2025 holiday expectations: How experiential retail is shaping CX strategy, from collabs to collectibles

As the 2025 holiday season approaches, retailers are doubling down on experiential customer experience (CX) strategies to stand out in a crowded marketplace. From immersive brand collaborations to limited-edition collectibles, the retail landscape is evolving into a playground of engagement, emotion and exclusivity.

Why experiential retail matters more than ever

Price, convenience and speed are no longer sufficient for retailers. Gen Z and millennials now seek interactive and memorable experiences beyond simple transactions. Retailers who solve pain points like product availability, checkout and personalization through immersive experiences are more likely to build customer loyalty and increase sales. As retail evolves into a space focused on engagement and entertainment, these experiential CX trends are especially crucial.

5 customer experience trends driving the new era of emotional, immersive retail

Trend 1: Brand Collabs Are Creating Memorable Moments That Spark Emotion

Retailers center campaigns on collaborations with pop culture icons, influencers and niche brands, offering limited-time experiences that spark excitement and urgency. For instance, Mint Mobile promoted their home internet by interviewing someone with a name similar to the controversial AI actress “Tilly Norwood.” These collaborations let consumers feel included in exclusive cultural moments created by brands.

Brand collaborations are evolving beyond traditional celebrity endorsements to create immersive experiences that foster closer connections between consumers and influential personalities. Today, celebrities and influencers alike, such as pop icons inspiring McDonald’s meals or social media stars like Hyram Yarbro shaping skincare routines, drive emotional resonance and authenticity. The definition of "celebrity" now includes self-made internet personalities with significant cultural impact. Notable collaborations, like Beyoncé’s Ivy Park partnership with Adidas, allow fans to engage directly with admired figures and their values through exclusive product releases and experiences.

Some ways to drive engagement and make consumers feel part of the moment via brand collaboration:

• Host exclusive, limited-time events and offer collectible merchandise—such as Hello Kitty and Starbucks collaborations—to create buzz and drive engagement.

• Expand brand reach and spark excitement by partnering with celebrities, influencers or brands using cross-promotion via social media, TV and brand websites.

• Personalize experiences by tapping into pop culture trends and leveraging shared data for tailored engagement.

These collaborations drive brand success via the expansion of your target audience, product innovation and enhancement from multiple points of view, increased visibility from cross-promotion and increased supply chain efficiency. 

Trend 2: Brand Collectibles Are Becoming Emotional Currency

Retailers are leveraging the psychology of collecting by offering limited-edition items that reflect pop culture or seasonal themes, using exclusive merchandise, themed packaging, and gamified loyalty programs to foster emotional engagement. For instance, McDonald's teamed up with Cardi B and Offset in 2023 for a special meal featuring custom packaging and collectible merchandise, which fans eagerly sought out.

With these offerings, retailers foster a deeper sense of belonging and anticipation among shoppers. This emotional connection encourages repeat visits and ongoing engagement, especially when collectibles are tailored to both adults, who seek cultural relevance and personal expression, and children, whose preferences can drive family spending decisions (think kids’ meal toys driving repeat QSR visits).

Emotional connection in retail stems from shared or aspirational values, making consumers feel understood or inspiring who they want to become. Collectibles unite shoppers around trends for belonging or offer exclusivity for aspiration and nostalgia. By designing collectibles with these motivations in mind, retailers foster deeper engagement and customer loyalty.

Why Do Collectible-Driven Experiences Boost Shopper Loyalty?

Retailers can stand out by building customer experience strategies around collectibles, like in-store displays, interactive events or digital features for showcasing or trading items. Combining creativity, personalized experiences and exclusivity boosts brand memorability and loyalty. For example, LEGO’s in-store build events let customers create and keep exclusive models, driving engagement, community and repeat visits.

Trend 3: Phygital Store Experiences Are Driving Shopper Loyalty

The fusion of the physical and digital shopping experience, known as phygital retail, is redefining in-store shopping. From grabbing items in an all-digital, human-less check-out model like Amazon One stores to retailer apps that interact with inventory updates and item locations in stores, consumers and retailers are operating in tandem online and in-store to enhance the shopping experience.

Customer experience strategies for retailers to differentiate themselves in the phygital retail space:

• Deliver personalized recommendations and real-time updates by integrating apps and digital platforms within the in-store experience.

• Create seamless shopping journeys by connecting physical and digital touchpoints, offering features like instant promotions, easy home delivery and interactive technologies.

• Use behavioral insights from digital interactions to enhance personalization and tailor promotions for shoppers.

While phygital retail is transforming the shopping journey, true differentiation comes from creating a cohesive and connected customer experience across all channels. Leading retailers and clients emphasize that it’s not enough to simply offer multiple touchpoints; these elements must work together seamlessly to deliver convenience, personalization and delight.

Integrating apps, in-store technology and digital platforms, using behavioral data, creates unified brand experiences that drive results.

Surveys show most consumers want seamless online and offline shopping; personalized in-store experiences boost customer loyalty and repeat visits; and blending physical and digital touchpoints increases engagement and sales. Customers who feel emotionally connected to brands spend more and become advocates, demonstrating that technology integration deepens connections and loyalty.

Trend 4: Gamification & Interactive Activations Are Enhancing Retail Engagement

Retailers are gravitating toward gamified CX, from scavenger hunts to interactive kiosks, to make shopping fun and sticky. These interactive activations not only entertain but also collect valuable behavioral data that can be used to drive future visitation and engagement. This Infovision blog emphasizes how immersive formats like try-ons and events are now table stakes for brick-and-mortar success.

Brands like Netflix, with their new Netflix House experiences, are exploring CX strategies that go beyond consuming the content at home and allow the customer to immerse themselves in the thematic experiences of their shows—such as playing Squid Games with your friends, soon to be launched at Netflix House Dallas. This type of interaction allows consumers to connect with the brand and the product in a more tangible way.

Key customer engagement strategies to differentiate with interactive immersion and gamification:

• Create engaging gamified experiences for customers like scavenger hunts and interactive kiosks to boost shopper fun and loyalty, like the Nike House of Innovation.

• Use behavioral research data from these activations to personalize marketing and improve store offerings, like Sephora is doing to tailor product recommendations.

• Integrate digital and physical touchpoints for seamless shopping, including mobile apps and social media connections.

• Reward participation with exclusive deals or loyalty points, such as Southwest airlines does with their Rapid Rewards and their app.

Trend 5: AI-Powered Personalized Customer Experiences Are Reshaping Retail

Generative AI is making a major global economy impact, and retail is a key beneficiary of this evolution. GenAI is transforming immersive, experiential CX by enabling hyper-personalized customer experience strategies. From tailored product recommendations based on captured behavioral research data like social media engagement, shopping data or even unstructured behavioral trends, AI helps retailers anticipate consumer needs.

Retailers can also foster and deliver delight through AI-powered chatbot customer service and real-time customer sentiment analysis.

How Retailers Can Win During the 2025 Holidays with Data-Driven, Personalized and Immersive CX Strategies

Retailers leveraging behavioral data, gamified experiences, digital-physical integration, rewards and AI-driven personalization, like those used by Sephora, Nike and Southwest Airlines, significantly boost consumer engagement and emotional loyalty, creating memorable connections that last beyond a single visit.

Whether through a collectible campaign, a phygital store experience or a surprise collab, the goal is clear: make the customer feel something to drive and repeat engagement and business.

Is your customer experience strategy ready to win the 2025 holiday season?

Retailers who want to stand out must go beyond transactions and create memorable, emotionally resonant customer experiences. Now is the time to:

• Innovate with exclusive collaborations, collectibles and immersive events to engage and build customer loyalty.

• Unify digital and physical touchpoints for seamless, personalized shopping experiences that delight at every stage.

• Harness behavioral data and AI to anticipate customer needs and deliver memorable, emotionally resonant interactions.

Don’t wait for the future—shape it. Start refining your CX strategy today to foster lasting connections, drive repeat engagement and ensure your brand is top-of-mind this holiday season and beyond.

Meet our authors

Jeffrey Johnson, SVP, Consumer & Retail Practice, Escalent
Matt Vicenzi, Partner, Hall & Partners