Tariffs, AI and Leadership: A Look Back at Our Top 2025 Insights

As January draws to a close and we become fully entrenched in 2026, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the topics that resonated most with retail leaders and pricing professionals last year, based on which of our blogs got the most attention and views in 2025.

From navigating tariff uncertainty to taking a hard look at AI and GenAI investments, retailers faced complex questions that demanded sophisticated, data-driven answers. The blogs that our readers engaged with most tackled these pressing issues head-on, offering practical strategies for thriving in an increasingly volatile marketplace.

Let’s take a look back at our top three blogs of 2025.

How to Navigate Tariff Uncertainty with AI Pricing Optimization

What will come as a surprise to absolutely no one is that our most-read blog last year was all about tariffs. Tariff news dominated the headlines in 2025, and tariffs created unprecedented uncertainty for retailers.

Read the blog here.

Although uncertainty is never welcome, retailers using AI-powered price optimization solutions had a clear advantage: They were able to take a balanced approach to pricing amid the rising costs of goods, one that factored in price perception, elasticities, market segmentation, profit and margin, and other strategic priorities.

This blog — and our accompanying resource guide, Tackling Tariffs: Pricing Strategies and Best Practices for Retailers — provides a strategic roadmap for retailers facing the cost pressures and market disruption caused by tariffs.

From leveraging analytics to create win-win situations with suppliers to using best practices to promote private labels to cutting ineffective promotions to reinvest in competitive prices on key items, these strategies helped hundreds of retailers take control of their pricing response in the face of tariffs.

While we hope calmer seas are ahead for retailers in 2026 (emphasis on “hope”), whatever the year brings, we will be in the trenches with our customers to help them adapt and thrive.

Exploring the Future of AI: Revionics VP Talks GenAI, Scalability and the Importance of Guardrails

As a visionary in AI, data and engineering, Aakriti Bhargava isn’t just an instrumental voice here at Revionics — she’s a powerful contributor to the retail and technology industries at large.

Recognizing that innovation does not happen in a vacuum, Aakriti regularly attends and speaks at relevant events, including those hosted by Google and MongoDB. In her highly popular blog (read it here), she recapped several of the AI-related topics that are generating the most discussion among technology leaders at these events. Those topics and their key points were:

• GenAI use cases and their prioritization – A critical question being faced by organizational leaders is how to prioritize GenAI use cases. Fine-tuning the right approach will be essential as businesses keep exploring how GenAI can not only enhance the customer experience but also drive internal productivity.
• Building scalable AI products and GenAI experiences – Building a successful AI product isn’t about applying AI indiscriminately — it starts with clearly defining your goals and the problems you are trying to solve before determining whether AI is the right solution. Rather than forcing AI into a use case, the focus should be on identifying the right challenges and then leveraging AI where it truly adds value.
• Guardrails, business rules and explainability around AI – Transparency is essential for building trust and driving adoption, as it holds AI providers accountable, while explainability empowers users to understand and refine AI-driven decisions.

Meet Jeff Cashman: Driving Revionics Forward as Our New General Manager

Rounding out the top three of our most-read blogs in 2025 was a special announcement introducing Revionics General Manager Jeff Cashman. Hundreds of people reached out to Jeff directly and via LinkedIn to congratulate him on the new role.

In the blog (read it here), I had the opportunity to interview Jeff about his journey to Revionics, his strategic priorities and where he sees the biggest growth opportunities for AI-powered price optimization.

Jeff shared how Revionics’ long-established leadership in retail pricing — and the recent and bold advancements in launching a multi-agent AI pricing system – first piqued his curiosity in the role. The opportunity to work with Revionics’ blue-chip customer base — representing verticals such as grocery, DIY, convenience, discount, pharmacy, drug, etc. — was also highly appealing.

In terms of where he’s focused, Jeff talked about the tremendous pressure that’s on retail executives currently — from their boards, shareholders, etc. — to advance their AI maturity. Adding to those pressures is the fact that the retail industry is littered with AI projects that didn’t pan out.

By starting with low-risk, high-upside capabilities like AI pricing, Jeff believes that companies can de-risk their AI investments and see a tangible impact. He wants retailers to look at Revionics not just as a strategic pricing partner but also as a trusted resource in helping guide them through their AI journey.

When it comes to leadership philosophies, Jeff’s are simple: “Do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it,” and “Plan the work and then work the plan!”

Now that he is eight-plus months into the job, we’ve all heard Jeff say these things often — and more importantly, we’ve seen how he amplifies and inspires that level of accountability into everything we do here at Revionics.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

The themes that dominated conversations last year — tariff navigation, AI and organizational shifts — aren’t going away in 2026.

We will continue to see that data-driven decision-making, investments in proven AI and analytics use cases, prioritizing customer value alongside profitability, and remaining agile, are not just lessons learned in 2025 — they’re the cornerstones of retail success for years to come.

What would you like to see on the Revionics blog in 2026? Let us know! Drop me a message on LinkedIn and share your ideas.