Event Review: NRF Big Show 2026

Speaker A: Welcome to the Retail Exchange podcast.

Speaker B: Hello and um, welcome to this special event review episode of the Retail Exchange podcast with me, Carl McIver as we report from New York and um, NRF 2026. Coming up on this episode,

Speaker C: we talked to some really great, um, other food retailers from across the world over the last couple of days who've been on some very different journeys, some very similar. Um, and so again, whether it be about change management, whether it be about vendor selection, it's kind of just another really good input to understand how we can be the best version of ourselves.

Speaker D: AI I think, is a bit of a front. It feels like people are just branding whatever it is, even though it's not truly, um, Essentially what I'm looking for is hard old fashioned products that solve a real world problem as opposed to solutions that are looking for a problem to solve.

Speaker B: NRF remains one of retail's biggest moments of the year. At the annual get together in New York for retailers, tech providers and developers, you'll find the latest innovations all under one roof. If you've been paying attention to retail tech, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it's all about AI. But it's no longer the speculative someday this might work kind of AI that we were hearing about a couple of years ago. AI is rapidly moving from experimentation to execution and from nice to have into absolutely essential. I toured the event to see how all this stacks up and who has the smart ideas. For retailers outside the U.S. nRF is a chance to see how the biggest market in the world is solving problems and um, to bring those insights back home. As always, there are a lot of international visitors at this year's show, including a large contingent from Brazil. There were also some familiar faces from the world of UK retail, such as Waitrose. I sat down with Giles Marzin, Director of Commercial Optimization at Waitrose, and Giles was clear about why he made the trip across the Atlantic.

Speaker C: I think it's really important just to pause for a moment and have a look about what's going on in the market. I think you can get very caught up in kind of what's going on in your own world, uh, especially when we've got lots of projects coming up or lots of stuff on the horizon. So, uh, how do you push your thinking and see what's going on? Also good to talk to other retailers and find out what they're doing and kind of a good time to connect with them, whether they be from Europe, from America, from Canada. So just a bit of a moment to pause and see what's going on and, uh, make sure that what we're doing is right for our customers and our partners. We know that we follow the U.S. maybe six months, uh, in certain tech bits and certain shopping habits. And I think what it allows you to do is get a really good view, unbiased view, from your own organisation's point of view around how to land change really well, because change management's been a huge thing on this show as well in lots of the talks and breakouts. Uh, and I think also it allows you to see and feel stuff in one location which you can't do anywhere else. We talked to some really great, um, other food retailers from across the world over the last couple of days who've been on some very different journeys, some very similar. Uh, and so again, whether it be about change management, whether it be about vendor selection, um, it's kind of just another really good input to understand how we can be the best version of ourselves.

Speaker B: The constant chatter about AI left some in attendance feeling a little fatigued and, um, keen to shift the conversations in a different direction. People like Terence Cook, director of IT at Alpha Tame Group from the uae. Instead, he was keen to explore the latest technology innovations from established players and smaller startups that are shaping POS platforms and loss prevention.

Speaker E: If I hear the word agentic AI anymore, yeah, I mean, it's all about AI and it has been for the last two or three years and for me it's only now that we're actually seeing it come to fruition and people not just talking about it. In Alpha Tame, we are heavy on AI. Uh, we have a chief AI officer and her responsibility is about ensuring that we implement AI in everything that we do. We are looking for a POS system or platform that allows us to integrate the online journey of the customer with the install journey. We're looking for AI to be there as well, to have recommendations from what they purchased in store with what they purchased historically online. And it's interesting to see the journey that people have gone on and where they are in that journey. I was under the impression that ourselves in the Middle east, we're quite far behind, but after speaking to a number of people, we're quite far ahead and they are catching up with us. And I'm just about to head down to the ground floor where you have the smaller startups and the reason why we talk to them is because they bring innovation that sometimes the bigger players don't always move as fast with. So we talk to the smaller players and the startup companies to See what they're bringing to the table as well.

Speaker B: Every corner of the Javits had vendors intent on showcasing and trying to prove that their innovation was the must have for retailers. Here's the technology, here's what it does, and here's the proof. AWS had a whole theater showing agentic AI in action systems that can design entire product lines from scratch. SAP, uh, had a huge presence with Wilson, showing how AI moves data from the sports world into retail. Global payments company Adyen brought Joe and the Juice into the event. A real brand people could taste and experience. They talked about the Expo showcasing the future, but also giving them permission to step back from their desks to see what's coming and, um, talk to vendors and retailers about solutions that have already been deployed. When a company like Macie shows up at nrf, you know they're not just window shopping. I grabbed some time with Shane Bennett, product manager, responsible for PDP and checkout experience on the Macy's app, to find out exactly what's on the roadmap for one of America's largest retailers. The question was simple. Where is Macy's putting its money right now and what matters the most?

Speaker F: I think the two things we're focused on are going to be personalization and I think also, um, a lot, um, in the AI space, I think just allowing customers to be able to come in and make seamless transactions, I think is where we're going to be focused and what we've also realized that a lot of times customers may not necessarily know what they're looking for. So the prompts help them, guide them in their product discovery. We constantly are looking to build on that through user research.

Speaker B: For Tajine Nolan, director of Product Management for American Eagle Outfitters, the show was a chance to explore how technology can enable greater productivity. And in the months and years ahead.

Speaker G: As a company, we love to see what is happening in the market and want to make sure that we are staying on the cutting edge of it. So in general, I mean, every single area of our business is looking for what is going to make them the most productive and allow them to deliver the most value, both to our customer and to the street.

Speaker B: The big retailers aren't chasing the shiniest new tech anymore. They're asking what's measurable, what moves inventory, what builds loyalty. Automating the routine stuff so humans can focus on creativity and strategy. That's where the money is going. And that was hotly discussed during many NRF stage sessions. Ulta Beauty and VF Core both talked about Preserving brand culture whilst you scale the retail experience, whether it's in a physical store or a digital touchpoint, is still your core differentiator. Technology should amplify that, not replace it. Some of the most compelling conversations I had were about the human side of all this technology. And maybe that's the most important takeaway from NRF 2026. Technology is a tool, not a replacement. One of the key phrases I heard was the idea of the art of the possible. Adam McDaniel, senior management of service delivery at Canadian fashion retailer Aritzia, explained what he meant by this and um, why the retailer is keen to navigate the gap between the hype and what really matters for a brand like theirs.

Speaker D: Real world value, you know, what kind of actual value can you unlock with something not perceived? But actual AI I think is a bit of a front. It feels like people are just branding whatever it is, even though it's not truly um, essentially what I'm looking for is you know, hard old fashioned products that solve a real world problem as opposed to solutions that are looking for a problem to solve. My focus is storefront, but we've got people here from E Comm, we've got people here from Omni, we've got global architecture right here and uh, everyone has their expertise. I think that um, everyone sees something different and uh, it's great to collaborate at least with my peers to say okay, what did you see that I missed? And AI so far hasn't been on that radar.

Speaker B: Speaking of the Gap, Gap Inc. S Chief Transformation Officer Malcolm Gunitelecki was also at the event to explore the technologies that will help the company in its mission to change the future of work whilst preserving the brand's well established DNA.

Speaker H: Um, we look at it as a, we're not doing it because everybody else is doing it, we're doing it because uh one, we want to, to be competitive in terms of how we upskill and uh, uh, ensure that our workforce is productive and efficient and we are adopting the right technology, how we work internally and then of course the benefit for our consumers is as I said, how we sense where the trends are going, um, and how to become comfortable in the space. We uh, do apparel so we need to make sure that we are on trend all the time. We're not looking for the next big idea. We're trying to figure out something that um, preserves our DNA but helps us kind of evolve into the new world. Finding vendors and co founders and folks who will help us create the right ecosystem internally for us, um, from a Technology footprint as well as, like I said, serving our consumers, um, uh, like I said, how we can be not just reactive, but proactive to the world that we are in.

Speaker B: There was also an, um, unexpected focus on food service at this year's show, with a whole zone dedicated to how tech can blend prepared food experiences with traditional retail. Drive, footfall, build loyalty, serve all. It's a trend that's moving fast. And, um, then there were the robots. Verizon, Autolane and others had sophisticated humanoid robots walking around, talking and performing tasks. Futuristic, sure, but a signal too, about where things might be headed. One thing that really stood out at NRF 2026 was how much of retail's future depends on connectivity. Nowhere was that more obvious than when I stopped by the T Mobile stand. T Mobile wasn't there talking about faster networks and better coverage. They brought the hardware to prove it. We're talking about their coverage drone, basically a flying cell site that can deploy emergency network coverage in areas where signals have been knocked out. I grabbed some time with the T Mobile team to dig into what this means for retail.

Speaker I: This is here to show, um, our partners here in the retail space, the links that we'll go to to get the network restored and make sure that they have the coverage that they need in the most critical times. Obviously, you know, as everybody is relying upon, like you said, greater and greater reliance upon wireless network and the connectivity that we bring and all the, you know, all the customers that we're supporting. This allows us to make sure that we have the lowest amount of downtime possible in a network impacting event. So what this does, it allows us to insert this into the network just like a cell site. So it's exactly like a cell site. So all the, all the backhaul and all of the, um, back office, um, stuff that needs to be done, we do that. We have an accelerated process that allows us to deploy extremely fast. So this is a coverage drone. It's a flying cell site. Okay. So it's one of the tools that we have in the toolbox to bring our network back up in the times of the largest crisis. Right? So if we have a disaster that rolls through an area that multiple sites are down, we have many, many tools in the toolbox to recover the network. And this is just one of them. We have, um, large trucks that we can deploy that are mobile cell sites. We call those cell on wheels, we call them sat Colts, cell on light truck with satellite backhaul. So they're able to be deployed anywhere, regardless of what's happening with the terrestrial network. Alright, so the drone has the same mission profile as those trucks, but it allows me to be a little bit more agile to get in places that, that I can't get a truck. So as a disaster recovery manager that's what I do. I also manage our UAS program in those instances where I can't get a truck and say I've lost a site from a hurricane on an island like think of Puerto Rico, like St. Croix, uh, or Culebra or Vieques. I have a site that has maybe got impacted by a large storm. I can bring this over in a boat and get the coverage back up immediately. While I worry about the larger logistics of getting a truck on a barge or a temporary tower, something like that, to get larger equipment over to recover that. So it's a temporary solution to bring coverage immediately in times of crisis.

Speaker B: One thing that isn't often talked about enough in this tech frenzy is the role of data in making it all work, in making it relevant. Garbage in, garbage out is a mantra that still very much applies, According to Oliver McVeigh, Chief Engineering and Customer Success Officer at Stebo Systems UK. His company has been exhibiting at NRF for years. And um, watching retailers try to scale AI. He's hearing the same pain point over and over again. Retailers are struggling with the data quality, structure and governance.

Speaker J: In order to have good AI, you need good data. Um, so the, the whole drive towards AI is focusing companies back to could fix their data and their underlying data. So we've been at NRF for a number of years now and you can see the change from last year into this year. There's a whole driving ToWars data and AI. The way businesses have grown, people don't want to go back and fix the data. They fix it on the front end. But AI has forced them to go back and fix the data now. So you're mastering it in different places and there's opportunity because you can save cash. You know, you have one version of the truth, you have one version of a customer as well. But the way I describe it, AI is it can do lots of things. What do you want it to do? So the spectrum that AI covers is really, really wide. A lot of organizations have grown and if you take, if you take us out of it and just talk about normal technology, there's no manual that sits on a shelf that talks to you, how your business runs end to end. So they're going, let's throw AI at something and the board's going, we want to see a return on that and they can't because they don't know where the process is stuck and where they're going to get the best return on the investment. So they've now gone from this uh, throwing AI at a wall and hoping some of it sticks to now looking at where the business process is. So you're starting to see business analysts getting more involved, companies looking at the business process end to end and realizing that on a Tuesday morning Johnny downloads a spreadsheet and starts, sends it to Sharon and Sharon then uploads to somewhere else and they're going I didn't do that. We did that in order to keep the lights on. So there's a whole drive towards that um, um and AI is doing that um, move from the whole agent AI piece. It's interesting when you go and look at the Googles of the world, um, they are probably retailers could be starting to get a little bit worried because they want to get to the point where you're ordering everything from Garage Gemini and um, they're then accessing the retailers websites presenting the product out. But the user, me, you, whoever will no longer hit the Walmarts of the world or the Macy's of the world or whatever, they'll be ordering it via that. So the retailers it is but the retailers have to rethink their model as well because if I'm not hitting their website and they're not getting sponsorship from uh, a manufacturer, say can you put mine up first? That sponsorship is going to drive towards the Googles of the world and Geminis of the world. So there's a rethink going on in retail as well. Where it ends up I don't know.

Speaker B: To some fleet management might sound as exciting as data. It's the unglamorous foundation. But for retailers moving goods around the world getting it right is everything. One company helping to do just that is elm, um, Advanced Telematics providing telematics and fleet solutions in over 80 countries. Its chief business development officer Eitan Kirschenbaum explained more.

Speaker K: We do hardware. I mean this is all IoT. IoT means that you have a type of a sensor from one end and you have a server on the other end. The server is somewhere in the cloud. You need something, some kind of a network that will pick up the information from the sensors and send it safely to the server. And this is exactly what we are doing. So we are a hardware company and we are looking for those manufacturers or uh, uh companies that are working with sensors to cooperate with them and to give them those solutions to enable them to, uh, have, uh, reliable network, either indoors or outdoors, mobile or stationary.

Speaker B: That brings us to the end of this special event review episode of the Retail Exchange Podcast from NRF in New York. Stay tuned for more episodes coming up in 2026. If you found this episode useful, please share it with someone in your network who's thinking about retail's future. For now, I'm Carl Makeiver. Thanks for listening.

Speaker A: You've been listening to the Retail Exchange Podcast. Thanks for listening.