Omnichannel customers shop nearly two times more often than single-channel shoppers, making it imperative for retailers to provide them with a seamless, unified experience. There are two critical components to delivering on this promise—creating an experience that's frictionless, as well as continuous. With the majority of retail transactions in the U.S. still taking place in person, stores play a key role in delighting consumers. In this session, three retail leaders will share the technologies and strategies they’re using to create seamless store experiences that charm and captivate customers, and connect their journey across channels.

A key success metric for any strong brand is the amount of loyalty it instills in customers. Trust, affinity, authenticity and affection encourage people to stick with brands they know, that have worked well for them in the past. This Track Keynote will feature a senior executive sharing her thoughts on how her company has parlayed its brand’s strength into customer loyalty, as well as how she sees the strategies and tactics for doing so changing in an era of new consumer needs and expectations.

In an era characterized by vast quantities of information and misinformation, trust can be one of the hardest things for companies to build and maintain, and one of the easiest things to lose. Building (or rebuilding) customer trust takes a strong commitment to openness and to listen and respond openly to customer criticism, whether warranted or not. This Track Keynote will feature a senior brand executive discussing the intersection of brand power and trust today. Attendees will hear how a thoughtful approach to authenticity and transparency strengthens a brand and deepens customer trust.

Shoptalk’s Rapid Fire sessions feature industry experts sharing their unfiltered perspectives in a fast-paced format. This session will feature insights from consultants, investors and retail executives as they discuss how retailers and brands can most effectively improve efficiency—and therefore, profitability. They’ll share which technologies and strategies are working, and which aren't, as organizations both large and small aim to be more streamlined and agile in fast-changing times.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the lazy river, Shoptalk's "Shark Reef" Startup Pitch returns! Twelve early-stage startups will take the plunge, sharing how their innovative technologies are addressing important challenges in retail. The judges and audience will rate each three-minute pitch, and the top six startups will progress to Round 2. Here, the Shark Reef Judges will ask each founder/CEO pointed questions about their solutions. The judges and audience rate the finalists, with a Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice Winner announced at the end of the session. The Judges' Choice winner gets an optional $100,000 investment, adding to the excitement!

Store associates play a critical role in delivering an exceptional customer experience, with 71% of shoppers saying they have a significant impact. Retailers are increasingly looking to technology that empower their frontline workers and limit the time they spend on menial tasks, deploying solutions that help them locate inventory, offer a personalized experience or remove friction at checkout, among many others. In an era plagued by organized retail theft, retailers are also looking for solutions that keep associates and shoppers safe. In this session, three retail executives will share specific technology deployments that set up their store associates for success.

Each new generation of consumers is defined by their distinct world views, preferences and expectations that influence their purchase decisions. It's important for brands to adapt and remain relevant to young consumers, yet they must also keep their history and values top of mind to avoid being labeled inauthentic or alienating existing customers. In a series of case studies, brand leaders at established organizations will share examples of how they’re leveraging storytelling, technology and smart partnerships to keep pace with changing generations.

Although the U.S. economy seems to be achieving an improbably soft landing, with inflation slowing even as unemployment remains low and economic growth continues, the only thing certain about the state of the economy is uncertainty. In this session, investors and analysts will share new, data-rich research to help attendees gain useful insights into key aspects of the economic and trade outlook over the next several years, and what it all might mean for retail businesses.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the lazy river, Shoptalk's "Shark Reef" Startup Pitch returns! Twelve early-stage startups will take the plunge, sharing how their innovative technologies are addressing important challenges in retail. The judges and audience will rate each three-minute pitch, and the top six startups will progress to Round 2. Here, the Shark Reef Judges will ask each founder/CEO pointed questions about their solutions. The judges and audience rate the finalists, with a Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice Winner announced at the end of the session. The Judges' Choice winner gets an optional $100,000 investment, adding to the excitement!

AI offers brands and retailers an opportunity to take traditional retail experiences to the next level. Advances in AI and predictive software are making insights from RFID, inventory robots and automated checkout solutions much more sophisticated, while real-time promotional and merchandising decisions—also powered by AI and machine learning—help companies give customers more of what they want while simultaneously boosting their bottom line. In this session, retail leaders will share how they're already leveraging AI to improve their store operations and experiences, as well as the opportunities they see in the future.

An estimated 30,000 new brands are created every year. Those that break through must have a deep understanding of unmet consumer needs, create an entirely new or substantially better product, and tell their brand or product story in a way that resonates with today's shoppers. While emerging brands present a new opportunity for established retailers and brands through partnerships or acquisitions, they also put pressure on legacy businesses to maintain and accelerate this pace of product and brand creation. In this session, three brand innovators will share how they are engaging with and developing product offerings that resonate with today’s savvy consumers.

This session will feature two professors from world-renowned universities who will share their latest research and insights on retail. Their presentations will illuminate the major organizational, economic and technological forces that are driving transformation, offering unique perspectives on the state of the industry.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the lazy river, Shoptalk's "Shark Reef" Startup Pitch returns! Twelve early-stage startups will take the plunge, sharing how their innovative technologies are addressing important challenges in retail. The judges and audience will rate each three-minute pitch, and the top six startups will progress to Round 2. Here, the Shark Reef Judges will ask each founder/CEO pointed questions about their solutions. The judges and audience rate the finalists, with a Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice Winner announced at the end of the session. The Judges' Choice winner gets an optional $100,000 investment, adding to the excitement!

Some believe generative AI has the potential to transform the world on a par with the microchip or the world wide web; estimates suggest it could raise global GDP by $7 trillion in the next decade. If 2023 was the year of experimentation with generative AI, 2024 will be the year companies start to expect some returns from their deployments of the technology. This session will feature three executives whose companies are leveraging generative AI in different ways. They'll share case studies detailing their experience and early learnings, providing concrete examples of ways the technology is shifting their businesses and ways of working.

Organizations today need to optimize for operational agility, speed and innovation in order to grow and succeed. However, a majority of business leaders believe their organizations are overly complex and inefficient. Cross-functional teams are vital to breaking down organizational silos; promoting efficiency and transformative growth; and creating a winning culture of collaboration. In this session, three executives will share the steps they've taken to create a cross-functional approach to work that's given their organizations a competitive edge, and the leadership tactics they’ve used to instill that flexibility.

Financial pressures resulting from inflation, a fluctuating labor market, soaring interest rates and the end of pandemic-era protections are prompting consumers to adjust how and what they’re buying, and how they are paying for purchases. In the U.S., credit card debt has hit a record of $1 trillion despite a growing economy and strong labor market. Industries such as food, hospitality and travel are experiencing surges in demand, while other sectors must innovate to re-capture consumer attention. This session will feature new, unbiased research into how consumers are shopping, what and when they’re buying and what this means for retail leaders.

Rising organized retail crime is costing the industry billions of dollars a year. In response, retailers are re-envisioning their store experiences and exploring new technologies to keep staff, shoppers and merchandise safe and secure. A growing array of solutions can support this vital mission, including computer vision, RFID, predictive AI and more. This session will feature four companies that are helping retailers enhance store performance, security and safety. Each company's Founder/CEO will briefly introduce their technology, followed by a panel discussion on how stores can ensure safety while maintaining a free and fun shopping environment.

This session features a deep dive into how organizations that have deployed modern, flexible ecommerce tech stacks are handling the care and maintenance of those investments, to ensure they keep pace with the state of the art. The session will open with a presentation from a consultant, who will share their perspective on ecommerce tech priorities. Following that, a fireside chat with a retail executive will illuminate best practices. The session will end with audience Q&A, ensuring attendees leave with frameworks, tactics and solid takeaways.

Shopper expectations around personalization have increased steadily, with solid majorities of people now saying they expect companies to understand and anticipate their needs, and to personalize offers and experiences accordingly. With its ability to perceive subtle patterns in data and experiment with theoretically infinite combinations of messaging, pricing and presentation, AI-based models have the power to meet and exceed those expectations at scale. In this session, three executives from brands and retailers will share how they're leveraging AI-based personalization to drive sales, loyalty, customer satisfaction and more.

Fostering inclusivity of races, genders, ages and backgrounds is integral to creating healthy work cultures at both established and emerging retail organizations, leading to increased communication, engagement and collaboration among corporate-level and store employees. Leaders must nurture teams at all levels, developing talented employees and helping them to grow. In this panel discussion, brand and retail executives will share how their organizations define inclusivity; the concrete ways in which they ensure a sense of belonging at all levels; and how these initiatives are helping their businesses succeed.

Shoppers continue to seek convenience along the full path to purchase, spanning stores of all sizes and online. However, in an inflationary economic environment, consumers and companies are both finding that the equilibrium between convenience and price is shifting. In this panel discussion, retail and brand leaders will share how they’re leveraging new technologies and offerings to adapt to ever-changing consumer expectations around price and convenience, finding new ways to provide value to shoppers while keeping their costs in check.

While customer expectations for ever-faster ecommerce delivery have abated somewhat, the continued growth of online shopping puts extreme pressure on this supply chain function, with many retailers and brands putting better fulfillment and delivery capabilities at the top of their priority lists. This session will feature solutions focused on optimizing fulfillment and delivery. Each company’s Founder/CEO will present their technology, followed by a group discussion on how fulfillment and delivery is becoming more transparent, flexible, resilient and sustainable.

Retailers and brands are steadily ramping up their data capabilities, including both how they use data internally and how they work with trusted partners to glean additional insights, increasingly through data clean rooms. This session will feature an industry expert presenting current best practices on unlocking the value of first-party data. Following that, a fireside chat with a brand or retail executive will dive into how they are thinking about their data assets. Attendees will gain valuable frameworks, tactical advice and takeaways they can use in their own organizations.

In a world where AI can do everything from pass the bar exam to re-create John Lennon's voice for a new Beatles song, it's challenging to sort hype from reality. Assessing what business value AI will actually unlock once the current excitement for it passes can challenge any industry expert. This session will look beyond the hype and the next year of AI's evolution, helping the audience understand both the longterm positives and negatives that this transformative technology will unlock.

In an era of unprecedented change, it’s imperative that leaders make time to think about the technologies, strategies and organizational structures that will position them for success in the long term, even as an unending series of short-term challenges requires immediate attention. In this Track Keynote, two C-level leaders will share their views on significant, transformational changes their companies have undertaken, and how they have prepared their organizations to embrace change and thrive.

Rapid fluctuations in demand, mass adoption of new digital channels and a culture that emphasizes newness and discovery all place significant pressure on retailers and brands seeking to keep up with their customers. This session will feature three outspoken leaders who will share their views on how companies can best adapt to new consumer behaviors. Shoptalk's gamified rapid-fire format will ensure the session covers a lot of ground, offering a frank and unfiltered primer on what success looks like in a challenging time.

Nearly 280 million Americans will shop online in 2024, a huge population of savvy shoppers with high expectations. While many shop online because it is convenient, retailers and brands are looking to create more inspirational, immersive and seamless offerings to capture and retain consumers, and entice them to spend more. Offerings can range from augmented and virtual reality and shoppable video to generative AI solutions that help people identify exactly the right product for them. This session will feature technologies that make the online shopping experience more engaging. Each company's Founder/CEO will briefly present their solution, and then participate in a discussion about opportunities for retailers and brands to improve their digital offerings.

Motivations to track sustainability metrics can be inspired by regulators, investors, senior management, customers or a combination of all of those stakeholders. However, despite good intentions, environmental stewardship is often stymied by data problems, as individual companies must first determine where they can have the most significant impact, set appropriate goals, and ensure support and ownership over these. This session will feature an industry expert presenting best practices on how to set, measure and achieve sustainability goals. Following that, a fireside chat with a brand or retail executive will dive into how they are thinking about sustainability within their organization, providing attendees with valuable frameworks, tactical advice and takeaways they can use to support their own efforts.

Retail media ad revenue exceeded $125 billion globally in 2023, and is expected to eclipse television ad revenue within five years. As more retailers launch offerings, delivering clear value to brands and building new capabilities that span digital platforms and physical stores will be key to maintaining that rapid pace of revenue growth. This session will feature three brand executives, who will share the buyer's point of view and discuss what they get, and what they still need, from their retail media partners.

South Asia’s retail market continues to post exponential growth led by India, which recently overtook China as the country with the largest population, and where ecommerce is growing faster than anywhere else in the world. South Asia's innovative retail companies serve markets that face unique payment, supply chain and fulfillment challenges, while presenting huge opportunities. In this session, retail leaders will discuss South Asia’s latest innovations, and compare and contrast how retail is evolving in India and throughout the region.

Advanced data analytics are now a table stakes tool for inventory planning. Some estimates show that applying AI-driven forecasting can reduce errors by between 20 and 50 percent, reducing lost sales and product unavailability by up to 65 percent. Sharper demand forecasting also reduces waste and unsold product that needs to be marked down or liquidated. Although the complex array of variables and multiple sources of uncertainty ensure demand forecasting will always require some art along with the science, if managed correctly, a data-driven approach can mean the difference between growth and underperformance. In this session, three executives will share how they are restructuring their inventory planning to improve outcomes for both their business and their customers.

The global market for marketing and sales technology is worth over $500 billion, and is marked by continual innovation. Marketing was one of the first corporate functions to be transformed by digital technology, and stands to be similarly fast to embrace generative AI as well. Marketing executives have a myriad of new ways to create marketing messages, enhance personalization, buy media, and measure success, creating challenges to identify those solutions that are most beneficial to any individual company’s needs. This session will feature four solution providers delivering innovative marketing technologies. Each company’s Founder/CEO will briefly describe their solution, followed by a fast-paced panel discussion on the cutting edge of marketing today.

As AI and machine learning-based technologies move from the cutting edge to business-critical, companies are taking a variety of organizational approaches to adopting them, from centralizing AI expertise to letting individual business units assess and adopt relevant solutions. This session will feature an industry expert who will offer a framework for evaluating organizational needs and opportunities and building the right structure, tech stack and team to fully take advantage of AI’s business benefits. A retail executive will then share how their company’s specific approach to AI has evolved and lessons learned along the way. Interactive Q&A at the end of the session will ensure the audience comes away with insights that will help them formulate an optimal approach to AI.

As consumers engage with a myriad of platforms and channels, identifying the right marketing mix is more critical than ever to reach and resonate with target audiences effectively. This insightful session will delve into the complexities of optimizing media spend across both digital and analog media and channels amid a decline in traditional TV made worse by the Hollywood strikes; a rise in new offerings across retail media networks and streaming services; and political and business uncertainty shrouding social media. Three speakers will shed light on the latest trends, tactics and data-driven approaches they use to optimize marketing efforts and stay ahead of the competition.

Building a successful global footprint is never a matter of simply copy-and-pasting what works in one market to all the others. Rather it requires carefully adapting and fine-tuning business practices, technologies, and go-to-market strategies to match shoppers' distinct needs and preferences. In this Track Keynote, two members of the senior leadership team of an iconic marketplace will share how they have successfully expanded into new markets, how they set international priorities, and learnings that apply to any business looking to grow internationally.

Worldwide, marketplaces account for more than half of ecommerce spending, and they continue to grow in scale and importance. Marketplaces can offer a faster and easier path for brands to enter new markets and launch new products, without needing to build out their own physical or digital infrastructure. This session will feature executives from two regional marketplace powerhouses, who will discuss the trends they are seeing in their regions and how they have tailored their customer- and seller-facing offerings to meet local needs and conditions.

Due to rapidly changing states of supply and demand, ever-evolving consumer preferences, and today's complex customer journeys, merchandising and assortment optimization pose a significant challenge. Through a combination of data, insights, human intuition and cross-functional collaboration, retailers can better identify opportunities for compelling new or exclusive products, and ensure the right product is available in the right place at the right price. In this session, three forward-thinking senior executives will share the innovative tactics, technologies and strategies that are proving valuable at the leading edge of merchandising.

Creating positive payment and checkout experiences is essential to earning repeat purchases and cultivating loyalty, both online and in-store. Companies are employing a variety of technologies, such as palm payments, RFID-enabled checkout and web 3 loyalty programs, to make payments easier and loyalty offerings more convenient and personalized. This session will feature four companies that are helping retailers and brands improve the checkout experience and reward loyal customers. Each company’s Founder/CEO will briefly introduce their technology, followed by a panel discussion on how enhanced checkout and loyalty experiences can grow customer lifetime value.

With 2023's Hollywood writers and actors strikes partly inspired by the perceived threat of generative AI, and some futurists even warning of existential threats to humanity, it's sometimes hard to understand the actual risks of the technology. This session will focus on the business challenges spawned by gen AI, including intellectual property and privacy concerns, and offer attendees a framework for thinking about how to mitigate those challenges while still unlocking the opportunities the technology is creating. A retail executive will then share how their company is approaching gen AI via specific guidelines and review processes for solutions, followed by audience Q&A.

Customer engagement correlates with higher lifetime value, order frequency and propensity to recommend. Shoppers today expect ongoing, two-way relationships with brands and retailers that continue between purchases and encompass both online and in-store experiences. This session will feature a Shoptalk Original Content presentation, followed by two brand executives discussing the tools and tactics they're deploying to build and reinforce customer engagement, as well as the benefits those steps bring to purchases and loyalty.

Contemporary customer journeys can encompass potentially dozens of touchpoints across both the digital and physical world. As those touchpoints proliferate, brands and retailers have varying degrees of visibility into how their customers find, research and ultimately buy their products. This session will feature three companies that have found ways to understand their customers’ diverse and divergent journeys, identifying those key moments when they can be most easily or efficiently nudged toward completing a transaction.

Companies looking to improve their fulfillment and delivery performance face an array of challenging decisions: how much to outsource versus keep in-house; how much of the cost to pass along to the customer; and which of the growing array of third-party logistics vendors to work with for local, national or global deliveries. This session will feature executives from three retailers that are successfully navigating the trade-offs between speed, cost, and customer care, improving their fulfillment efficiency while at the same time ensuring high customer satisfaction.

AI's ability to identify patterns and correlations invisible to humans in large masses of unstructured data gives it immense power to enhance personalization. However, to fully leverage this opportunity, retailers and brands must first identify the growth priorities and personalization opportunities that best fit their business needs. This session will feature four companies that are helping retailers and brands transform their data and personalization capabilities, both in-store and online. Each company’s Founder/CEO will briefly introduce their technology, followed by a panel discussion on how companies can maximize the value of their data.

Rapid Fire sessions feature industry experts sharing unique and unfiltered perspectives in a fast-paced format. This session will focus on a list of nine critical topics in marketing today, ranging from measuring ROAS to the impact of generative AI. Our panel of agency experts will examine, discuss and debate these trends, giving the audience sharp insights into the latest in marketing and advertising.

Although virtually all brands would agree that cultivating loyalty is vital, many remain stuck with traditional offerings rooted in cards or point-based systems. This session will feature detailed case studies from executives at three companies that have transcended to the next level of loyalty. They will share how they're leveraging customer data, personalization and new digital experiences and offerings to redefine loyalty, and finding innovative ways to encourage and reward customer behaviors.

Succeeding at unified commerce requires seamlessly connecting customer experiences that may cross social media, digital shopping and physical stores. This Track Keynote will showcase two senior leaders who will discuss the technologies and human skills they have deployed to deliver consistent customer experiences that exceed expectations, delight shoppers and inspire purchase and loyalty.

While shipping costs and logistical snarls have improved greatly in the past year, other costs remain high, requiring supply chain professionals to find ways to maximize efficiency. At the same time, companies are seeking ways to make their supply chains strategic differentiators versus cost centers, implementing new technologies that enable agility or have a positive impact on the planet. Firms have abundant technology solutions to bring to bear on supply chain challenges, including AI, analytics, IOT-based tracking, automation and more. This Track Keynote will feature the Chief Supply Chain Officer of a major retailer sharing how she is evaluating and deploying solutions that will create a robust and agile supply chain for both today and the future.

While shipping costs and logistical snarls have improved greatly in the past year, other costs remain high, requiring supply chain professionals to find ways to maximize efficiency. At the same time, companies are seeking ways to make their supply chains strategic differentiators versus cost centers, implementing new technologies that enable agility or have a positive impact on the planet. Firms have abundant technology solutions to bring to bear on supply chain challenges, including AI, analytics, IOT-based tracking, automation and more. This session will feature two executives in conversation about the cutting-edge solutions they are leveraging to give their supply chains the power to solve the biggest challenges of today, plus address whatever the future may hold.

Rapid Fire sessions feature industry experts sharing their unique and unfiltered perspectives in a fast-paced format. This session will focus on a list of nine trending retail technologies, which experts will examine, discuss and debate. Using a longer-term lens, they'll identify which technologies will help you prepare for retail's next decade, versus which are unlikely to pay off. The audience will come away with both the pros and the cons of some of tomorrow's most promising technologies.

This dynamic session format will feature a retail executive sharing a candid view into a specific real-world opportunity or challenge their business is facing. Three agency executives will present how they would approach the problem, as if they were responding to an RFP. They'll share their recommendations and be ready for some tough questions from the prospective client and the audience as they discuss frameworks, approaches and best (and potentially worst) practices to address the brief at hand.

In 2024, U.S. consumers are expected to spend more time watching digital video than traditional TV for the first time. This inflection point only underscores increasing brand interest in digital video as a shopping medium in tandem with its growing entertainment clout. This session will feature three leaders from retailers and brands that are taking diverse approaches to shoppable video, including livestreaming and on demand, and via connected devices or on social channels. It will help attendees evaluate today's many options for engaging viewers and driving conversions through this fast-growing medium.

Store openings continued to outpace store closures in 2023, indicating optimism around the resilience of brick and mortar retail. As customers continue to embrace unified shopping experiences, companies need to think carefully about the role of physical stores, which markets and areas they should prioritize for their locations, and how to deliver a stellar in-store experience amid challenges with labor and shrink. This session will feature three retail leaders engaging in a discussion about the evolving role of physical stores and how they measure their success.

In 2024, new brands that invest in wholesale partnerships with retailers have a greater chance at longevity than those that pursue a pure direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategy. Once viewed as obsolete, wholesale relationships are effective in protecting against ever-rising digital advertising and customer acquisition costs, and can be a much more effective way to get a new brand directly in front of likely customers. However, each brand needs to identify a DTC-wholesale balance that best suits their business needs, enabling them to balance growth with building a direct relationship with the end consumer. In this session, three brand leaders will share how they’re harmonizing DTC and wholesale efforts and where they see the pendulum swinging in the future.

Digital shopping has long excelled at speed and convenience. However, there remains a huge opportunity to inspire shoppers, helping them discover an item they weren't even looking for, but fall in love with. Social platforms like Instagram and TikTok are proving powerful grounds for new product discovery, while AI-based recommendations, smarter search and gamified experiences can also create seemingly serendipitous moments. In this session, we'll hear from three retail and brand leaders who are reimagining product discovery, and the impact these initiatives have had on sales and customer satisfaction.

Driving innovation in larger enterprises poses a number of challenges. Cultures that fail to challenge the status quo, legacy IT systems, and outdated internal processes can all impede change, even when it would benefit the business. In this session, an expert will share how larger organizations can overcome inertia and avoid stagnation in today’s competitive environment. The presentation will be followed by a discussion with retail executives from large organizations who will share the successful strategies they have implemented to encourage risk-taking and experimentation to become a more innovative business.

As they increase their in-house data and tech expertise, some retailers and brands are discovering that they have developed solutions that could be useful to others in the space. Companies that do so can be challenged by the need to split focus to offer a software- or logistics-based tech solution without losing sight of the core, retail business. This session will feature three companies that are successfully unlocking new revenue opportunities by marketing technology or data to fellow brands.

Nearly 5 billion people—more than half of the world’s population—use social media, with commerce on these platforms expected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2025. With the creator economy alone expected to reach $75 billion in 2024, the opportunity for retailers and brands to engage customers through creator-led content is massive, though also fraught with challenges and risk. In this session, three retail and brand leaders will share how they’ve amassed digital audiences and won over business on social media platforms, both directly and via creator partnerships. They'll also share which platforms have been most impactful for generating social commerce sales.

Shoptalk 2024 was packed with insights and inspiration. With 220+ speakers and 50+ sessions covering today's most seismic retail shifts, it's impossible for any one attendee to see everything. In this session, recorded as a live podcast, Shoptalk Content team members will highlight the critical takeaways from this year's conference, underscoring key findings and trends that attendees can bring back to their organizations.