Session Topics

Navigate consumer shifts and harness exponential tech 

Creating a seamless customer experience is more important and more complex than ever before. Marketing sets the customer expectations, digital creates online and mobile touchpoints, and IT ensures the technology infrastructure supports customer interactions. 

Over the course of three days at NRF Nexus, explore ambitious ideas and take away actionable insights from retail professionals leading marketing, technology and digital operations at the industry’s most innovative companies. See how they are working with their teams to ideate, craft and execute unique experiences to stay ahead. 

Individuals speaking at Nexus.

Get a glimpse of retail's future frontiers

NRF Nexus is like a time machine, giving you the ability to see into the future by discussing the technology, trends and strategies that will move your business forward. So hop on in and explore these top-of-mind, relevant and forward-thinking topics!

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Consumer Trends 2025 and beyond

Forward-looking consumer insights inform valuable strategies for retailers. Know your consumers and stay ahead of lifestyle shifts with unrivaled insight into the way they’ll think, feel and behave for years to come. Through detailed and accurate consumer forecasts, hear how consumer behaviors, interests and tastes will shape how consumers live, work and play. Understand how to anticipate big lifestyle shifts within and between generation groups and develop products and services that meet consumer needs.  

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The evolution of customer engagement with GenAI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping retailers’ relationships with their customers, delivering personalized experiences at scale and driving growth. Deepen your understanding of the role of GenAI across the customer engagement lifecycle and its impact on how future customer experiences will be designed, delivered, and scaled.

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AI transforming the retail enterprise

AI (including GenAI) is transforming the retail enterprise internally. Understand the broad impacts AI-enabled solutions are having in areas such as product design, customer support, content development, and no-code/low-code IT development.

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Tech’s role in marketing innovation

Innovation in marketing technology (MarTech) is unlocking force-multiplier value for retailers in reaching, acquiring, and retaining a broad customer base. Discover the latest technologies and strategies that support the rise of authentic content marketing, chatbots, voice search, data analytics related to consumer intent, social media marketing, and engaging user experiences. Hear about new advances in cloud technology, new adtech models, the fast-maturing frontier of retail media networks, and the challenges that retailers face with effective marketing due to new privacy controls.

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Supercharging Unified Commerce

The future of unified commerce will evolve through advanced technology, integrating AI, IoT, and data analytics for deeper customer insights and personalized experiences. Learn how the next generation of unified commerce promises to redefine shopping experiences by creating more seamless, real-time transactions across multiple touchpoints, combined with fast-evolving technologies like augmented reality and voice commerce. This evolution will focus on further enhancing convenience, personalization, and predictive strategies, thereby reshaping the retail landscape and consumer interactions in a more tech-savvy and customer-centric manner.

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Social Commerce Trends and Predictions

In the near-term future, social commerce envisions the seamless integration of shopping within social media platforms, employing advanced AI for personalized recommendations and interactive experiences. Social commerce is evolving into a dynamic space where influencers and user-generated content drive purchasing decisions, blurring the lines between entertainment, social interaction, and e-commerce. Convenience, personalization, and community-driven shopping experiences will revolutionize how many customers discover and buy products online. Understand how to prepare for the next generation of social commerce.

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New Advances in Augmented Reality

Recent advancements in Augmented Reality (AR)and Virtual Reality (VR) technology have the potential to reshape the retail landscape. Enhanced AR applications enable virtual try-on experiences, allowing customers to visualize products in their environment. Hear how these evolving technologies are helping to bridge the gap between physical and digital retail, offering novel and customized shopping experiences.

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The Shrinking Divide between Technology, Digital, and Marketing Leaders

A notable leadership transformation is underway as information technology, digital/ecommerce, and marketing teams find themselves working together more closely, and in some respects now have overlapping roles and responsibilities. Leaders across these domains need to embrace a new era of integration and collaboration to drive new growth strategies. How can leaders prepare to manage cross-functional teams that encompass tech, digital and marketing expertise?

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Data Stewardship and Governance in Retail

Many of the governance challenges that retailers are facing in privacy, cybersecurity and AI all boil down to the core issue of how retail organizations are stewarding and governing their company’s data. Learn how retail leaders can more efficiently manage and control data access and ensure accountability and compliance with existing laws and regulations.

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Tech and Digital Strategies from Port to Porch

The modern retail supply chain integrates an ecosystem of many partnerships taking products from cargo ships to consumers’ homes. Supply chain, fulfillment and last-mile delivery partners can play an important role as an extension of the retail enterprise, and their performance can either improve or harm retailers’ relationships with their customers. Learn how to more effectively leverage your supply chain and develop partnerships that deliver on your customers’ brand expectations.

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The Role of Strategic Investing in Guiding Innovation and Getting Retailers into the Investment Game

This panel discusses the recent trend in strategic investing wherein retailers invest in start-up businesses. It answers questions, such as: why is it that large retailers from Walmart to Dollar General and Kroger are making investments in start-ups and tech companies? How can founders harness these opportunities as opposed to traditional venture capital? What are the benefits and downsides?

Embrace future frontiers

Whether it’s experiencing idea-generating presentations from visionary leaders in conference keynotes or forming opportunity-opening connections in expert-led think tanks, here’s what you’ll explore.

Omnichannel technologies and strategies
The Future of Commerce
The retail industry has undergone significant changes in recent years, with the rise of e-commerce, mobile commerce, and social commerce disrupting traditional retail models. Hear about the current state of commerce in retail, including trends, challenges, and opportunities using the latest data and insights on consumer behavior, preferences, and expectations. Learn valuable insights and actionable strategies to help drive growth and success retail businesses.
AI Automation
Consumer Trends 2025 and beyond
Forward-looking consumer insights inform valuable strategies for retailers. Know your consumers and stay ahead of lifestyle shifts with unrivalled insight into the way they’ll think, feel and behave for years to come. Through detailed and accurate consumer forecasts, hear how consumer behaviors, interests and tastes will shape how consumers live, work and play. Understand how to anticipate big lifestyle shifts within and between generation groups and develop products and services that meet consumer needs.
MarTech innovation
AI Today and Tomorrow
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being put to the test, in many cases learning from past years’ tire-kick-testing to provide real-world solutions and core capabilities across the retail enterprise. Sessions will offer practitioner insights on AI uses cases that are up and running today to enhance productivity and agility, breakdown barriers for tech, digital and ecommerce leaders, and provide sustained positive results to fuel future investments in AI across the enterprise.
Next-gen customer experience
MarTech Innovation
Explore how disruption is driving innovation and unlocking force-multiplier value for retailers through new marketing technology capabilities. Discover the latest technologies and strategies that support the rise of authentic content marketing, chatbots, voice search, data analytics related to consumer intent, social media marketing, and engaging user experiences. Don't miss this opportunity to stay ahead of the curve and learn from top industry experts. 
Hyper-personalization and CRM
Supercharging Unified Commerce
The future of unified commerce will evolve through advanced technology, integrating AI, IoT, and data analytics for deeper customer insights and personalized experiences. Learn how the next generation of unified commerce promises to redefine shopping experiences by creating more seamless, real-time transactions across multiple touchpoints, combined with fast-evolving technologies like augmented reality and voice commerce. This evolution will focus on further enhancing convenience, personalization, and predictive strategies, thereby reshaping the retail landscape and consumer interactions in a more tech-savvy and customer-centric manner. 
Hyper-personalization and CRM
What’s New in Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics in retail continually evolves to personalize experiences, optimize inventory, and refine pricing strategies. Advancements in customer segmentation, AI-driven recommendations, and sentiment analysis drive tailored marketing and product offerings. Predictive maintenance, supply chain optimization, and fraud prevention streamline operations. Augmented reality and virtual reality enhance immersive shopping experiences. Hear what’s coming in the constant innovation that’s shaping retail analytics, ensuring responsive strategies and improved customer satisfaction. 
Hyper-personalization and CRM
The Future of Social Commerce
In the near-term future, social commerce envisions the seamless integration of shopping within social media platforms, employing advanced AI for personalized recommendations and interactive experiences. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will redefine product visualization, enhancing user engagement. Social commerce will evolve into a dynamic space where influencers and user-generated content drive purchasing decisions, blurring the lines between entertainment, social interaction, and e-commerce. Convenience, personalization, and community-driven shopping experiences will dominate, revolutionizing how people discover and buy products online. Understand how to prepare for the next generation of social commerce. 
Research/Consumer Trends
Advances in AR/VR
Recent advancements in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are reshaping the retail landscape. Enhanced AR applications enable virtual try-on experiences, allowing customers to visualize products in their environment. New advancements in VR, like Apple’s new Apple Vision Pro headset, facilitates immersive shopping environments, enabling customers to explore products in a simulated space. Innovations in AI-powered recommendation systems and interactive experiences are revolutionizing online shopping, providing a personalized and interactive approach for consumers. Hear how these technologies are bridging the gap between physical and digital retail, offering an engaging, convenient, and customized shopping experience.

Changing consumers. Exponential tech. Industry transformation.

Creating an effortless and enjoyable customer experience is more important and more complex than ever before. Over the course of three days at NRF Nexus, explore ambitious ideas and take away actionable insights from retail professionals leading marketing, technology and digital operations at the industry’s most innovative companies.

Topics at NRF NEXUS