NRF 2024 - You Wouldn't Stream Hamilton Would You?
Retail's Big Show this year exceeded expectations - by the end I felt positively infused with AI, and also in desperate need of some good old-fashioned analogue action.
They say be careful what you wish for. In my case, I wished for an amazing, knock your socks off full on retail conference - and that’s exactly what I got……with bells on. Make no mistake, the National Retail Federation are fully justified in giving their annual retail extravaganza, the moniker, ‘Retail’s Big Show’.
NRF 2024 was nothing if not busy. Photo: author
An estimated 40,000 delegates from around the globe descended on the Jacob Javits Convention Center, but at times, it felt like double that number. It may not stretch to the epic proportions of CES but for many people in the retail industry, NRF is one of, if not the first to go in the diary when planning our retail year.
SES-imagotag, rebranded as Vusion Group was the star of the Show. Photo: author
This year was slightly different for me, as I was there with The Industrious, an amazing Las Vegas CX design agency, in order to build an eco-system to help lay the groundwork for an exciting push into the UK market.
Which is another way of saying that it was practically three days of great meetings with incredible technology vendors, each contributing their own personal piece of the jigsaw in the journey to creating the world’s most innovative in-store customer experience.
As is the way with NRF, one’s never short of things to do in the evenings such is the sheer volume of VIP receptions and after parties that go on into the small hours. The highlight of which was undoubtedly the ReTHINK Retail Gala which presented a great opportunity to renew friendships with retail people I respect and admire. I’ll try and tag all of you - it was truly a wonderful evening.
The ReTHINK Retail Gala was a highlight. Photo: author
So what made the biggest impression?
AI wasn’t merely present, it was practically omnipresent. And whilst personally, I didn’t spot an ‘Omnichannel AI’ tagline (which frankly if I had, would have surely put me in an AI induced stupor) it remained a truth that AI was everywhere one turned. That was kind of understandable, however it reached the point where, by comparison, The Second Coming would be but a Tupperware party in Teddington.
Make no mistake, NRF 2024 was an AI infused extravaganza, to the point where session moderators were joking that they wouldn’t mention it. In years to come we'll collectively look back with a sense of amusement and reflect on the nostalgia of it all. Because whereas AI has almost overnight become obligatory parlance in the retail industry, of course in time we'll all come to our collective senses and realise that it's merely an essential ingredient in any successful business process.
Allow me to demonstrate. Where once it was ‘The world’s #1 CRM for retail’, is now ‘The world’s #1 AI CRM for retail’. Thanks go to Salesforce for that one. However, they were not alone. Microsoft has decided that ‘Retail unlocked’ deserves to see the light of day whilst Google is betting the house on ‘putting generative AI to work’. Meanwhile, over at IBM, they are, ‘putting AI to work for retail’. Although my personal favourite remains the intrepid start-up whose solution just happens to be ‘infused with AI’.
Willy Wonka and an unsuspecting punter
Now don’t get me wrong, AI is set to feature in virtually every aspect of retail businesses. But what is intriguing is that, once the Metaverse hype bubble well and truly burst last year and Generative AI, in the form of ChatGPT, became Alan Turing’s poster child almost overnight, every technology vendor from the very largest to the most modest start-up, are falling over themselves to proclaim to the world that - of course - AI is core to their offering. In the same way as WiFi is to streaming.
The second stand-out from NRF was something I didn’t necessarily expect - Just Walk Out technology. It’s as if the industry is trying to legitimise shoplifting. And that’s not as facetious as it sounds. Because many of us feel uncomfortable with simply walking in, filling our proverbial boots and just walking out.
Does it represent better customer experience? I’m not sure. For me, the jury is out, but, along with self-service checkout, it appears that many of us simply want a choice, because one size most definitely doesn’t fit all. Our customer journeys are many and varied and we need different ways by which to navigate them.
It remains a fact that whichever way one looks at ‘Retail’s Big Show’, it remains an institution which all of us in the industry look forward to every January.
This year I had the pleasure of spending time with SES-imagotag, rebranded now as Vusion Group. I’ve written previously about my visit to Kavanagh’s in Belsize Park last year and it appears that I’m not the only one beating a path to their door.
The reason? It’s a living breathing full suite example of pretty much the entire Vusion product set, which of course was on display at NRF. And for Kavanagh’s that translates into 99% availability, less waste, LED product discovery, computer vision monitoring the shelves, dynamic pricing, and image rich electronic shelf-edge labelling. Digital in-store enablement delivering increased employee satisfaction and an enhanced customer experience.
Judging from the number of times the name appeared in conversations around the Expo floor, clearly many people think the same as me.
And streaming Hamilton? My thanks to Saks CEO Marc Metrick for that one, when in his keynote fireside chat he was discussing the merits of physical stores in the context of Saks, ‘you wouldn’t stream Hamilton, you’d go to the theatre to watch it’.
And that seems a perfect way to sum up NRF 2024, you wouldn’t stream it, because there’s nothing like being there in person. Just ask my feet.
Retail theatre - now there’s a concept to conjure with.