At NRF 2018 Retail’s Big Show, Retail Technology Was Center Stage

Last week, the FGRT team attended and presented at NRF 2018 Retail’s Big Show in New York. In past years, retail technology seemed to feature more peripherally at the show, but there has been an industry shift, and technology took center stage at this year’s event. The exhibit halls were teeming with major technology solutions providers such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Amazon Web Services and Avery Dennison. At the Innovation Lab, a popular destination at the show that was sponsored by XRC Labs, 25 emerging technology companies showcased their solutions and industry leaders participated in panel discussions on a variety of retail technology topics. Beth Ferreira, Managing Director at FirstMark Capital, perhaps summed up the theme best in a panel discussion at the show when she predicted that, eventually, “all companies will become technology companies.” Everyone is talking about AI. At NRF 2018, I moderated a panel session titled “How AI Is Currently Powering Retail’s Growth.” I kicked off the discussion by describing Alibaba’s New Retail strategy, which involves providing the best customer service, 24/7, no matter where the customer is, and delivering the product to the customer anywhere, at any time. AI helped Alibaba achieve record sales during its 11.11 Global Shopping Festival on Singles’ Day in 2017, when the company’s AI-enabled customer service handled 95% of customer inquiries. Read more at Forbes.