In a few days, NRF: Retail’s Big Show will open at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. Like every January, the event will bring together tens of thousands of leaders, distributors, brands and technology players. But the 2026 edition is part of a particular context, after a succession of occasional crises, it is now evolving under structural pressureand this pressure is redefining how innovation should be evaluated.
Sustainable inflation, weakened supply chains, accelerated technological adoption, changing purchasing and planning behaviors, these factors are no longer exceptional and constitute the decision framework. NRF 2026 thus appears less as a showcase of innovations than as a moment of clarification with the main question: what remains of the technological promises when execution becomes the central constraint?
An event that reflects a change in retail posture
The theme chosen this year, The Next Nowis in line with the momentum. It is no longer a question of projecting a distant future, but of stabilizing a complex present. Retail no longer seeks to permanently transform itself but seeks to regain control of its operational levers, room is made for doers.
AI, omnipresent… but under conditions
Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence will be at the heart of the 2026 edition. There will be numerous demonstrations, but the debate has changed in nature. The question is no longer “what can AI do?” “, but where and how it holds up to the real complexity of retail.
Based on feedback, AI projects do not stumble on the performance of the models, but on the areas where decisions intersect. If AI works well when it remains isolated, it reveals its limits as soon as merchandising, pricing, supply chain, store execution come together. The problem posed by AI is less technological thanorganizational.
From visible innovation to real execution
Beyond the numerous speeches that have taken place this year, only a minority of actors have really brought AI into their central operations. The majority remains confined to pilots or partial uses. To create lasting value, multiplying use cases makes no sense, the main thing is to rethink workflowsclarify responsibilities, manage cyber risk and maintain an active role for human control.
This logic explains the rise in power of so-called “execution-first” platforms, capable of integrating AI, workforce, supply chain and customer experience.
Retail media and data: a new center of gravity
Another structuring theme of NRF 2026, retail media. Long presented as a growth driver, it is now approached as a lever of strategic power, power over customer data, power over attention, power in the relationship with brands.
Discussions around Retail Media Networks are less about experimentation and more about structuring governance, measurement, attribution, and compliance. Retail is no longer content with selling products and controls a strategic interface between brands and consumers. Here again, innovation becomes a tool for repositioning in the value chain.
When AI becomes a subject of leadership
One of the signals to follow during this edition is the place taken by governance. As AI influences sensitive business decisions, it moves from the IT scope to the business scope. management and board of directors.
The majority of distributors already have AI governance policies, with direct involvement of CEOs and boards. In the same way as commercial or financial strategy, AI is now seen as a risk and a lever of power. Feedback and exchanges on this subject will be at the heart of managers’ conversations.
NRF 2026, practical side: what we will find there, and how to organize yourself
In line with CES, or VIVATECH, NRF is a massive event: more than 175 sessions, hundreds of speakers, a sprawling technology show. Without minimal preparation, the risk is to leave with a lot of feelings, but few ideas that can be activated.
The 2026 edition is all the more demanding as the subjects, AI, retail media, supply chain, governance will constantly intersect. Our advice is to avoid aimless wandering and to prepare well what we choose to watch.
Who is coming to NRF in 2026
NRF brings together several circles with distinct expectations:
- Executives and members of COMEXwho came to test strategic orientations and compare trajectories.
- Data, IT and supply chain managersfocused on integration, execution and constrained arbitrations.
- Marketing and sales teamsvery present on the subjects of retail media, personalization and omnichannel experience.
- Publishers and technology platformsseeking operational credibility more than visibility.
This diversity explains why NRF rarely works for an isolated profile. The event takes on its full value when it is tackled as a teameven restricted.
In the majority of cases, the most effective team keeps 2 to 4 people, our recommendation is to structure it around
- 1 business decision maker
- 1 data / IT profile
- 1 business/marketing profile
- possibly 1 operations profile
Beyond that, the coordination becomes more complex and below that, the reading becomes too unequivocal.
If you need to organize your program next year, our expert Laurence Faguer, who has been participating in the event for over 15 years, can assist you. We will share its insights with you at the end of the 2026 edition.
What to prioritize on site
NRF 2026 is not an event to be “consumed” in its entirety, the most useful formats are often the least spectacular:
- THE keynotesbecause they reveal the real priorities of the major players
- THE intermediate sessionsmore anchored in concrete feedback
- THE informal exchanges at the showwhere the gaps between discourse and reality of execution are measured
- THE areas dedicated to AI and retail mediaprovided that they are approached with a critical framework: integration, governance, dependencies.
How to get organized without getting distracted
An effective approach is to ask yourself three questions before arriving:
- what trade-offs should we make in the next six to twelve months?
- where are AI, data or retail media already a problem for us?
- what decisions are blocked today by the organization more than by technology?
These questions allow you to filter sessions, meetings and stands. Without this, NRF becomes an impressive panorama, but not very actionable.
What we can really report
The companies that get the most value from NRF rarely walk away with a list of tools, but walk away with:
- a clarification of priorities,
- a better understanding of what is already standardized in the sector,
- clearer reading of areas of organizational friction,
- and, often, a questioning of internal responsibilities regarding AI and data.
The benefit is rarely measured immediately and materializes in the following weeks, when certain options become clearly secondary and others emerge as structuring.
You cannot participate in the 2026 edition of NRF
Different players offer debrief sessions which can be personalized, we recommend that you call on one of our 2 expert partners in the field, our expert Laurence Faguer and the Hub Institute teams (contact Vincent Ducrey)
What other meetings will structure retail and e-commerce in 2026
Other structuring events mark the year and offer complementary angles on the same dynamics of power, execution and technological integration:
- Shoptalk : one of the most direct meetings in competition with NRF, focused on customer experience, marketplaces and retail media. Spring, Luxe, Groceryshop and Fall form a complete series of sessions on the transformations of commerce–media–platform models.
- World Retail Congress : more COMEX-oriented conference, focused on international growth models, resilience and long-term strategic priorities. Its reading is more global and less operational, but essential for comparing trajectories.
- Paris Retail Week (NRF Big Show Europe) : European equivalent of NRF, with a strong anchoring in IT commerce, logistics, payments and customer relations issues, in a specific regulatory and competitive context.
- eTail : more tactical, focused on omnichannel growth strategies, loyalty and practical applications of technologies.
- Commerce AI Summit (London) : specialist event that focuses attention on the integration of AI into daily operations, often as a direct extension of discussions seen at NRF.
You can find all the information and our roadmap for each of them in our diary.
