Five Minute Friday: The Strategic Shifts Top Retailers Are Making for 2026

Boutique Chat

Ashley Alderson

Business, Entrepreneurship, Marketing

5 • 853 Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As we head into 2026, one thing is clear - the gap between average retailers and top performers is widening — and it has nothing to do with effort.

In this Five Minute Friday, Ashley Alderson breaks down what the top 10% of retailers do differently right now, and why those decisions are positioning them to grow and scale while others feel stuck. Hard work isn't the issue. Strategy is.

Ashley shares the four key differences separating high-performing retailers from those struggling to gain traction — and how you can start applying these shifts immediately as you plan for the year ahead.

You'll learn:

How building systems before you need them changes everything
Why top retailers operate like CEOs — not reactive entrepreneurs
What it really means to use AI as a strategic partner (not a shortcut)
Why customer retention is outperforming reach and visibility
The retailers winning in 2026 aren't guessing. They're operating with clarity, data, and intention — and you can too.

🛍️ Join thousands of retailers who've transformed their business with The Boutique Hub.

Join The Boutique Hub

Ashley Alderson: Instagram

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, welcome back to Five Minute Friday. And I love these episodes, right? These short five-minute
0:06.9	Friday episodes that hopefully give you just some quick tips and things to think about in the next
0:12.5	week or in the next year is you really start to plan and maximize what's happening in your business.
0:16.6	And today I want to talk about what I think the top 10% of retailers are doing differently right now
0:20.7	and what I see them doing differently into 2026.
0:24.4	I think that by 2026, you guys, the gap between average retailers and top performers is going
0:29.9	to be wider than ever and it's not going to have anything to do with your effort.
0:34.2	I have to tell you this.
0:35.5	No matter where you're at on the spectrum, I see retailers
0:38.6	working so freaking hard every single day that are new, that are growing, that are scaling,
0:43.6	that are established, that are multi-million dollar stores. Hard work is abundant in this industry,
0:49.1	but there definitely are some things that those who are growing and scaling versus those that
0:53.5	are slow and struggling
0:54.3	are doing different. And that's what I really want to highlight right now so that you can make
0:58.2	the best decisions for yourself possible in 2026. So I feel like really if I look across the top 10
1:04.7	percent, the top 10 percent really aren't guessing anymore. They're operating with much more
1:08.9	clarity and leverage and intention and they're
1:11.1	surrounding themselves with the right people to get the right things done. So I want to dive into
1:15.7	what I think these four things are that retailers are doing that are leading them to be successful
1:21.2	right now and will into 2026. So difference number one. And if you've been in retail boot camp,
1:26.4	man, this is a broken record because I talk about this all the time. Difference number one, and if you've been in retail boot camp, man, this is a broken record
1:27.7	because I talk about this all the time. Difference number one is the top 10% operate like CEOs,
	...

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