IDC PlanScape: CRM Systems and AI-Driven Data Usage in Retail

The renaissance of customer relationship management (CRM) in the agentic AI space challenges how companies have traditionally viewed systems of record, turning them into the foundation for intelligent engagement that connects data, analytics, and experience in unified ecosystems. According to IDC's Retail Technologies and Business Processes Trends 2025 Survey, more than one-third of retailers plan to invest in CRM and customer experience (CX) technologies in the coming months. CRM systems are the most widely adopted CX technology, with 44% of retailers currently using and expanding them. Unified commerce platforms and customer data platforms (CDPs) also rank highly as investment priorities, reflecting the industry's drive toward seamless, real-time data flows that enable intent-driven engagement. At the same time, agentic AI is emerging as the next evolutionary stage in CX. IDC research showed that 30% of retailers consider agentic AI a key initiative for improving end-to-end customer experience, with 28% planning to implement it within two years. Globally, 61% of retailers are already deploying some form of agentic AI, with nearly one in four initiatives being operational. Agentic AI transforms CRM from a system of record into a system of orchestration, empowering retailers to manage millions of contextual interactions, dynamically adapting experiences and aligning every engagement with measurable business outcomes. These platforms need to integrate seamlessly with CDPs, marketing automation, and commerce engines, providing the unified capability to sense, decide, and act across the entire customer life cycle.