The Agenda

The number of women leading Fortune 500 companies hit a record in 2021, with retail and consumer goods companies accounting for one-third of the total. Still, women’s representation remains far below parity at the C-level. In this session, retail executives will share how they’re sponsoring and empowering tomorrow’s women leaders.

Brands and retailers of all sizes are launching new business models like recommerce and subscriptions to meet changing consumer preferences. In this session, leaders from established retailers and innovative startups will discuss the processes and technologies they’re leveraging to operationalize these new business models, as well as the successes and challenges they've encountered.

Europe is home to some of the world’s most exciting retail innovations. From changes in physical store design to the rapid rise of ecommerce to innovations in logistics, the market is rapidly evolving to meet changing consumer preferences and get products in their hands. In this session, retail leaders from across Europe will discuss the region’s latest innovations and how the market is evolving.

This dynamic session will showcase 15 innovative, early-stage retail tech startups, one of which will win the option for a $100,000 investment from Shoptalk Ventures, courtesy of Commerce Ventures! Each Founder/CEO has 3 minutes to introduce their solution and explain how it solves key industry challenges. Our "Shark Reef" judges will bite into each technology with pointed questions. The audience and our sharks will rate each startup, with a Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice winner announced at the end.

Due to a tight labor market, increasing demand for digital skills and shifting workplace dynamics, the competition for digital talent is fierce. This session will address how companies identify and recruit the right talent, as well as how they’re incentivizing their existing workforce to stay and embrace new technologies.

Healthy products are no longer enough for consumers, who increasingly seek products that support their overall well-being. They’re prioritizing food, personal care and other products that positively impact their bodies, and services that boost their overall health. In this session, a retail leader will share how her company is creating these new offerings and educating shoppers about their benefits.

Healthy products are no longer enough for consumers, who increasingly seek products that support their overall well-being. They’re prioritizing food, personal care and other products that positively impact their bodies, and services that boost their overall health. In this session, companies will share how they’re creating these new offerings and educating shoppers about their benefits.

Over half of ecommerce sales globally come from China, which boasts some of the most cutting-edge retail technologies and business models spanning physical and digital retail. In this session, we'll hear how social commerce, superapps, robotics and other technologies are creating new retail experiences in China and what these innovations mean for the US.

Leaders today must combine expertise, empathy, creativity and resilience. They must understand the latest technologies and business models, know how to navigate organizational politics and inspire their teams through challenging times. In this dynamic session, two CEOs will discuss how they prepared themselves to thrive as leaders in a fast-changing industry.

Funding to digitally savvy consumer startups has rebounded, with companies focused on wellness and convenience reaping many of the benefits. Meanwhile, the emergence of rollup companies, which are snapping up marketplace brands, is also reshaping the landscape. In this session, leading investors will discuss the consumer trends and business models that present retail’s greatest opportunities.

Latin America became the fastest-growing ecommerce market during the pandemic, catapulting a region where digital penetration had previously stalled at 5%. In this session, the region’s retail leaders will discuss its transformation and remaining challenges, which range from a largely unbanked population to complex fulfillment and delivery logistics.

To more seamlessly guide the omnichannel consumer along their shopping journey, smart retailers and brands are revisiting their internal organizational structures and processes, so that departments such as operations, marketing, and ecommerce are all in sync. In this Track Keynote, two senior leaders will share how cross-functional teams, breaking down data silos, and other tactics are driving a more connected shopping experience in their respective organizations.

Consumers today expect retailers to tailor their online shopping experiences to their preferences and buying habits. Retailers are also adopting clienteling and customer service technologies that empower their associates to offer personal service in stores. This session will feature industry leaders discussing online and offline personalization tactics that create more relevant, engaging shopping experiences.

In 2023, Sweden will become the first country to officially phase out cash, even as paper money still pays for 80% of retail transactions in places like Germany and Japan. This session kicks off with research highlighting how markets around the globe are shifting towards digital payments and introducing new, easier ways to pay for goods. Following the presentation, a multinational retailer and global buy-now-pay-later provider building its own marketplace will share how they are making purchases faster and more convenient for shoppers.

This session features technologies that are improving retail sustainability. Each company’s Founder/CEO will present their technology, followed by a group discussion on how technology can benefit both the bottom line and the planet.

This session's presentations will feature insightful new research that helps retailers and brands keep pace with today's fast-changing consumer behaviors and preferences.

The average consumer now uses stores, online and mobile throughout their shopper journey, making the path to purchase more complex. Through a series of conversations, executives from retailers and brands will share how they’re collecting and combining data across channels, and how they’re using these insights to create a cohesive omnichannel shopping experience.

Instilling loyalty presents challenges in an age of unparalleled consumer choice. Consumers are highly aware of their options, and the desire for novelty runs contrary to sticking with the tried-and-true. In this session, we'll hear from three industry leaders about the tactics and technologies that have helped their companies keep consumers coming back.

With research pegging ecommerce cart abandonment rates as high as 80%, online conversion continues to be a major industry challenge. While many factors can drive a consumer to give up on a purchase, organizations that can improve checkout experiences stand to bring in more successful transactions. This session will feature companies providing one-click checkout, a simplified user experience and other offerings to make checkout more seamless.

This session features technologies reinventing fulfillment. Each company’s Founder/CEO will present their technology, followed by a group discussion on how automation and other technologies reduce fulfillment cost and increase speed and efficiency.

This session's presentations will feature thought-provoking new research examining diverse forces reshaping the retail industry: inflation, the rise of retail media networks and the growing sustainability imperative.

Product recommendation engines, natural language processing, and visual and voice search capabilities are helping consumers discover products digitally in new ways. Offline, innovative store models designed to drive trial are introducing shoppers to entirely new products in an engaging, interactive environment. This session will feature retailers and brands discussing their evolving strategies for product discovery and the results they're seeing.

Brands and retailers have an abundance of first- and third-party data at their fingertips. This session will explore how industry leaders are effectively collecting, analyzing and acting on insights from this data to improve their offering and build a better customer experience.

Buy Now, Pay Later programs and contactless payments are just two of many payment offerings seeing increased adoption as shoppers press for convenience and choice in how they make purchases online and in-store. In this Track Keynote, hear how a sound payment strategy can deliver increased basket sizes, more shopping visits and ultimately stronger brand loyalty.

This session features technologies that optimize the last mile. Each company’s Founder/CEO will present their technology, followed by a group discussion on how retailers are keeping up with increasing consumer expectations for fast, easy pickup and delivery.

This session's presentations will feature actionable new research examining the outlook for retail industry employment, spanning frontline workers, labor in manufacturing and corporate employees.

As companies seek to market their products online with the same richness and immediacy they do in the real world, livestreaming and shoppable video stand out as huge opportunities. US livestreaming is in its early days, but growing fast: shopping via livestreaming is expected to triple to $35 billion by 2024. This session will help companies understand how to develop a livestream and shoppable video strategy, from selecting the right platforms to engaging viewers and driving conversion.

Retailers have embraced the need to source a wider array of products from diverse suppliers. Commitments like the 15% Pledge are one motivator, but serving an increasingly diverse customer base is also pushing merchants in this direction. This session will feature executives from three companies that are diversifying their products and suppliers, speaking to how they identify new partners, how they promote their products to shoppers, and the results they are seeing.

Over half of global consumers say that sustainability is important to them when choosing a brand, prompting companies to reformulate products and redesign packaging to reduce waste and improve environmental footprints. This Track Keynote will feautre the CEO of a leading startup who will discuss the innovative steps he's taken toward product and packaging sustainability.

Over half of global consumers say that sustainability is important to them when choosing a brand, prompting companies to reformulate products and redesign packaging to reduce waste and improve environmental footprints. This panel discussion features two brand leaders who will discuss the innovative steps they've taken toward product and packaging sustainability.

This Track Keynote addresses the rise of new payment offerings like one-click checkout and efforts to build a more seamless checkout experience for shoppers. It features the CEO of a major payments solution, speaking to how simplifying checkout creates measurable benefits for retailers.

In this panel discussion, tech company Founders/CEOs will share how the payments landscape is changing in-store and online to make checkout faster, simpler and more convenient for consumers.

This interactive workshop will offer a framework for assessing marketing KPIs in today's complex landscape. Attendees will learn about modern marketing effectiveness metrics and how best to select the optimal metric for the goals of a specific campaign.

In this fast-paced session, three industry experts will share their unfiltered perspectives on a list of nine digital technologies in a game-show style format. They will debate technologies ranging from visual search to virtual try-on to the latest generation of chatbots and more, with a critical eye to what will move the needle for retailers versus what's overhyped.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands have many paths to success. While some remain fiercely ecommerce-focused, many have partnered with brick-and-mortar retailers or with other new or established brands to reach new customers and increase their scale. This session will feature leaders of blockbuster DTC brands discussing how they have evaluated partnership opportunities and the benefits to both sides of forging strategic alliances.

Today many consumers and retailers believe it is no longer enough for firms to do less harm to the environment. Rather, companies are expected to actively improve the state of the planet. This session will feature retailers that have embraced the regenerative philosophy, outlining their journeys toward better environmental stewardship.

Today many consumers and retailers believe it is no longer enough for firms to do less harm to the environment. Rather, companies are expected to actively improve the state of the planet. This session will feature retailers that have embraced the regenerative philosophy, outlining their journeys toward better environmental stewardship.

This session features technologies transforming physical store operations. Each company’s Founder/CEO will present their solution, followed by a group discussion on how physical stores are taking on the best traits of ecommerce and becoming more efficient.

Consumers increasingly expect businesses to take a stand on hot-button issues and play a role in bettering the world. However, for marketers to tell their brand story authentically, they must first define the company’s purpose, be transparent about their progress and challenges, and work cross-functionally to ensure these values are reflected across the organization. This session will offer concrete advice for firms that want to incorporate their purpose authentically in their marketing messaging.

The past two years presented wide-ranging challenges to retailers, as the goods consumers prioritize, the supply chains that deliver them and the ways shoppers buy them all transformed. In this session, senior retail leaders will discuss the new technologies and business models they've embraced to succeed during retail's rapid transformation as well as what the next six to 12 months will hold.

Gen Z is shaping up to be more diverse, better educated and vastly more digitally savvy than any before. Brands and retailers are examining this generation's defining characteristics to create products and experiences attuned to their needs. In this session, executives at three youth-oriented companies will discuss Gen Z consumers' preferences and behaviors, and how these are shaping product and marketing decisions.

The strains on the global supply chain have gone from a niche topic to a major focus of the mainstream media. Companies that source ingredients, components or finished products from overseas have faced unprecedented challenges working with suppliers and shippers. This session will feature senior leaders discussing the problems they have faced, how they have worked around them and their outlook for the coming year.

This session features innovative digital commerce solutions, including VR, social and other engaging shopping experiences. Each company’s Founder/CEO will present their technology, followed by a group discussion on making online shopping more fun and immersive.

Ecommerce spending continues to grow by double digits, and is forecast to cross the $1 trillion threshold in the US in 2022. Retailers and brands must therefore ensure their digital capabilities are state-of-the-art. This workshop will give attendees a framework for assessing how their digital capabilities stack up, and for prioritizing features ranging from personalization and curbside pickup to realtime online and in-store product availability.

Brands today are constantly evolving, driven by social media, consumer sentiment, and the expectation that they take a stand on social issues. They're also navigating the shift to DTC while maintaining and striking new relationships with distribution partners. In this session, three senior executives will discuss what it means to be a "brand" today, and the tools and tactics they use to build, maintain and protect their brands.

In this fast-paced session, three industry experts will share their unfiltered perspectives on changing consumer behavior. In a time-limited, game-show style format, they will debate and discuss behavioral shifts like values-based shopping, declining loyalty and the prioritization of health and well-being.

As the competition for ultrafast delivery heats up, retailers and brands are leaning into localized delivery to get products in consumers’ hands faster. In this Track Keynote, an executive from a leading last-mile delivery company will discuss the changing local delivery landscape, including the growth of virtual stores, the evolving role of retailers’ local footprints, and the outlook for ultrafast delivery.

In 2021, supply chain and logistics technology funding reached $33 billion, an 86% percent increase year-over-year. Startups are taking on cash to solve major pain points in the supply chain, from technologies addressing visibility to ecommerce fulfillment. In this session, investors and researchers will discuss the areas of the supply chain seeing the most technological disruption and offer advice on how retailers and brands can smartly leverage innovative solutions to improve their supply chain.

This session features solutions focused on product and merchandising. Each company’s Founder/CEO will present their technology, followed by a group discussion on how brands and retailers can more efficiently develop products, find one another and transact in a crowded and complex retail landscape.

Very few companies solve their ecommerce challenges entirely in-house. Digital complexity, the rapid pace of change and high build costs prompt most retailers and brands to work with multiple vendors to enable omnichannel shopping and delivery. In this interactive session, attendees will hear tactics for evaluating technology companies from a capability and profitability perspective, as well as how to make these partnerships beneficial for both parties.

Senior marketers today require a skillset that marries storytelling art with data science. They also need to keep up with fast-changing technology and media landscapes as marketing becomes more about precisely tailored, relevant conversations with individuals. In this session, C-level executives from brands and retailers will dive into these changes and more as they discuss the future of marketing.

Consumers' perceptions of convenience are changing as they rethink the value of their time and how they spend it. Today, convenience isn't just about speed; it's also about anticipating and catering to the consumer's needs, making shopping easier both online and in-store. This session will feature companies that are taking creative approaches to removing the friction from discovering and buying products.

Disrupted supply chains continue to cause unforeseen shortages, driving up costs for most goods. As a result, suppliers and retailers are prioritizing investments to make their supply chains more flexible and adaptable as they grapple with limited availability of raw materials, reduced shipping capacity and swings in consumer demand. In this session, executives will share the technologies and strategies that are proving effective at building a resilient supply chain.

Disrupted supply chains continue to cause unforeseen shortages, driving up costs for most goods. As a result, suppliers and retailers are prioritizing investments to make their supply chains more flexible and adaptable as they grapple with limited availability of raw materials, reduced shipping capacity and swings in consumer demand. In this session, executives will share the technologies and strategies that are proving effective at building a resilient supply chain.

This session features leading-edge personalization technologies. Each company’s Founder/CEO will present their solution, followed by a group discussion on how customer expectations make tailored, personalized shopping experiences an imperative.

The profitability of ecommerce businesses varies significantly based on retail vertical, scale and other factors. The ongoing need for technology upgrades and investments can weigh on a company’s bottom line, as can unexpected spikes in fulfillment and delivery costs. This workshop will offer a framework for holistically assessing the health of a digital business and identifying opportunities to improve efficiencies.

Accelerated by the spike in ecommerce, the purpose and role of stores is changing, as are the factors that motivate consumers to shop one versus another. This session will feature three companies introducing new store formats, experiences and services that complement their online offerings in order to attract shoppers and keep them coming back.

In digital marketing, the "death of the cookie" has long been foretold. But with Google joining Apple and Mozilla in dropping support for third-party cookies in 2023, that moment may have arrived. This session will feature a brief presentation by an industry expert, followed by a conversation with executives discussing how and where they are shifting their media budgets to maximize ROI and accountability.

Consumers have grown accustomed to fast and free returns. In 2021, returns exceeded 15% of all US retail sales. In this session, three retail leaders who view reverse logistics as an opportunity to increase satisfaction, grow loyalty and ultimately improve the business will share the technologies and tactics they’re employing.

Marketplaces offer brands a way to reach consumers outside their traditional retail sales channels. Brands use marketplaces to test new products, launch exclusive items or offload excess inventory. This session will examine the changing role of marketplaces, including the opportunities and challenges different marketplaces present.

Although the concept of the metaverse is decades old, retailers and brands have recently begun paying renewed attention to this immersive vision of the internet. They’re experimenting with technologies ranging from VR to NFTs, and creating virtual products, communities and stores. In this session, an expert will define the technologies that support the metaverse and discuss the near-term opportunities and pitfalls for brands and retailers.

Analog and still largely human-powered, store operations sometimes bear unfavorable comparison to digital’s ability to efficiently and accurately track, measure and control nearly every aspect of the business. However, retailers are increasingly building and buying solutions that bring digital efficiency to the challenges of running physical stores. In this session, retail executives will discuss the tools and technologies helping them analyze and optimize store operations.

Social media platforms are quickly evolving from content venues to commerce venues. Additionally, new ecommerce capabilities enable online shopping to be a shared, social experience. In this session, three leaders will discuss the state of social commerce, sharing their thoughts on the features and capabilities that enhance shopping and on the future of social buying.

Consumer expectations around delivery speed are accelerating. Interest in two-day shipping has begun to wane in favor of same-day pickup and services that can fulfill and deliver goods in hours, if not minutes. This session will feature brands and retailers that are investing in faster, more reliable fulfillment and delivery by investing in new technology, teaming up with last-mile providers and rethinking store layouts.

The unprecedented pace of change in retail pushes companies to think outside the box, including seeking innovative partnerships with fellow brands and retailers. This session will examine three recent creative partnerships, including how they started, evolved and how they are working for the firms involved.

Retail media networks have exploded in popularity. They provide brands an opportunity to reach their retail partners’ online (and sometimes offline) shoppers while also generating an alternative revenue stream for the retailer. This workshop will offer concrete advice for brands evaluating retail media networks on criteria including their audience, capabilities, and data and measurement availability.

The transformation of the grocery industry has accelerated, as grocery ecommerce continues its sharp rise while convenience features like fast delivery and curbside pickup fast become entrenched in people's lives. In this session, grocery and CPG leaders will speak to their industry's rapid evolution and the technologies, capabilities and offerings they see as essential to succeed in the future.

Influencers can connect marketers with consumers in personal and cost-effective ways. However, selecting and forging relationships with brand-appropriate influencers remains challenging. Many consumers--and brands--are starting to eschew “traditional” influencers in favor of nano-influencers and others who share more authentically. In this session, retail and brand marketers will discuss how they are successfully working with influencers who deliver measurable results.

As technologies like AI and robotics move from futuristic to mainstream, others like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse remain unrealized or unproven. In this session, retail leaders charged with identifying and operationalizing tomorrow’s retail technologies will discuss the potential and challenges for these and other solutions to scale and transform retail.

Few industries have built more successful omnichannel offerings than beauty, as consumers discover, try and purchase products fluidly across the digital and physical worlds. This session will feature a conversation about today's beauty consumer, and how the industry is introducing new products, partnerships and digital capabilities to cater to their changing needs.

The pandemic reshaped experiential marketing, shifting from real-world experiences to online. Experiential marketing today encompasses a wide range of approaches to engage consumers; the most successful marketers are integrating these experiences across channels and collecting customer data to foster ongoing relationships. This session will feature a conversation with three companies at the forefront of experiential marketing.

Retailers and brands approach innovation from multiple angles, ranging from innovation labs and centers of excellence to tasking each functional unit with keeping a pulse on the latest technologies impacting their part of the business. This session will feature brands and retailers who are taking different approaches to identifying, testing and scaling the latest innovative technologies and business models.

The US apparel market made a strong comeback in 2021, as wardrobe refreshes drove spending significantly higher than in 2019. However, ongoing shifts in clothing tastes and preferences, as well as changing shopping behaviors, create both opportunities and uncertainties for retailers and brands. In this session, leaders from three companies will discuss how they have adapted to new apparel and consumer trends to stay relevant.

Brand communities are increasingly important to brands aiming to understand and interact with their customers. Smart brands tap into organic, spontaneous communities that spring up on social media, and also create their own communities. This session will feature leaders discussing their approaches to building and nurturing brand communities, and how they leverage them to grow their businesses.

The previous three days included insights from 275+ speakers covering the full sweep of innovation in retail. This session will summarize the most critical insights from speakers and provide takeaways that attendees can bring back to their organizations.