Latest / The Retail Podcast / How NRF’s Big Show Is Changing: AI Stage, Q&As & 40,000 Retail Pros

Transcript

How NRF’s Big Show Is Changing: AI Stage, Q&As & 40,000 Retail Pros · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome back to another fantastic and it is
• 0:03
  special. I know every single show that I
• 0:05
  do is special, but this is special because we're going to
• 0:08
  get to talk about a show that's only 38 days away.
• 0:12
  And that's right. It's the big show.
• 0:14
  And who better, who better in this universe to talk to about
• 0:19
  that show? Then Jill right after we get the
• 0:23
  credits. Jill, hello, Welcome back from
• 0:37
  Thanksgiving. Thank you so much hope hope you
• 0:40
  got maybe a little time off over response.
• 0:44
  It's gone way too long without seeing I was getting messages.
• 0:47
  What's happened to your USA show?
• 0:49
  Where's Jill? Where's Jill?
• 0:51
  38 days. Thank you for the countdown.
• 0:53
  I know 38 days. You know, everyone has like a
• 0:55
  little calendar here. We're counting down and then we
• 0:58
  all, we all take our break after much, much like the retailers,
• 1:05
  you are the best. We need to put you on our
• 1:07
  podcast now. It is, you know, we, we really,
• 1:12
  we like to represent the retailers and we can't have a
• 1:14
  show before Christmas. Of course, you kind of have to
• 1:16
  do it afterwards. So we are in the same, maybe not
• 1:19
  same similar time frame in terms of like delaying all the
• 1:23
  vacations and delaying all the, all the, you know, laying on a
• 1:26
  beach until in January. But we are so excited this this
• 1:30
  year. I don't know if we say this
• 1:31
  every year, but this year feels like one of the best speaker
• 1:34
  lineups we've ever had. And I'll explain why and I give
• 1:36
  some teasers, but really the theme this year is one of my
• 1:41
  favourites. It's the next now.
• 1:43
  I love a word play. I love a word play.
• 1:45
  And if any of your listeners also listen to you and I back in
• 1:48
  Paris, we talked about the theme that's it's really it's a global
• 1:51
  theme for 2026 for all. I noticed that yes.
• 1:54
  And you know, at first it was like, well, that makes sense
• 1:57
  from a marketing perspective. But what I love about it is we
• 1:59
  have 1 theme globally, but every market is a little different.
• 2:03
  So every market will take it to make it their own.
• 2:05
  So for the US market, which of course we have many over over
• 2:09
  100 countries usually come to the big show.
• 2:11
  So in the US. So this year, the next now is
• 2:14
  our theme. The word play means what's next
• 2:17
  is already here is now. I mean, think about these
• 2:20
  headlines we've seen you go from, you know, hearing about AI
• 2:23
  maybe last year did it. Now people are doing, you know,
• 2:26
  large percentages of shopping through AI generative, you know,
• 2:30
  shopping engines like that happened quickly.
• 2:33
  You know, it's just these hockey sticks.
• 2:34
  So it's about keeping up and keeping pace or trying to keep
• 2:38
  pace with technology moving so fast.
• 2:40
  So that's kind of the one. And then the next now also means
• 2:44
  really this next generation, the next generation that is
• 2:48
  replacing a lot of the workers that have been in the digit, you
• 2:52
  know, the digital world, the e-commerce world.
• 2:55
  A lot of those people are now, you know, lucky for them in the
• 3:00
  retirement age and they're going off and they're doing other
• 3:02
  things. And what that's getting replaced
• 3:04
  placed with is this generation that doesn't like to get content
• 3:09
  necessarily in the same ways that maybe, you know, the Gen
• 3:12
  Xers and a little bit older did what a lot of them have told us.
• 3:16
  And we've done, you know, focus groups.
• 3:18
  We've done one on ones, we've done all sorts of, you know,
• 3:20
  qualitative and quantitative research.
• 3:22
  They like to take part in the content and have a conversation.
• 3:26
  Well, that is wholly different than what we've done of 1 to
• 3:29
  many for many, many years. So what we've tried, and I'm,
• 3:32
  I'm leading the witness here so you can ask me what's new.
• 3:35
  What we've tried to do is really focus on that up and coming
• 3:38
  generation and give them content in a slightly different way
• 3:42
  without disrupting everything we've built.
• 3:44
  So yeah. I got you now.
• 3:45
  It's fantastic. I am really curious what for you
• 3:48
  are like the standout most different things in this year's
• 3:52
  show. Sure.
• 3:53
  No, it's a great question. And you're exactly right.
• 3:55
  You have 54000, four 5000 people sitting in the audience.
• 3:59
  Everyone wants something different.
• 4:01
  Yeah, but nobody necessarily knows what they want.
• 4:03
  They just know if they right, they just want to be there
• 4:06
  hopefully, but it's, it's really interesting because you can't,
• 4:10
  you know, you're not going to please every single person, but
• 4:12
  hopefully at the end of the day, they are learning.
• 4:15
  That is really number one, whether whether or not you
• 4:18
  thought going into that session you were going to learn
• 4:20
  something, if you come out learning to me that is, you
• 4:22
  know, ultimately a success for the retailers and the partners
• 4:25
  in the room. So what's new this year and
• 4:27
  what's the most exciting? Really, I'd want to highlight
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  kind of three main things. I'd be remiss if I didn't
• 4:32
  mention AI, of course, can't go a few minutes.
• 4:34
  So we have an entire AI stage. Now what that means is not that
• 4:39
  all the other 8 stages we have don't have AI on it, but we have
• 4:42
  1 stage that is only AI content. And we've really broken it out
• 4:46
  into just general AI and then a gentic AI that to a lot of
• 4:50
  people doesn't really have a big difference.
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  But to those in retail who are applying it at kind of that, you
• 4:56
  know, next level it does. Or have to apply it at speed
• 5:00
  right? At speed, right?
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  So there are sessions there. There are are round tables where
• 5:05
  you can sit with, you know, kind of experts who are either at a
• 5:09
  technology provider, they're independent, they're at
• 5:11
  consulting firms, they all have different, you know, really
• 5:14
  benefits that they can bring. So that's, that's a huge, huge
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  1. And that's up where the new
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  technology, the newest technology is up in the
• 5:21
  innovation area. We also call it the River
• 5:24
  Pavilion. So is that?
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  Is the River pavilion where your AI stage is?
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  Exactly. Yep, that's where it is.
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  So all the way kind of up and in the baffle is big windows,
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  beautiful. So go there #2 We're really
• 5:37
  trying to have the interactivity of the audience and the
• 5:40
  speakers. So we're adding speaker Q&A,
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  which is something we've never done.
• 5:45
  Not necessarily on stage because again, you only have 30 minutes.
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  It's not anything on stage, right?
• 5:51
  I mean, that's like it goes by really quickly, hopefully.
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  But separately up on level 5 where the keynotes are right
• 5:58
  outside the keynote room, not when keynotes are going.
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  Of course, we will have a separate stage where you can go
• 6:03
  ask the speaker. So we're trying to do it where
• 6:05
  it's right after their session so you can go over and ask the
• 6:08
  speaker what you didn't get to ask in the room.
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  So if it's a panel, we're trying to put the whole panel on there
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  if it's just one person. So we're trying to add that
• 6:16
  element. And you know, we have those.
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  I think it's 12:50 every day of the show, Sunday, Monday,
• 6:21
  Tuesday. The third thing is, you know, in
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  the rooms, we're trying also to use technology that is a little
• 6:27
  more interactive. So whether it's voting on, you
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  know, when the speaker asks the question to the audience,
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  someone can vote, whether it's up voting a question or up
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  voting, you know, a topic so that they can pivot.
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  We're trying to have the speakers and the audience have a
• 6:42
  little more interaction. That's not one too many.
• 6:45
  Yeah. So we're trying a lot of new
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  things there. We're passing around, you know,
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  iPad tablets for ratings during the session.
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  So people don't forget. We're just we're trying to a lot
• 6:54
  of new things. And we are always happy for
• 6:56
  feedback and ways that people want to hear content.
• 6:59
  So we'll continue to iterate on that.
• 7:01
  It's a big thing to do with 40 more than 40,000 people.
• 7:05
  We're gonna try. I mean, yeah, it's anyway, I'm
• 7:09
  just thinking. That where is, I know what
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  you're gonna ask. We're aiming for over 40,000
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  like normal, aiming for over 100 countries like normal.
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  And you know, usually around 1/3 of those are international, 1/3
• 7:20
  of the 40,000. So, you know, we're aiming, it
• 7:23
  looks really good given all the economic uncertainty we had, you
• 7:26
  know, all through the summer, we were a little nervous about
• 7:29
  visas. But it's, it's tracking really
• 7:31
  well. And fingers crossed everyone can
• 7:33
  come that wants to come. Yeah, and, and, and putting
• 7:35
  aside that you've got 2 flagship events in Singapore and Paris
• 7:39
  for the first, no, second and first.
• 7:41
  Yeah, I, I think it's incredible.
• 7:44
  I mean, listen, I as as a punter, as they would say in the
• 7:47
  UK, I've been going for 15 years and I've got 222 people who work
• 7:51
  for me going this year. And I've, and I've said to them,
• 7:54
  if you like something, get there 20 minutes early, right?
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  If you, if there is a talk you want to be in there, get in that
• 8:00
  room. Otherwise you're going to be on
• 8:01
  a pair of headphones sat outside.
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  Bigger thank you for introducing that.
• 8:07
  Where if you couldn't get into the room, you could at least go
• 8:10
  and listen to it, which was frustrating but understandable.
• 8:14
  Totally the overflow I know and it's, you know, the good and the
• 8:17
  bad of the big show is it's big and we are out of room.
• 8:21
  We've been out of room since they opened the new the N hall
• 8:25
  five years ago. We're at we're still out of
• 8:27
  room. I don't know.
• 8:28
  It's a great problem to have it, you know, first world problems.
• 8:31
  I understand, but it is it's frustrating.
• 8:33
  So absolutely like. But I really, really I was that
• 8:36
  was a lifesaver because I felt like some of the talks I just I
• 8:40
  really for me was really important because maybe I had to
• 8:42
  write, do a write up on it or take some insights away from it
• 8:45
  and I couldn't get in the room. But anyway, so there isn't one.
• 8:48
  But maybe in terms of focus areas, like where is some call
• 8:53
  out apart from Ryan Gosling apart?
• 8:55
  Like who are those like key speaking you're excited about or
• 8:59
  maybe haven't done NRF before and it's their first time coming
• 9:02
  to the show? That's no other all good ways to
• 9:05
  look at it. We always start, it's, you know,
• 9:07
  tradition. This is our 107th show.
• 9:12
  We always start with our chairman of her award
• 9:15
  interviewing someone or being interviewed.
• 9:17
  So this year, obviously our chairman of the board is Bob
• 9:20
  Eddy. He's chairman and CEO PJ's
• 9:22
  Wholesale. He's actually going to be
• 9:23
  interviewing someone. We've turned the tables, which
• 9:26
  is Ed Stack, who was the founder and executive chairman of Dick's
• 9:30
  Sporting Goods. And Bob actually sits on the
• 9:33
  Dick's Sporting Goods board. So he knows he knows all the
• 9:36
  secrets. So that's that's going to be a
• 9:38
  great one to start off with. Followed right after with our
• 9:42
  outgoing chairman of the board last year, John Ferner, recently
• 9:45
  named new president and CEO of Walmart Global.
• 9:49
  He is the sitting U.S. President and CEO until end of
• 9:53
  January. But incredible.
• 9:54
  He's interviewing Sundar Pichai, the founder of Alphabet, Google,
• 9:59
  Yeah, all, all of the, all of the, all the things there.
• 10:03
  So that is Sunday morning. We start off with Bob and then
• 10:07
  we end the morning with John Ferner and in between?
• 10:10
  Dramatics. Fanatics, we look, it is Michael
• 10:16
  Rubin, right? Michael Rubin has, he's a
• 10:19
  genius. He has done unbelievably well in
• 10:22
  everything he's done. But Fanatics is a story of just
• 10:26
  utter entrepreneurship. So he's going to be on stage and
• 10:29
  he does not speak a lot. So this was a huge, huge gap for
• 10:32
  our team and we're we couldn't be more excited.
• 10:34
  I'd love to because they're expanding over to Europe, so I'm
• 10:37
  really excited seeing what he looks.
• 10:39
  Like, no, it'll be it'll be wonderful.
• 10:40
  I mean, we have all sort all sorts of another, another.
• 10:44
  I don't know. I don't know the person is
• 10:45
  you've always wanted to get like another wish list person is Fran
• 10:49
  Horowitz. She's the CEO of Abercrombie and
• 10:52
  Fitch. Yep, he is an absolute.
• 10:56
  Nothing exemplifies more of a leader than what she has done.
• 10:59
  You know, a year or so, a quick turn around.
• 11:02
  It hasn't been, she's been there for more than a decade.
• 11:05
  She typically just focuses on the business and it's not on the
• 11:08
  speaking circuit. And we are honouring her this
• 11:10
  year as from our NRF Foundation as the visionary, the retail
• 11:15
  visionary of the year. So she has agreed to also come
• 11:18
  and speak. And so she'll be speaking with
• 11:19
  Matt Shea, our boss, our CEO here at NRF on stage Monday
• 11:24
  morning. So that is, that is an
• 11:26
  incredible, incredible win. Following up, you know some
• 11:29
  other, you name a brand, I feel like they're on Settle.
• 11:32
  There. So many good winners this year.
• 11:34
  It's not just they're not just there, their executives are
• 11:37
  there. And I think that's the other key
• 11:38
  point why people come to NRF is to meet those exec me listen to.
• 11:43
  Have them walk the floor and get to meet them and not just had to
• 11:46
  be an in and out. I mean, that's something we we
• 11:48
  strive for, you know. And this year we're also, I'm
• 11:51
  pushing the envelope a little bit with content.
• 11:53
  So we have Gary Vee. Don't know if you know, I'm Gary
• 11:56
  Vee. Yeah.
• 11:56
  OK, Gary's. Coming so.
• 11:58
  Gary, you're raised right. So he's.
• 12:00
  He's brilliant, he's phenomenal, but he is not always in the box.
• 12:04
  He's not always G rated. So look, but I think the
• 12:08
  industry responds to a little bit of like you have to hear
• 12:12
  this now and these are, they're not platitudes right there.
• 12:15
  It's not a press release. It is, It is.
• 12:17
  Sometimes it's hard facts and it's hard to hear and sometimes
• 12:20
  it's scary to hear. So we have Gary Vee starting off
• 12:22
  Tuesday morning and then we'll end the day with Jason Goldberg,
• 12:27
  who is one of our NRF darlings, talking about what does the
• 12:30
  future hold, both from an AI perspective, but also more of a
• 12:33
  global perspective. So it's really, really some
• 12:37
  great content coming your way. It's such an understatement.
• 12:41
  You've got Ben Francis, for God's sake, who's the founder of
• 12:44
  Jim Shark? Every teenage.
• 12:48
  And Emma Greed from Good American.
• 12:50
  I mean, talk about powerhouses. Harley.
• 12:53
  Harley really brings some of his best when he was on stage, Yeah.
• 12:56
  It's very, very cool. OK, So listen, we're coming to
• 13:01
  towards the end, yes, you've got 2 visitors who come to NRF, long
• 13:06
  standing grey haired old women, not grey people who have been in
• 13:11
  the industry a while. And then you've got the fresh,
• 13:13
  you've got young people like for me, I'm bringing people who've
• 13:16
  never been to NRF with me and this is their first.
• 13:19
  They're in their 20s actually, right.
• 13:22
  And so I'm just really curious how you think about, you know,
• 13:25
  fresh people that are coming for the first time.
• 13:27
  What should they know and watch? How should they prepare?
• 13:31
  And then for the for the. We'll call them the Stalwarts.
• 13:36
  Yes, Yes. Not, not old.
• 13:39
  Not old exactly. How should they prepare for this
• 13:43
  year's? I'm just curious in your
• 13:44
  thoughts. No, they're great questions.
• 13:46
  I mean, two things for both groups.
• 13:48
  One and honestly the most important, wear comfortable
• 13:50
  shoes. Just wear trainers or sneakers.
• 13:53
  It is not it is cement. It is a lot of walking.
• 13:57
  It is miles, miles and miles of walking.
• 14:00
  So please, you know, go support your local Steve Madden or Nike
• 14:04
  or Adidas or any any and buy some comfortable could not be
• 14:08
  more important. Number 2 is plan show.
• 14:11
  You will inevitably find 6 million people you know walking
• 14:16
  in between. It is essentially a 20 minute
• 14:18
  walk from one end to the other without interruptions.
• 14:21
  Yeah. Well, if you so plan your
• 14:23
  agenda, you can go on obviously to our website in the coming
• 14:27
  days, hopefully days, we will have a schedule builder where
• 14:31
  you can put in some of your interests.
• 14:32
  So let's say it's Omni channel and AI and you know, digital and
• 14:36
  it will kind of build out a schedule for you and help you
• 14:39
  deconflict and hopefully you won't wind up going back and
• 14:42
  forth and back and forth 100 times a day.
• 14:45
  So that's one way is really plan your attack.
• 14:47
  Make the meetings ahead of time. The app is really good for
• 14:50
  connecting with people you want directly.
• 14:52
  So plan out your day just like you would at work and leave
• 14:56
  yourself a little extra time, but plan for all the happy
• 14:58
  hours, plan for all the networking events.
• 15:00
  If you're into Joe Jonas, which I am, my kids stay at the Grinch
• 15:05
  to be into him. But I love him so much.
• 15:07
  There's a concert Monday night and you can get access once you
• 15:10
  buy your All Access ticket. So there's all sorts of fun
• 15:13
  things to do. But it is exhausting, I know.
• 15:16
  But go in with the plan of those three days of just being
• 15:19
  networking, trying to meet new people.
• 15:21
  You never know who you're going to meet.
• 15:23
  Partnerships are born out of far less than the big shows.
• 15:26
  So give yourself those three days to really have no
• 15:28
  distractions and just be present and be there.
• 15:31
  And at the end of the day, you know, you will come away
• 15:35
  learning, you'll come away with friends, you'll come away with
• 15:37
  valuable colleagues, and hopefully you will come away
• 15:41
  just, you know, a little bit smarter to go back to your
• 15:43
  business. 100% one, 100% you'll, you'll lead with something.
• 15:48
  It's always a pleasure and it has been 14 years.
• 15:51
  So anyway, yo, thank you so much and I look forward to speaking
• 15:56
  to you next time on the show. Sounds great and everyone else
• 15:59
  will see you in 38 days. 38 days bye bye.