New Typeface research reveals why retail marketers struggle to scale AI, balance budgets, and deliver real-time personalization

ATLANTA, GA / ACCESS Newswire / November 4, 2025 / BRANDWEEK - Despite rapid AI adoption, retail marketers say speed and scale remain their biggest roadblocks. Typeface's new Signal Report: Retail Edition finds that 100% of retail leaders face rising content demand, yet only 58% say their teams can keep up - evidence that AI's full productivity potential is still untapped.

While 83% of retail marketers have adopted AI, most say its benefits remain siloed, limited by disconnected systems and workflows. With holiday campaigns and omnichannel cycles accelerating, marketers say the pressure to deliver real-time creative has never been higher. From campaign orchestration to personalization, retail leaders are focused on scaling efficiency without losing brand authenticity.

However, retailers lead in personalization delivery, with 65% achieving segment-level content customization - suggesting that when AI adoption scales successfully, meaningful differentiation becomes possible. The challenge isn't AI capability but organizational readiness to deploy it systematically.

Key findings from the study include:

• Despite struggling to keep up with content demand, 96% of retail marketing leaders say they at least somewhat struggle to justify their marketing spend to internal stakeholders, with 26% struggling very much.

• They're already using AI to slash costs, with 51% reporting they have cut external agency spend on content creation due to AI.

• 70% of retail marketing leaders say that if AI were to fully automate content creation, it would reduce most of their agency spend - and 14% say it would eliminate almost all of it, demonstrating how AI can help in-house content teams scale.

• 65% are already personalizing campaign content for each segment, and nearly all personalizing for at least certain segments.

• Yet 72% say AI usage is primarily at the individual level, meaning workflows are isolated and true collaborative benefits aren't realized (76% are still in the pilot phase with AI agents, unable to scale).

• 72% still need 3-4 weeks to get a multi-channel campaign up and running, even though 86% say they want it to take 2 weeks or less.

"Retail marketers aren't short on tools - they're short on time," said Jason Ing, Chief Marketing Officer at Typeface. "AI can absolutely accelerate how campaigns are built and personalized, but only if teams reimagine the way they work and trust the systems that connect it all. This isn't about more tech; it's about better orchestration."

Ing added, "When AI is used in silos, you get faster outputs, not better outcomes. The real unlock for retailers comes when AI becomes invisible - embedded into the way teams plan, create, and collaborate. That's where speed and creativity finally meet at scale."

Typeface's Signal Report: Retail Edition is based on a nationwide survey of senior marketing leaders across the U.S., capturing insights on how AI is reshaping marketing - what's working, what's stuck, and where the biggest opportunities lie. The retail edition builds on Typeface's inaugural 2025 Signal Report, which explored the broader enterprise marketing landscape.

The findings reveal a clear throughline: AI adoption in retail is accelerating, but its full potential depends on human creativity, operational trust, and reimagined workflows that connect brand strategy to intelligent systems.

Learn more about the research on the Typeface blog.

About Typeface
Typeface is the enterprise-grade generative AI platform for personalized content creation. Combining brand governance, collaboration, and AI-powered speed, Typeface enables global teams to create content that is on-brand, on-message, and on-demand. Founded by former Adobe CTO Abhay Parasnis, Typeface is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV (Google Ventures), Menlo Ventures, and M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund). Learn more at www.typeface.ai.

Press Contact: Courtney Brigham, press@typeface.ai

SOURCE: Typeface