The rapid migration of retail enterprises toward cloud-native architectures has transformed how software is built, deployed, and governed, but it has also intensified exposure to security, compliance, and operational resilience risks. DevSecOps has emerged as a dominant paradigm intended to embed security across the entire software delivery lifecycle while preserving the speed and agility promised by DevOps. Yet, in highly regulated and data-intensive retail environments, conventional DevSecOps practices frequently fail to align with sector-specific compliance obligations, multi-cloud operational complexity, and the continuous threat landscape that accompanies customer-facing digital platforms. This study develops an integrated theoretical and methodological framework for secure DevSecOps in cloud-based retail systems by synthesizing contemporary scholarship with compliance-driven operational realities. Drawing extensively on Gangula’s analysis of secure DevOps in retail cloud ecosystems, this research situates compliance and resilience not as external constraints but as endogenous design principles that reshape how pipelines, teams, and technologies are organized (Gangula, 2025). The article advances the argument that retail DevSecOps maturity depends less on the mere adoption of automated security tools and more on the institutionalization of governance, risk management, and cross-functional accountability within continuous delivery processes.

Through an interpretive research design grounded in multi-vocal literature analysis, this work examines how security controls, vulnerability management, container hardening, and cloud governance mechanisms co-evolve with organizational learning and innovation cycles. Prior DevSecOps research has largely emphasized technical automation, such as container scanning and pipeline security, but has insufficiently theorized the compliance-centric pressures that define retail, including data protection, financial regulations, and customer trust imperatives. By integrating insights from cloud security frameworks, vulnerability management research, and DevSecOps maturity models, this article constructs a comprehensive conceptual model that explains how compliance and resilience become operationalized through continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines.

The findings demonstrate that secure DevSecOps in retail is best understood as a socio-technical system in which automation, metrics, and policy are mutually reinforcing. Rather than treating security as a gatekeeping function, advanced retail organizations embed regulatory requirements directly into pipeline logic, making compliance auditable, repeatable, and adaptive. This research further reveals that resilience in cloud-native retail is inseparable from security, as system availability, customer data integrity, and incident response capability are tightly coupled. The study contributes to theory by reframing DevSecOps maturity as a dynamic capability that allows retail firms to continuously reconfigure their security posture in response to shifting threats and regulatory landscapes. Practically, the work offers a roadmap for organizations seeking to move beyond ad hoc security integration toward a strategically governed, metrics-driven DevSecOps ecosystem.

DevSecOps, cloud-native retail, compliance engineering, cybersecurity governance

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