Uniphore, The Business AI Company was recognized in IDC’s latest MarketScape report for its AI-first CDP, which emphasized retail expertise, enterprise scalability, and rapid time-to-value.
Few investments are more critical to retail companies today than a customer data platform (CDP). The reason: artificial intelligence. AI is enabling retail leaders to engage and interact with their customers like never before—but only if their customer data is AI-ready and accessible.
The 2025 IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Retail Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) explores today’s retail CDP market, its top-performing vendors, and other important considerations for enterprises evaluating CDP solutions.
This year’s report underscores the growing importance of AI functionality as a key category component. With its ability to understand structured and unstructured data and real-time personalization and journey orchestration capabilities, Uniphore’s AI-first composable CDP agent stands out among the leaders for 2025.
For enterprise technology executives and digital transformation leaders, IDC’s annual report—and the in-depth research it provides—is a valuable roadmap for navigating today’s evolving tech marketplace and making strategic decisions that will impact retail operations for years to come.
In this post, we’ll break down key takeaways from the 2025 IDC MarketScape for retail CDPs, including the trends driving this year’s criteria, key capabilities making an impact, and critical factors enterprise retailers should consider when selecting a CDP.
Read the 2025 IDC MarketScape
Explore the evolving retail CDP market and see what sets today’s leading vendors apart.
Why the IDC MarketScape matters
The IDC MarketScape is a trusted resource that evaluates technology vendors based on a comprehensive framework. Its intensive analysis factors in capabilities, strategy, innovation, customer feedback, and market impact. Based on these factors, vendors fall under one of four categories (in ascending order):
- Participants
- Contenders
- Major Players
- Leaders
IDC’s unbiased evaluation and vendor grouping are powerful tools for enterprise leaders exploring the retail CDP landscape. Its findings can help companies investing in CDP technology make informed decisions that maximize ROI.
Key takeaways from the 2025 IDC MarketScape
In a year marked by rapid advancements in generative AI, AI functionality stands out as a key strength—and core differentiator—among the CDP vendors evaluated. According to the report’s findings, enterprise retailers looking to gain a competitive edge should prioritize:
- AI-first capabilities that enable organizations to quickly and easily activate customer data for AI applications and—increasingly—marketing AI agents.
- Structured and unstructured data comprehension to ensure that all data is accessible and available to AI engines, maximizing its value to the enterprise.
- Real-time personalization and journey orchestration, allowing retail businesses to optimize customer journeys quickly—even instantly—based on real-time data.
- Retail domain expertise that links AI capabilities to real retail outcomes and assesses their business value for ongoing refinement and improvement.
What experts are saying
“Customers want faster issue resolution and more tailored solutions.”
– 2025 IDC MarketScape
What sets Uniphore's CDP apart in the 2025 IDC MarketScape
Retail today is no longer about just selling—it’s about relevance, loyalty, and agility. Uniphore’s placement in the Leaders category of the 2025 IDC MarketScape underscores our differentiated approach to customer data. Specifically, our AI-first, composable CDP notched off this year’s most critical evaluation criteria:
AI-first and retail-specific capabilities
At the core of Uniphore’s platform is a robust AI engine trained specifically for retail use cases. IDC cites our advanced ability to:
- Predict consumer behavior with accuracy
- Identify and segment hyper-targeted audiences
- Optimize customer engagement performance in real time
Not just another one-size-fits-all solution, our CDP is intentionally designed to serve the high-stakes, high-complexity needs of large retailers. From dynamic promotions to loyalty optimization, Uniphore’s AI helps convert intent into action.
Mastery of structured and unstructured data
Retailers are awash in data—from CRM and POS systems to web chats and social media. Uniphore enables organizations to unify both structured and unstructured data, giving them a 360-degree understanding of the customer.
This distinction allows enterprises to surface insights that would otherwise remain hidden, turning fragmented data into a usable and—more importantly—actionable goldmine. No copying or complicated reformatting necessary.
Real-time personalization and journey orchestration
Uniphore’s platform doesn’t just analyze data—it acts on it. With embedded retail-specific AI models and agentic marketing capabilities, the platform powers:
- Instantaneous decisioning across all customer touchpoints
- Real-time personalization of offers, messages, and recommendations
- Orchestration of omnichannel journeys from store to screen
That means whether a customer is browsing online, interacting via chatbot, or standing in-store, every moment is curated intelligently, timely, and on-brand.
Enterprise-grade scalability and business value
Uniphore’s platform is built from the ground up with enterprise scalability and security in mind. Our hybrid-cloud, compliance-ready architecture satisfies the most stringent IT and data governance requirements, so organizations can scale AI initiatives quickly and confidently from anywhere.
In terms of business value, our solution includes a structured Business Value Assessment (BVA) in every engagement. This unique assessment ensures that each deployment:
- Aligns to measurable outcomes, such as increased revenue and improved retention
- Accelerates time-to-value
- Delivers a faster payback period, supported by robust ROI modeling
How Uniphore’s retail CDP helped e.l.f. deliver personalization at scale
Discover how the cosmetics leader used their customer data to personalize experiences across campaigns and channels—driving loyalty and lifetime value in a highly competitive retail market.
Choosing the right retail CDP for your business
For retail executives, selecting a CDP is a strategic decision with far-reaching business implications. As a result, it can seem daunting, particularly given how quickly technology is evolving in the AI age. We recommend the following best practices when choosing a CDP for your retail operations:
Start with use cases
What outcomes do you hope to achieve with your CDP? Real-time personalization? AI-driven journey orchestration? Start by creating a shortlist of priority use cases. Look for CDPs with the capabilities to handle your business needs. The right CDP should be able to execute your immediate use cases—as well as future ones that emerge as your business grows.
Consider your data infrastructure
Where does your customer data live? Is it in a data warehouse, on-premises, or a hybrid of the two? The right CDP should work with your existing data infrastructure, privacy needs, and team structure. A composable CDP, like Uniphore’s CDP agent, allows organizations to safely leverage their data directly from where it lives—no duplication or migration necessary.
Make the most of analyst resources
Respected resources, like the 2025 IDC MarketScape, can guide your decision with fresh, expert insights. When weighing your CDP options, also consider the following analyst reports:
- Gartner Magic Quadrant – Strategic vision + execution
- Gartner Voice of the Customer – Real-world customer feedback
- Forrester Wave™ for B2C CDPs – Product-level capabilities and roadmap analysis
Combining diverse resources like these will give you a well-rounded perspective—helping you select a vendor that aligns with your current needs and future goals.
Explore the report and take the lead
The 2025 IDC MarketSpace makes it clear: the future of retail CDPs is AI-first, real-time, and enterprise-ready.
This isn’t just about technology—it’s about strategy. As a recognized leader, Uniphore empowers enterprise retailers to move from static campaigns to AI-powered journeys that learn, adapt, and perform.
Whether you’re evaluating CDP platforms, rethinking personalization, or simply looking to drive smarter outcomes with your customer data, Uniphore offers the intelligence, speed, and support to get you there.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a retail CDP?
A customer data platform unifies customer data from various sources to optimize engagement, timing, and personalization across channels. A retail CDP is a platform that’s purpose-built for enterprise retailers.
What is the role of AI in a CDP?
Unlike traditional CDPs, which acted as data repositories, today’s AI-first CDPs allow for real-time data activation by AI applications and agents. This enhanced functionality enables retailers to use AI to surface deeper insights, drive greater personalization at scale and perform more precise customer segmentation and journey orchestration.
How should I evaluate CDP vendors?
Start with a list of key use cases, and compare vendor capabilities, infrastructure integrations, and future readiness using a mix of analyst tools, like IDC MarketScape, Gartner MQ, and Gartner Peer Insights.
Where can I access the IDC MarketScape report?
You can download the 2025 IDC MarketScape report here.
