Retail in Motion: Agentic AI, Store Overhauls & Asia’s Digital Shifts

🧭 DIGITAL PULSE | JUNE 2025 EDITION l Tech. Trends. Signals. A curated monthly read on what’s moving in Asia’s retail & consumer ecosystem.

Jul 02, 2025

TL;DR

The last few months were full of energy and momentum. NRF Singapore brought the industry together around store transformation, automation, and the future of AI in retail. In parallel, Agentic AI moved closer to real-world deployment, while embedded AI gained traction inside POS, OMS, and supply chain tools. Voice-first interfaces and open-source agentic frameworks are gaining traction— with serious implications for how retail gets built and run.

Meanwhile, across Asia, retailers are making bold tech bets: Reliance and Central Retail are deepening unified commerce infrastructure, FairPrice and Mecca are reimagining store formats, and BigBasket is going all in on Q-commerce. Add a $120M raise by Jumbotail, new funding across the Indian retail stack, and award-winning loyalty innovations in Singapore, and you’ve got an interesting pulse check that’s more than just noise. Let’s look into it.

TECH WATCH

* Agentic AI moves into product territory
We’re seeing early signs of Agentic AI frameworks becoming part of real-world applications. Google’s Agentspace, LangChain’s LangGraph launch, and Shopify’s AI agent co-pilot experiment hint at the future of autonomous workflows in commerce.

In addition, open-source Agentic frameworks like LangGraph (LangChain), CrewAI, and Autogen are enabling the next generation of agentic applications. These frameworks allow developers to build AI assistants for planning, workflow automation, and intelligent orchestration. Google Cloud has also entered the space with its new Gemini Agent Builder CLI, designed to help teams create custom agents with multi-step reasoning and tool orchestration capabilities..

Why it matters: Agentic AI could transform retail operations — from autonomous merchandising suggestions to fully automated marketing workflows and predictive service automation. Plus, Retailers can now prototype AI agents — from marketing planners to dynamic merchandising assistants, using low-cost, open-source or cloud-native tools that support intelligent automation and orchestration.

* Voice interfaces are heating up
Google is pushing the boundaries with Project Astra and Gemini Live, moving toward intelligent assistants with ambient context and fluid interactivity. Add to that, Apple Intelligence and OpenAI’s GPT-4o release show the next battlefront: voice + multi-modal.

Why it matters: Expect new customer experiences, including voice-led search, guided discovery, and shoppable agents to become a reality by the end of 2025. It will change the way customers search, discover, and transact.

* Embedded Retail AI is becoming the preference
Instead of standalone tools, we’re seeing AI features being embedded directly into POS, OMS, and merchandising platforms. Tools like Salesforce AI, Google Vertex AI Search, Blue Yonder and SAP Joule are making AI ambient and native to retail workflows.

Why it matters: AI adoption will accelerate when it’s invisible - embedded into tools retailers already use, not layered on top as an extra platform. This “native AI” approach is what retailers will prefer.

SIGNALS FROM THE FIELD

A scan across 4 Innovation clusters + StartUps making waves.

Unified Commerce

Central Retail Thailand just announced a USD 1.38B expansion plan with major investments in their unified tech platform for omnichannel experiences and AI integration. Big push on unified commerce capabilities.
Reliance Retail (India) is doubling down on its unified commerce play through the continued rise of JioMart -integrating digital commerce, kirana partnerships, and its offline network into one seamless ecosystem

Store Transformation

FairPrice Singapore showcased its Next-Gen Store of Tomorrow at NRF Singapore with smart shelves, mobile checkout, and RFID-powered replenishment.
Mecca Brands, Australia is launching their biggest beauty store incorporating new shopping experiences and tech innovations. New Store format for beauty retailing.

Supply Chain & Fulfillment

BigBasket India is doubling down on Quick Commerce with new micro-fulfillment centers across major metros. The goal: reduce delivery times to under 20 minutes while optimizing last-mile logistics using real-time demand signals.
Libiao Robotics & Botsync at CeMAT SEA (Singapore) rolled out "T-Sort" box-sorting robots and AMRs (autonomous mobile robots) for tote handling and inventory replenishment in urban logistics hubs, showing robotics moving beyond prototypes to real deployment

Customer Engagement / Martech

Lotte Korea launched a cross-brand loyalty app integrating hyper-personalised offers.
NTUC Link (Singapore) Their revamped loyalty program, integrated into the FairPrice Group app, won Loyalty Programme of the Year and Retail App of the Year at the 2025 Retail Asia Awards. They now allow users to earn and redeem points across grocery, F&B, and lifestyle partners, powered by gamification and deeper digital pathing

Startups Making Waves

India startup ecosystem especially in the area of commerce is red hot right now.

Jumbotail (India) raised $120M to expand its B2B retail platform and supply chain infrastructure.
ShopOS (India), an AI-powered e-commerce “operating system” enabling brands to automate listings, marketing, and store setups, raised $20M led by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal’s fund.
Zilo (India), a fashion-tech startup focused on quick-commerce for urban apparel retail, raised $4.5M in seed funding co-led by Info Edge Ventures.

ICYMI

Here are some interesting weekend reads - related & super relevant content.

Future of Retail: Six Disruptions (Bain & Co.)
A forward-looking scan of six structural shifts, from AI to platforms that will redefine global retail over the next decade.
The Race to Become a System of Action (Tidemark Capital)
Explores how modern SaaS companies are moving beyond data visibility to become platforms that drive real-time decisions and execution.
Emerging Developer Patterns for the AI Era(a16z)
A deep dive into how the AI-native stack is changing software development, with new roles for agents, orchestration layers, and feedback loops.