Why My Digital Twin Will Save The Duck: NRF 2025
Retail's Big Show was certainly that last week. It felt bigger and better than ever, but what emerged from four days in New York? From AI to ducks it was certainly memorable.
Takeaways:
AI is now at the very heart of retail. From Nvidia's digital twins to Shopic's AI-powered shopping carts, retail is a sector driving exciting innovation.
Emotion driven retail. NRF demonstrated how creating meaningful engagements and customer-centric experiences remains the heart of retail strategy.
Stores are once again front and centre. Online can only ever be online, however stores are where the magic happens.
Unlike previous years, when I would write a piece at the end of each day, tired and drained from another day walking the miles of the Expo floor, this time around I decided to give it a few days, let the fever subside, and reflect on NRF, hopefully from a more dispassionate perspective. Because, it’s a truth that the Show can whisk you up in its maelstrom and not let go until you’re back on the plane home.
It came, it saw, it conquered. To what am I referring? It can only be one thing: AI - in all its guises. Yes, as expected, it was as if NRF 2025 had been carpet-bombed by AI. Everywhere one turned it was AI, generative AI and (a relative newcomer for me) agentic AI. Throw in digital twins and personal avatars and it all became somewhat overwhelming.
I counted over thirty sessions which had AI in their headline and dozens more discussed the topic. One could be forgiven for thinking that this was very much a technology driven Show this year, however, whilst tech was on display, speaker after speaker kept it firmly in its place. As Steve Jobs once said, “Start with the customer experience and work back (to the tech) from there”.
And this year, there appeared to be a shift in the narrative when compared with recent years when we collectively worshipped at the alter of AI, gushing about how it would change the face of retail and all one needed to do was saturate the business with AI and all in the world would be great and the business couldn’t possibly fail.
Not this year, because I detected a far more measured tone, almost as if we have all grown up, grown tired of the ‘monkey riding a giraffe on the moon’ images and actually want to explore the business of AI.
“Generative AI won’t take your job, but someone using generative AI will”
This was especially echoed in the opening keynote fireside chat between Walmart US CEO, John Furner and Nvidia vice president and general manager, retail and CPG, Azita Martin.
“Supply chain, more than anywhere in retail in my opinion, is going to benefit the most from AI”, Azita Martin.
Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner speaks with NVIDIA Vice President and General Manager, Retail & CPG Azita Martin at NRF 2025: Retail's Big Show. Image: NRF
Both Furner and Martin expressed excitement for the use of AI in the supply chain. The ability to create a physically accurate digital twin of a store or distribution centre, for example, allows the simulation of different layouts and the ability to observe how people and objects interact before capital investment is made.
As an example, Lowe’s has created a digital twin of 1,700 of its stores, Martin said, updating several times a day with operational and inventory data. “As a result, it will simulate different layouts, to really optimize how customers are shopping in the stores,” she said, “how to change their layouts, and ultimately improve their sales and revenue.” The company is now trying 3D digital twins with its planograms to optimize merchandising, she said
And that was echoed by multiple speakers who discussed the transformative nature of predictive inventory management on the customer experience. Getting product to the right place, at the right time, in the right volumes should be easy right? Gaining insights through AI into consumer behaviour and expectations is beginning to enable this.
A brand of AI which is not only exciting but potentially game changing is agentic AI. According to SymphonyAI’s Mike Troy:
“Agentic AI is a great example of the accelerating pace of change in retail. Agentic AI is now being heralded for its ability to dramatically transform retail business processes to increase productivity and decision-making accuracy. Autonomous AI agents and copilots are appealing for retailers because of how they proactively perform complex, data-intensive tasks to accelerate workflows for core processes such as new product introductions, promotion planning, and assortment optimization. This ability of agentic AI to function independently differentiates it from generative AI which requires prompts from users to perform tasks”
Away from the Jacob Javits, an extra day in NYC allowed me to indulge my passion for stores with my own retail safari around the SoHo district of Manhattan. The bright lights of 5th Avenue or Madison Avenue might be appealing to many, however, SoHo is where one can find some really fascinating and wonderfully innovative stores.
And my personal favourites? Two very different and contrasting stores, however, both for me, epitomise all that we love about visiting physical retail.
The first is the Dyson store located on Mercer Street. Opened in August 2024, it is a wonderful space, fully utilising the fabric of the building which houses it, and combining this with high tech from both a product perspective and the use of spectacular digital signage at the rear of the store.
Dyson store, Mercer Street, SoHo
Boasting a ‘hair science’ wall where you can look at a strand of your hair under a microscope to learn how best it should be cared for, the store contains all the other Dyson products one would expect. Who knew that vacuum cleaners could be so chic?
The other store which grabbed my attention was the Banana Republic global flagship store just around the corner. Located at 552 Broadway in the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District, the store has been completely remodeled in collaboration with renowned architect and interior designer Noa Santos, of NAINOA, and creative advisor Jacqueline Schnabel and uses African safaris as its inspiration.
Banana Republic 552 Broadway
The store will also offer a range of premier services designed to enhance the Banana Republic shopping experience, from custom tailoring and personalized concierge and styling services. Spanning 17,000 square-feet and two stories, the store is claimed to be a “cultural curation of the brand's ethos of modern exploration - from art and sculptures, to books and decor”.
Banana Republic, 552 Broadway
And the duck? Save the Duck are a brand who have a store located on Broadway in the SoHo district and their mission is exactly that; by using recycled plastic for the filling in their jackets, they aim to be kinder to animals and kinder to the planet.
And who can argue with that?