which for many is a mobile-first strategy, is clearly in focus as 63% of retailers indicate they will be looking at a POS upgrade or replacement in 2026.
Enterprise order management systems (OMS) are the bedrock and central hub to many retailers unified commerce strategies, with 51% of retailers having upgraded or replaced their OMS in the last two years. Only around a third of retailers though are utilizing a centralized OMS for order fulfillment rules and execution across channels. RCP Managing Partner Brian Brunk comments “there is a pivotal opportunity for retailers to centralize their OMS as they replace or upgrade their digital commerce and in-store POS technology. We’ve seen many retailers struggle to deliver on the full promise of unified commerce because of these OMS silos.”
Retailers’ customer engagement priorities remain primarily focused on personalization, with 52% of retailer’s indicating that this is their top customer engagement priority. Increasingly, retailers are levering AI to enhance customer engagement, with 35% of retailers indicating this is a priority, which has doubled from last year. RCP Managing Partner Ryan Grogman adds, “personalization remains the holy grail of customer engagement but less than third of retailers feel that their personalization strategy is currently delivering expected results. The evolution of AI will likely change this, but AI success is only as good as the quality and real-time availability of the underlying customer and merchandising data.”
As our survey indicates there is some pent-up demand for new and improved POS solutions, and potentially a strong POS refresh cycle kicking off in 2026. While retailers are prioritizing growing and enhancing digital commerce, the store is still where most customers shop, and retailers are still heavily focused on the in-store experience. With new POS, seamless OMS integration and omni-channel capabilities are top of mind. There is also a lot of focus on mobile, not just for POS, but also mobile self-checkout, with 51% of retailers indicating that is their top mobile priority. “Empowering customers to shop and pay where and how they want in the store, bridges a lot of the current divide between the customer experience online and in the store,” comments RCP Managing Partner Perry Kramer.
AI is at the top of today’s retail headlines, as it has quickly delivered results with online search, generating product content, and conversational commerce. While adoption is rapidly increasing, there remains a lot of opportunity, with around half of retailers indicating their current AI implementations need improvement. Beyond AI opportunities, such as personalization and virtual shopping, the biggest buzz in AI, is the potential of agentic commerce. RCP Managing Partner John Eagles remarks, “as agentic commerce quickly evolves it could completely reshape digital commerce and how retailers think about their online strategies and technology choices.”
To download RCP’s complete 26th Annual Customer Engagement, Unified Commerce & POS Report, visit: RetailConsultingPartners.com/2026-survey-download-form.
About Retail Consulting Partners (RCP)
RCP is an innovative retail management consulting firm dedicated to providing superior service and enduring value to its clients. RCP offers the comprehensive capabilities and deep industry knowledge necessary to help organizations solve the complex issues facing the retail industry today. Through its proven methodologies and extensive ecosystem of solution providers, the firm effectively and efficiently identifies, selects, and implements the right retail technology solutions.
RCP’s consulting services include:
Strategy | Business Process Optimization | Point of Sale (POS) | Mobile Technology | Payment Security | E-Commerce | Store Operations | CRM | Unified Commerce | Order Management | ERP | Merchandise Management | Supply Chain | Vendor/Marketplace Assessment | Due Diligence
For more information on RCP, visit RetailConsultingPartners.com.
Brian Brunk
Retail Consulting Partners (RCP)
+1 405-590-0542
bbrunk@retailconsultingpartners.com
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