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BLOG / DEC 04

Looking beyond AI: A way-too-early NRF preview

Chris Cottos | Read Time: 10 minutes

It’s early December. The entire retail industry is trying to catch its breath after all the (insanely extended) Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping events. Consumers are checking their lists and adjusting their shopping plans for the remaining three weeks of the holiday season. Despite the strong early results, retailers still have so much to do to make the most of the shopping window that was shortened by a late Thanksgiving.

Why, then, with all that to do, am I asking for a few minutes of your time to think about the annual NRF convention? The show doesn’t open until January 11, for Pete’s sake! I am asking for a little of your attention now because most retailers look at NRF as a guidepost to important questions they will need to answer in the coming year:

  • What does NRF think will be important in 2026?
  • How are my peers and competitors investing?
  • What are the technology vendors showcasing in their booths?
  • How might all these things affect our strategy, operations and technology in the near future?

Important questions, to be sure, which magnify the importance of making the most of the time you spend roaming the halls of the Javits Center. And all of which highlight why I believe we need to start planning our show itineraries now.

Because Retail’s Big Show is officially overwhelming. A glance at last year’s numbers is all we need to see to understand the scope and scale of the three jam-packed days of networking, exploring and learning ahead of us in January:

  • 39,000 attendees
  • 5,000 retail brands
  • 1,000 exhibitors
  • 175 sessions

So no, I actually don’t think it seems way too early for an NRF preview. Not by a long shot. And to help you plan how you will spend your time at the Big Show more efficiently, I’ve identified three topics that seem to have momentum and mindshare in the final weeks leading up to the event.

1. AI remains omnipresent. Obviously.

The post-Cyber Monday headlines were full of news about how AI impacted both shopping and retailing during the extended weekend:

  • “Black Friday online spending hits record $11.8B as American shoppers embrace new AI technology”
  • “Amazon’s AI chatbot Rufus drove sales on Black Friday”
  • “Black Friday broke records. The real story is how AI changed the way we shopped”
  • “AI traffic to U.S. retail websites grew 805% compared to 2024 on Black Friday”
  • “Walmart’s AI shopping tools totally changed the game on Black Friday and beyond”

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Retail Brew published an article asking, “Can John Furner lead Walmart through its AI era?” The article discussed Furner’s path to becoming the next CEO at Walmart and included the following statement from outgoing CEO Doug McMillon: “John [Furner] represents the next generation of Walmart leadership – a leader deeply grounded in the company’s purpose and values, with the vision and experience to guide our people through a new retail era fueled by innovation and AI.”

Clearly, Walmart has put a stake in the ground: AI is the future. But it’s not just the biggest retailers that must react to the emergence of AI. The pressure is on every retailer to respond to the outsized – and rapidly expanding – influence of AI on literally every facet of their business.

Have no fear, however, as NRF will offer a selection of AI content that would make a Las Vegas buffet proud:

I suspect there will be very few vendors that don’t pay homage to AI in some way in their booth.

My recommendation is to take the time now to identify the AI use cases that are most important to you in the very near term (because a year from now everything will have changed) and set appointments in advance of the show with the vendors that have relevant offerings. Tell them what your objectives are and help them make your time productive and effective. Otherwise, you will waste valuable time during the show trying to educate each vendor about your business priorities and your goals for the meeting.

2. Looking beyond AI: Store operations reemerge

NRF reported that 129 million people shopped in U.S. stores over the five-day holiday weekend from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, a 3% increase over 2024. And there’s still a lot of shopping left to do in the coming weeks, as NRF reports shoppers still had more than half (53%) of their holiday shopping remaining as of December 2. 

The retailers that will capture the lion’s share of that remaining spend will be those that out-execute their competition every day, in every journey, across every interaction and in every channel. With stores at the center of more than 129 million journeys in the past week, they simply can’t be ignored over the next few weeks. Retailers have to do their best to make every store experience shine.

It’s obviously too late to invest in technology to help your store experiences shine this year, but NRF will certainly be the time to begin ensuring you are well prepared for the 2026 holiday season. This year’s Big Show will be full of opportunities for you to explore and evaluate store experience and operations technologies that can help you do just that:

  • Five expert-led, highly curated walking tours of cutting-edge retail locations across New York City. Each tour includes visits to several standout stores where you’ll gain insider access to the latest in retail tech, store design, employee training and operational best practices.
  • A series of sessions dedicated to topics highly relevant to store operations excellence, including:
    • “Customer Experiences Elevating the Next Now” featuring topics that are intended to help create “immersive experiences for in-store customers” and offer “creative ideas for solidifying customer loyalty.”
    • “Operations Driving the Next Now” featuring topics that are designed to help retailers “adapt business operations to drive efficiency while delivering on customer satisfaction.”
    • “Next Now-Level Talent” featuring insights for retaining and growing your most important asset with a winning company culture.

And yes, there will be hundreds of exhibitors vying for the attention of retailers looking for technology to help them improve store experiences in time for next year’s holiday season. It will be up to you (perhaps with some help from ChatGPT?) to weed through the long list of options to prioritize your NRF meetings. Again, I recommend starting the process now and setting appointments in advance to ensure you make the most of every meeting.

3. Gen Z is making its mark (yes - inside the store)

The arrival of Gen Z as a force to be reckoned with is upon us. A recent report forecasts that by 2030, Gen Z’s global spending is expected to reach $12.6 trillion, compared to $2.7 trillion as of 2024. Despite being raised with mobile devices in their hands, Gen Z shoppers still consider the store an important part of their path to purchase. In fact – and perhaps surprisingly – physical stores are Gen Z’s top choice for actually making a purchase.

The key to converting those young shoppers into buyers will of course be effectively merging physical and digital experiences when they visit your store. Gen Z is - perhaps unsurprisingly - the most likely generation to pull out their phone in a store rather than speak to a sales associate or use other options to aid in their shopping journey.

NRF will provide numerous options for those interested in learning more about this cohort of shoppers and the ways to reach, attract and convert them into buyers:

And yes, once again, the exhibit hall will be full of vendors showcasing solutions for unifying store experiences to help retailers exceed the ever-escalating expectations of these mobile-first store shoppers.

A moment of shameless self-promotion

I hope this post helps you build your NRF itinerary. Well, some of it at least. There are certainly other topics that will be very prominent parts of the show. But I decided to spend my time investigating subjects where I have the most experience and expertise: topics that impact the store experience. I have worked for Aptos for more than a decade, and here’s where we have made our mark: inside stores. With more than 100,000 stores live on our POS solutions, we are a proven leader in delivering unified store experiences around the globe.

And we’d love it if you’d visit us in Booth #4639. We’ll show you how Aptos ONE Modern POS combines our deep retail experience with modern technologies (including AI, of course!) to deliver store experiences that exceed the expectations of every generation of shopper. We’ll have lots of innovations to show you, and we’ll have customers sharing their experiences in our booth throughout the event.

Please stop by during the show or, better yet, make an appointment before you come so we can be fully prepared to make the most of your time.

I hope we’ll see you there.