Brand Positioning and Market Strategies for 2025: Experts Weigh In

In the third article in a 2025 Consumer Outlook series, experts offer insights on how brand positioning must evolve with shifting markets.

To read the first article in the series, click here.
To read the second article in the series, click here.

Market segments are never static. With demographics and consumer attitudes more dynamic than ever, how do companies see the landscape of market segmentation and brand positioning evolving in 2025? WWD asked industry experts for some brand strategies on remaining competitive and relevant.

Nikki Baird, vice president of strategy and product at Aptos, a retail technology company

We saw in 2024 the beginnings of “segmentless” shoppers — where you can’t rely on standard life stage markers, for example, to find shoppers. The soccer mom segment no longer exists, or it’s so fragmented into robotics moms and skate moms and gymnastics moms and theater moms that you’d have to go to so many different places to find these moms that it becomes effectively useless as a segment.

It’s worse with Gen Z — the life stages of going to college, getting married, buying a house, having kids — these all have been disrupted by the pandemic and its aftereffects. You can’t make any assumptions about someone based on their age, for example. 

2025 will be all about The Algorithm — the recommendation engines of social media, and how they decide what to show people next. Retailers and brands will have to do more to “win” shoppers, acquire them as identifiable customers, and then figure out what it is that got them in the door and buying before they can figure out how to find more shoppers like them. This is where unified customer/retailer data will play a big role — deciphering behavior drivers to find more customers.

Brand positioning is also going to have to center on value. I’ve heard this [said] already from a lot of retailers [about 2025], that they want to appeal to shoppers not necessarily as a “discount” brand but emphasizing the quality or the timelessness of their assortment — working harder to justify whatever the price is so that consumers feel like “it’s worth it.” 

Ian Fredericks, chief executive officer at Hilco Consumer Retail, division of Hilco Global

The biggest mistake retailers and brands have made is forgetting who your customer is and chasing growth at all costs.

Especially if you’re a mature business, the worst thing that you can do is look for top-line sales growth, because the only way to drive top-line sales growth is to extract more from your existing customers or expand your customer base. The best thing that you can do is focus on your gross margin. Get away from looking at sales, which is very much a Wall Street analyst-driven or financial sponsor-driven metric that I don’t think is relevant for mature businesses.

Stop worrying about trying to grow your customer base. Focus on your core customer and making sure you’re keeping them happy. Ask your in-store teams — not your sales teams — because [your in-store teams] are also your core customer. They’re working at your store, especially in apparel, because they love your brand and clothing. They’re your brand ambassador. Find out what the customers are telling them.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked stores with CEOs or senior teams, and it’s all them talking to their store teams and not asking questions or listening to field feedback.  

Shellie Vornhagen, chief marketing officer, Edited

Brand loyalty is waning due to an abundance of choices, price sensitivity and an increased importance of alignment with personal values. Retail intelligence is the foundation for transforming vast amounts of data into meaningful connections with consumers and investing in AI-powered solutions like Edited is essential for making informed, timely decisions that drive success.

Tapping into the voice of the consumer is about gathering and analyzing the data, and this includes direct, indirect and inferred data. Direct is about what they are saying to your brand (i.e., through interactive surveys or community discussions). Indirect could include listening to what they are saying about your brand (i.e., on social media). inferred is about what they are telling you with their behavior and actions. Bringing these three sources of data to really understand your customers is the best way to predict what they want now and in the future.

Should brands broaden their target customers or narrow in on really specific market segments? Either approach can work if they remain true to their brand promise to their core customers. Consumers want to associate with brands they feel connected to. Being authentic as a brand is the best way to capture the hearts (and keep the business) of your best customers.

Liza Amlani, principal and founder, Retail Strategy Group

Brand executives often trick themselves into thinking they know what customers want even though customer behavior, desires and wants are dynamic, not static. It’s very hard to pin down exactly what the customer wants — even the customer doesn’t often know.

To be competitive and market-leading, brands must get clear on the concepts of “meeting demand” and “creating demand.” Meeting demand means giving customers what they say they want. However, creating demand is about creating products that customers didn’t know that they wanted. Think about it, there was a time where the concept of getting email on your phone was mind boggling, but that was the premise behind the Blackberry.

The concept of an endless aisle is no longer relevant; nailing down the “right aisle” is key. Brands need to take the time to understand who they are and what they stand for, [then] build product assortments that revolve around their identity — and don’t get out of hand. Consider you could customize a Starbucks beverage in 170,000 different ways, but you must stand in line for a long time to get your hands on your creative creation. An endless array of products doesn’t impress if the experience is subpar.

Michael Appler, communications director, Trendalytics

The answer to an ever-faster trend ecosystem, shifting consumer priorities and uncertain market dynamics? Value. Shoppers are increasingly value-driven, which should push brands to be smarter about trends, accessible in their pricing and unique in their messaging.

Consumers are also grappling with fatigue in the e-commerce landscape. “Cores” and microtrends — while remaining key indicators of the aesthetic and lifestyle interests of young shoppers — have inspired exhaustion in consumers and panic in retailers. Brands need to embrace and adopt trends with authenticity in the new year, not freneticism.

E-commerce leaders are solving this by turning to AI-powered tools that streamline trend discovery. Trendalytics takes this further by surfacing actionable trend insights, predictive retail data and real-time market insights that empower brands to work smarter, not harder, in their product and retail strategy.

Lauren Bitar, head of brand strategy, Runway Brands Group

While segmenting by generation can be useful, it’s not a science and can alienate a lot of potential customers. At Runway, we help premium fashion brands reach across geographies, particularly from the U.K. to the U.S., [but] even between the U.K. and U.S., customers in the same generation can be quite different. 

Use who your customer is to inform your marketing strategies, including social media investments. Figure out what platform or channel is most organic for their behavior. Brands and retailers often fall into a “follow the crowd” mindset or chase the latest trend, but with high consumer acquisition costs and a saturated market, it’s more important than ever to stay authentic to your brand and focused on your target customer.

When it comes to creating collections, brands should prioritize impactful designs and each piece should add value. Massive assortments can hurt margins in a market oversaturated with basics and brands promoting “timeless” messaging. Buyers don’t want to pick from 300 items and fatigue in the e-commerce marketplace is real. 

Speak to occasions and use cases when developing new products and assortments, while referencing trends that inspire your collection or tie into your brand. Share your vision and show shoppers how to style your products. Creating curated “shops” (e.g., Wedding Guest Shop or Spring Break Shop) is a great way to execute this while using your existing assortment. Look to long-term trends, as well as search and social data.