Vice President, Industry & Consumer Insights
National Retail Federation
Katherine Cullen is vice president of industry and consumer insights at the National Retail Federation. In this capacity, she leads NRF’s research on consumer spending and emerging retail trends and develops new research initiatives and partnerships. She has over a decade of experience delivering actionable consumer and business insights in areas such as the future of the store, demographic trends, cross-channel technologies, payments and returns.
Prior to joining NRF in 2017, Cullen worked in customer strategy and intelligence at Macy’s Inc., where she developed customer-centric strategies to inform assortment, marketing and distribution decisions for Macy’s womenswear brands. Cullen also spent six years in fraud and programs analysis for the Department of Justice and Department of Education.
Originally from California, Cullen has a master’s degree in business administration from New York University’s Stern School of Business with specializations in marketing and business analytics.
Tuesday Jan 13
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Press office, Level 1, 1C 03
Open to registered press and analysts only.
Consumers drove retail spending in 2025, even in the face of an uncertain tariff landscape and continuing concern around inflation. Through it all, they prioritized not only essential categories but also essential times of the year, from Valentine's Day all the way through the Winter Holidays. Beneath the surface, however, shoppers behaved very differently in terms of how they shifted their budget and managed economic pressures. Join the NRF research team and other leading experts as they discuss how all this played out in the most recent 2025 holiday shopping season and what it means for consumer behavior in 2026. Lunch is provided, first come, first served.
