THE 2027 RETAIL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT STUDY
The Future of the Retail Leader
Built on 2,094 responses, more than three times our 2025 base, the 2027 Study looks at what the retail leadership role is becoming: the clarity, capacity, judgment, and development leaders need to lead well in a business that will not sit still.
2025 Set the Standard. 2027 Raises It.
2025 STUDY
Set the Standard.
2025
2025
2025
Shared across major retail networks, podcasts, and leadership events.
2027 STUDY
Raises it.
2027
2027
2027 Projected Downloads
Releasing January 2027.
Shared across major retail networks, podcasts, and leadership events
The 2025 Retail Leadership Study revealed a truth many organizations had overlooked: Retail leaders are carrying more than their titles suggest.
They’re navigating people, pressure, performance, and rapid change often without enough support.
Those insights sparked internal conversations across brands, leading to new leadership initiatives, mentorship redesigns, and renewed investment in leader development.
The Next Chapter: The Future of the Retail Leader
The environment has not settled. What changed is bigger than the conditions. The job itself is changing.
Leaders are still confident.
What they are short on is capacity.
And the role now asks for more than it used to.
Built on 2,094 responses, the 2027 Study goes deeper into what retail leadership now requires:
- Confidence Is Not Capacity Leaders: rate their confidence leading through uncertainty at 7.15 out of 10, and the manageability of their pace at 6.55. They believe they can lead. The question is whether the pace leaves them room to lead well.
- Retention Has Become Renewal: Pay still leads the list, but burnout, thin benches, limited development, and unclear career paths sit right behind it. Keeping people is an operating problem now, not an HR one.
- AI Is a Leadership Readiness Test: AI readiness is the single largest gap leaders name in their own development. The question is no longer what AI can do. It is whether leaders will be trained well enough to use it without giving up judgment.
- Clarity Is Capacity: The support leaders ask for most is time and resources to develop their teams. Every unclear message from above becomes extra work in the field, and it lands on the leader with the least room to absorb it.
Trusted by the Leaders Who Shape Retail
The Retail Leadership Study attracts high-intent decision-makers - Directors, VPs, and C-Suite leaders - who rely on insights that help them lead teams, strengthen culture, and navigate the realities of retail.
They’re data-minded.
They’re development-focused.
And they value honest insight over corporate noise.
Be Part of the Insights That Shape the Industry
Sponsorship opportunities for the 2027 Study are now open. Align your brand with the research defining how retail will lead next, and reach one of the most engaged leadership audiences in the industry.
