Featured Session

Some of the luxury market’s biggest competitors are teaming up in a bid to dominate China’s booming online market for high-end luxury.  Alibaba and Richemont announced plans to pour around $1 billion into the e-commerce marketplace and establish a new China-focused joint venture. This session featuring a luxury brand, ideally Gucci who launch on the luxury pavilion at Christmas, will examine the opportunity available to luxury brands among Chinese Gen Z consumers.

Join us for this educational discussion from retail sustainability experts as they reveal the most effective ways to achieve your sustainability goals. Hear how these companies have become successful at reducing their carbon footprints and other related sustainability initiatives as they share their ah-ha moments, what worked and what didn't, who needs to be at the table for these discussions and how to best work with vendors.

As several huge retail chains have made high-profile forays into virtual care over the past year, many stakeholders have wondered what effect these moves may have on health services. The rise of telemedicine during COVID-19 has brought forth easier accessibility to healthcare for many people, establishing itself as a valuable method of care for future years to come. We are seeing traditional healthcare like medical office settings evolving into virtual, and even asynchronous options. Healthcare is becoming increasingly tech focused as major retailers have ventured into virtual care.

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More details on this session coming soon!

More details on this session coming soon!

GDR Creative Intelligence CEO, Kate Ancketill will address the trends she sees developing and affecting us  after one of the greatest disruptors of recent times. She will identify the most important shifts and retail innovations, and provide incredible insights as to where this will lead us in the next few years. 

As some successful players become over reliant on China and others struggle, companies should consider spreading their risk by expanding to other high-growth geographies. According to BoF and McKinsey & Company Global Markets report highlights: India continues to present an exciting opportunity particularly for price competitive players – H&M & Adidas have been successful here.

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More details on this session coming soon!

More details on this session coming soon!

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New York City hosts the opening of many incredible new retail environments each year, and in spite of global challenges 2020-2021 were no exception. Please join the Retail Design Institute’s Ray Ehscheid as he presents some exceptional experiences and enhanced features on a curated, virtual tour of store openings over the last two years. NRF and RDI seek to inspire each of you to physically visit these “must see" spaces as you walk the city of New York.  

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More details on this session coming soon!

In this session we will examine how the worlds of tech, media and eCommerce are colliding opening up new business opportunities for brands and retailers. We will explore the roll of gaming, virtual reality and avatars and explains how brands can capitalize on these trends.

The "working from home' concept has become prevalent, or at least optional for many over the last couple of years. It has changed the future of the workplace, and disrupted the support businesses surrounding offices—including retail. Hear how retail environments are shifting to accommodate this new idea of live/work spaces as former concepts give way and adapt to new possibilities and the changing customer needs.

The future of supply chain and sustainability has its roots in on-demand manufacturing. Early forays into the space have allowed brands to reduce product inventory, sharpen their agility to meet consumers ever- shifting desires, deliver product in as little as two weeks and work toward eliminating the need for markdowns. Join us as two on-demand pioneers discuss how they're capitalizing on this trend and how it could scale in the years ahead. 

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More details on this session coming soon!

Four key trends grabbing the attention of Chinese consumers today and how your brand can capitalize on them: Live streaming, Gamification, Augmented reality and 3D shopping. 

If Whole Foods and 7-Eleven had a family it would look like the latest crop of convenience stores. Healthy prepared foods and good-for-you snacks are just part of the makeover underway as a new crop of players challenge the norm with a reimagined product offering and a side of technology. It's official: convenience now has a conscience and consumers are embracing the changes, including everything to kombucha to coffee bars and craft beers.  

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The quest for the growth of sustainable products is real, but changing customer behavior is hard. Can niche friendly retailers and suppliers steal market share from industry stalwarts?  

In the eyes of the consumer, sustainability is now a company's responsibility, and the good news is that it can come with an expanded customer base and an additional revenue stream—resale. Solutions are now available that can efficiently create a resale marketplace to expand your sustainability efforts.

A lot of buzz and excitement surrounding these unique tokens have to do with digital art and creative work, but does the rise of NFTs bring forward new opportunities for brands to interact with a new younger audience? We will be exploring ways in which brands can utilize NFTs and understand what this means for businesses moving forward.

The recent surge in adopting more sustainable practices is no longer a trend, but an inevitable shift that brands need to begin implementing within their businesses. Embracing the circular economy may help businesses rethink and redesign ways in which they can keep current products and materials in use, eliminating waste. It is important for brands to think about all stages of their supply chain, from the design of their products to distribution and beyond.

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The market for plus-size fashion is worth nearly $30 billion in the US alone. But while brands are upping marketing rhetoric and imagery to include a wider range of body types, many companies are still failing to serve the plus-size consumer. 

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More details on this session coming soon!

Planning assortments with last year's sales data, this year's market interpretation and the upcoming trend forecast can be daunting enough--then add in brand identity and customer expectations, and it's overwhelming! With so many data points to consider, retailers are finding that artificial intelligence is the path to making smarter and faster decisions minimizing out-of-stocks and overstocks, decreasing markdowns, and leading to improvements in customer satisfaction.

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More details on this session coming soon!

No question the plant-based segment is growing, but how big can it get and what will it take to reach some level of critical mass.

A new dimension between the store and the customer is growing at an accelerated rate. Third party retail services such as Instacart and Shipt, proprietary models, and technology providers are set to offer a multitude of choices for major omni-commerce retailers--and customers alike. While the delivery model was primarily built on efficiency and to some extent on-demand retail, others are using it as a means of personalization, consumer connection and an entry into a digital-first approach.

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More details on this session coming soon!

Amazon is both the leader in US e-commerce and runs the most successful marketplace. Despite their success, they are not one to follow for inspiration. Will they bring us the future of retail innovation? For everyone else trying to stand out, that entails building a different marketplace, one that looks at the supply and demand parts of the two-sided system differently.

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More details on this session coming soon!

Tech & in-store services find the right fit. Why are returns still so high and what does the future of fit-technology look like? 

As travel was slowed for many of us recently, we would like to take you on an international store tour of awe-inspiring store concepts. Join Accenture's Karen Voelker to learn how retailers are delivering best-in-class experiences powered by technology and design to better understand and connect with shoppers along the customer journey.

Retailers and manufacturers pivoted to e-commerce in huge numbers during the pandemic. On the upside, it accelerated sales, but it also brought a reoccurring issue to the forefront: gray-market activities and counterfeits gained momentum. In 2020, Customs Border Protection seized "26,503 shipments containing goods that violated intellectual property rights.

Consumers today are shopping and paying differently, with the adoption of alternative payment solutions–including Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)–skyrocketing to reach over 45 million US consumers ages 14+ in 2021 alone. But the opportunity for retailers embracing innovative payment options doesn’t end at checkout. In this session, innovators in retail and payments will dive into how these platforms can help brands attract and retain new customers through dedicated marketing activities via social media, newsletters, unique shopping events and activations, and more.

For brands to reach consumers along their unique journeys, there are certain things they must deeply understand - their consumers' global, contextual, and individual needs. Brands must then deliver what is most relevant based on where that customer is at that very moment in time. WW Chief Product Officer, Lucinda Newcomb will discuss the overall impact of shifting consumer behavior in today’s rapidly evolving digital world, why not all data is created equal for determining impact and why she doesn’t use the word “personalization."

One of the most coveted marketing buzzwords today is ‘community’. Some brands have managed to create a community of loyal brand followers who buy their products and act as ambassadors – or even evangelists – promoting the brand in their personal and digital lives. So how did these brands do it?

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Well-known business ecosystems like JD.com and Alibaba have transformed the Chinese retail landscape in recent years. Integrating physical and digital retailing, payments, financial services, marketplaces, media and entertainment, these tightly connected technology platforms are spawning new retail business models that are built on expansive consumer bases and data. In addition, emerging ecosystems promise to reshape retail businesses amid competition among established and new platforms.

More details on this session coming soon!

More details on this session coming soon!