Building trust in the software supply chain for retail

Management23 Oct 2025

Sponsored by Chainguard

Matt Moore, CTO and Founder, Chainguard

The retail industry has undergone digital transformation at unprecedented speed. Customer experiences are now shaped as much by mobile apps and online platforms as by in-store interactions. Loyalty schemes, personalised offers and frictionless checkouts all depend on complex layers of software running seamlessly and securely.

But behind the convenience lies a growing risk. Modern retail systems are built on thousands of open-source and third-party components. While these speed up innovation, they also introduce vulnerabilities that cyber-attackers are quick to exploit. A compromised component can ripple through e-commerce sites, supply chain logistics and even point-of-sale systems, putting customer trust and brand reputation on the line.

The hidden vulnerabilities in retail

Retailers are particularly exposed to software supply chain risk. They handle vast amounts of sensitive customer data, rely on fast-moving e-commerce platforms and operate with extended digital supply chains. Each microservice, container or open-source library powering an online store represents both a business enabler and a potential weakness.

Traditional approaches – scanning for vulnerabilities after software has been built – simply can’t keep up with the pace of retail innovation. Teams often find themselves in a cycle of endless patching, diverting engineering effort away from the features that drive customer engagement and revenue.

A secure-by-default approach

Chainguard provides trusted container images that are pre-hardened, continuously verified and cryptographically signed. For retailers, this means confidence that the digital building blocks underpinning their platforms are secure from the start.

Instead of scrambling to remediate vulnerabilities after they appear in production, Chainguard helps eliminate them at the source. Its approach also simplifies compliance with emerging regulations – whether it’s Europe’s Cyber Resilience Act or requirements for software bills of materials (SBOMs) – giving retail leaders both speed and assurance.

Case in point: Trustpilot

One of the most compelling examples of Chainguard’s impact comes from Trustpilot, the global consumer review platform that plays a vital role in shaping purchase decisions across retail.

“Prior to using Chainguard, vulnerability remediation was largely a manual task, creating many hours of extra work for engineering teams a month,” explains Stu Hirst, CISO of Trustpilot. “After implementing Chainguard, Trustpilot observed a significant reduction in container vulnerability, regularly reporting very low-to-near-zero CVE images in microservice build environments. Chainguard allows Trustpilot’s engineers to focus on building and innovating rather than patching vulnerabilities and is pivotal to their security strategy, to eliminate vulnerability at source.”

For Trustpilot, the shift wasn’t just about security, it was about freeing up engineering capacity to innovate faster. That same logic applies to every retailer balancing customer expectations for seamless digital experiences with the need to keep costs under control.

Why retail leaders should pay attention

For CEOs, CIOs and CISOs in retail, software supply chain security is no longer a back-office issue. It directly shapes competitiveness, resilience and customer trust. The benefits are threefold:

Protecting brand reputation: retail is one of the most visible industries for consumers – a breach tied to compromised code can erode trust overnight
Enabling innovation: by removing the burden of constant patching, engineering teams can focus on developing new features that differentiate the customer experience
Ensuring compliance: with regulators and partners demanding proof of software integrity, Chainguard provides retailers with verifiable, auditable assurance

The bigger market picture

The global cyber-security market is on track to exceed $250 billion by 2030, with supply chain security as one of its fastest-growing segments. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 60 per cent of organisations will treat software supply chain security as a top-three board-level concern.

Retailers who sit at the intersection of consumer data, financial transactions and digital experiences will be among the most scrutinised. Chainguard’s model of embedding trust and traceability directly into the software foundation offers a way forward.

From risk to resilience

The retail sector has always been about trust. From the shop floor to the digital storefront, customers want to know their interactions are safe and reliable. And today, that trust depends not only on customer service and product quality but also on the unseen code that powers the entire retail ecosystem.

Chainguard helps retailers turn software supply chain security from a reactive problem into a proactive advantage. By securing the foundation, retailers can innovate faster, comply with growing regulation and reassure customers that their data is protected.

Conclusion

As retail becomes ever more digital-first, the line between technology and business strategy has all but disappeared. Software isn’t just running retail – it is retail. That’s why securing the software supply chain is now a board-level priority.

Chainguard’s approach, proven by organisations such as Trustpilot, shows what’s possible: less time firefighting vulnerabilities; more time delivering value to customers. For retail leaders, the lesson is clear: in a sector where reputation and trust are everything, securing the software supply chain is not just a technology necessity, it’s a competitive differentiator.

Check out the Cost of CVE report