News & Insights

Even before the doors to NRF’s Big Show for 2026 opened, it was clear that the story was going to be AI. But what was staggering was how the focus and the discussion has moved so far and so fast.  

Less than two years ago, retailers were asking “what is AI” then “where do I begin” and just a year ago, Agentic AI was barely mentioned at NRF or last year’s World Retail Congress. 

In New York in January 2026, John Furner, Walmart’s President and CEO of Walmart USA and soon to be group President and CEO announced that “Walmart is leaning into agentic commerce” after he and Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled that they are partnering to allow consumers to shop Walmart and Sam’s Club via Gemini.  

Sundar also announced a new suite of AI tools for retail including the Universal Commerce Protocol which delivers an open standard for agentic commerce. He described this as “this next chapter of retail”. In truth it feels more than a new chapter of retail. The speed of adoption of agentic AI by consumers is reshaping the way people now interact with retailers and brands.  

Even for Google, this speed of change is incredible admitted Sundar and said it reinforced how vital it is to stay close to the user. But he also said that in this new AI-driven world it is critical to have guard rails.  

A theme that was heard throughout the discussions on AI was that it has to ultimately deliver benefits for the customer. “It’s just going to be great for fulfilment for customers,” said John Furner on the announcement of their partnership with Google’s Gemini assistant.  

Vipul Chawla, CEO of Singapore’s Fairprice speaking on the NRF programme talked about the fully AI-enabled store they have just opened. He said that placing innovation at the heart of the business was part of their core values in thinking constantly about “how to make things better for the customer”. 

David Lauren, Chief Branding and Innovation Officer for Ralph Lauren talked about how AI has helped the luxury brand develop its Ask Ralph stylist assistant that delivers to its core values of innovation, storytelling, lifestyle and product.  

Against the picture of enormous change, it was interesting to hear from a number of retail leaders about how they navigate this whilst staying focused on delivering growth. Veteran retail, Ed Stack, the Chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods which recently acquired Footlocker talked about the importance of people and talent. Culture within the business is critical he said and was a great believer in competitiveness but also collaboration.  It is about constantly looking to solve problems and find new solutions. He said they recruit people who will embrace new ideas in meetings with “yes, if” rather than “no, because”.  

Michael Rubin, the founder of $17 billion sports business, Fanatics, described his business as being like a “scrappy start-up”. He said he watches competitors in every sector they operate in and tries to second-guess what they might do to take market share from Fanatics. “You have to have that scrappy, fighter mentality.” 

Fran Horowitz, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch which she has successfully turned around said that the core of the strategy was the straightforward retail rule of listening to the customer. It is about listening to people in the business and to your customers. It is about accepting that “retail is a journey with no finish line and that change is a constant and you just have to anticipate it.   

In a powerful panel with the CEOs of North Face, Timberland and Vans moderated by Mindy Grossman, there was a clear consistency in their focus on the roots of each brand in sports or high performance activewear. It was in recognising that you have to stay close to the communities based around those sports but at the same time, balance that with the enormous attraction these brands have with millions of other consumers.  

What was clear from not just these great brand stories, but from all of the retail leaders speaking at NRF was that we may be on the brink of a whole new chapter if not a whole new world driven by technology and AI, but to succeed, retailers cannot lose sight of the very human basis of what retailing is all about. Stay close to your teams and stay even closer to your customers.