By Lucille DeHart

New York Yankees’ superstar Alex Rodriguez was one of over 450 speakers to take the stage at NRF 2025 last week in New York City. From legacy brands such as Tommy Hilfiger to technology innovators like Nvidia, the Big Show was packed with content and attendees. In fact, over 40,000 people from over 100 countries, representing 6,200 brands flooded the floors of the Javits Center for three days of presentations, events, expo halls, exhibit labs and more – and the Women in Retail Leadership Circle team and its members were on hand to experience it all.

While artificial intelligence headlined many sessions, the continued importance of physical stores, shopper connection and customer experiences were equally showcased.

Other key themes echoing through the halls included:

  1. Digital transformation and tech innovations
  2. Tariffs, profits/margins and diversified/transparent supply chains through last mile fulfillment
  3. Social and mobile commerce — with or without TikTok
  4. The new value proposition — the intentional consumer
  5. Selected channel vs omnichannel
  6. Agile workforces
  7. Health/wellness in grocery and fashion (textile developments), including the new administration’s focus on food and fitness
  8. Brand collaborations as a means to drive newness and relevancy
  9. Circularity — part of early product lifecycle management
  10. Rebuilding legacy systems to spur future growth — a new time for investments and long-range planning

Kicking off the show were Walmart U.S. president and CEO John Furner and Nvidia’s VP/GM of AI Azita Martin. They discussed how AI is being used in retail beyond marketing and personalization. Unlike recent years where AI and machine learning were seen as intangible necessities, 2024 marked the year where retailers learned how to leverage actual AI applications. With the shift to large language models, technology has now enabled end-users to apply AI across the supply chain. This is where Martin sees the most immediate benefits for retailers.

Having AI understand dimensional data (such as space and weight) allows for the creation of physically accurate digital replicates of warehouses and stores that can simulate an endless number of scenarios for layouts and logistics to optimize workflow and shelf presentations. With the use of real-time, AI-responsive camera/sensor data, AI can offer predictive measures and solutions for changes in product delivery, climate and geographic interruptions, and even shopper flow and behavior shifts.

In typical retail fashion, this tech-deep conversation was quickly followed by a keynote with Burberry CEO Joshua Schulman who reaffirmed the need for retail to have a strong foundation of both “magic and logic.” The age-old discussion around art vs. commerce remains prevalent as brands look to build continuity and growth using data and technology but keep the human touch and “gut” intuition that surprises customers and adheres to the original promises of authenticity on how the brand makes the shopper feel. This message was echoed by both brand icon Tommy Hilfiger and legacy family entrepreneur Dylan Lauren later in show. For her brand, Dylan’s Candy Bar, Lauren spoke to the importance of physical stores to deliver memorable experiences. She further shared the role of strategic collaborations and partnerships to bring newness and cultural relevancy to her customers through clever product developments with Barbie, Havaianas, and even Hanky Panky intimates.

Similar to Schulman, Hilfiger and Lauren, lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald spoke to the importance of the brand, but elaborated on how growth needs to come from where the brand has permission to grow. lululemon has experienced a strong period of success with McDonald at the helm, more than doubling its business and being on target to achieve $12.5 billion in sales by 2026. A lifelong fitness devotee and Iron Man himself, McDonald sees tremendous opportunity for the brand to continue to grow beyond its yoga roots. The team is obsessive about “the science of feel” and the innovations around its textiles that makes lululemon unique to emerging competitors like Alo and Vuori. McDonald articulated that the approach is simple: “Identify the unmet needs of your guests and meet them.” This proclamation is built on four guiding principles for lululemon:

  1. Lead in textile circularity and innovation.
  2. Drive value for shareholders.
  3. Build community for customers.
  4. Be the best place to work for employees.

Complementing the discussions around brand DNA and vision were panels and fireside chats with leaders from traditional retailers such as Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Foot Locker, Best Buy, and JCPenney, which are all continuing to evolve through reinvention. Macy’s CEO Tony Spring sees growth through focus — providing customers with the “best aisle experience” and not just an “endless aisle experience.”

Mary Dillon, CEO of Foot Locker, is taking a full revamp approach with a comprehensive “lace-up” plan that gets back to elevating the basics of the business with a new mobile app, a new loyalty approach, new stores, and even new engagement and retention programs. Long gone are the days of slight enhancements and simple tweaks to stay competitive and scale.

Corie Barry, CEO of Best Buy, says that “we live in a world where simultaneous change is the new norm; it’s better to be agile than to be perfect.” She shared her insights on the industry saying that retail has been stripped of its joy and that technology has lost some of its sparkle. A brand needs to have a purpose and should look forward in ways that embrace an AND over an OR philosophy. For Best Buy that means focusing more on how electronics and technology improves customers’ lives and benefits them every day vs. just providing them with all the techs and specs about products.

Staying true to a brand’s mission spans across segments of the retail industry. During a session featuring Sonya Gafsi Oblisk, chief merchandising and marketing officer at Whole Foods Market, she discussed how the grocer has built its business strategies on the clear purpose of nourishing people and the planet by adhering to a fundamental promise of quality. Whole Foods was known for having great product, but also for being less price sensitive. It current business model is pivoting with a new focus on value programs. Whole Foods has lowered prices on over 25 percent of its items and is committed to streamlining assortments by banning over 550 ingredients from its stores. “What we don’t buy is as important as what we do buy,” Oblisk said.

A retailer that seems to be getting it right on many fronts is Boll & Branch. In their conversation, Yahoo Finance reporter Brooke DiPalma and Boll & Branch CEO and Founder Scott Tannen spoke about how the brand evolved from being fueled by a dissatisfied bedding consumer to a $200 million omnichannel home brand. Going from two SKUs to over 260 in a few years shows how a company is built from the ground up. Tannen mortgaged his home to invest in Howard Stern radio ads to put his concept on the map. His white and ivory sheet sets soon set a new standard in bedding based on cotton quality over thread count. Now with 15-plus stores in view, wholesale distribution, direct-to-consumer sales, and a relaunched Amazon.com shop, Boll & Branch is on a path to exponential growth.

Early on in their journey, Tannen and his co-founder and wife, Missy, designed their own supply chain, finding partners who were ethical and provided the highest quality textiles. From cotton growers to thread mills to cut and sew manufacturing, Boll & Branch works with sources in the U.S., India, Portugal, and Peru. Even at its emerging size, the company committed itself to not only enriching customers’ sleep, but to enriching and helping them in their lives. Boll & Branch’s Helping from Home initiatives are now assisting California residents who have been impacted by the fires and helped manufacture and supply hospital beds for the pop-up hospitals during the COVID pandemic.

With all of this insider knowledge, learnings and sharing, what do the business analysts think of the industry today? Overall, the business of the business is optimistic but cautious. A new administration in the U.S. is promising a reduction in inflation with lower energy costs and reduced regulations, new aggressive tariffs to level the global trading field, and a focus on population health and wellness, among other initiatives. Retail experts do anticipate the business-friendly administration to drive some major investments in 2025.

According to retail consulting firm Columbus Consulting’s CEO, Jon Beck, “2025 will see significant transformation within the retail community. Customer experience, inventory optimization and operational excellence are key industry objectives as retailers move forward seeking to grow sales and profit. New technologies are emerging that provide capabilities to help scale, automate and improve on strategies and tactics. Retailers are investing significantly in data and other foundational operational components to support enablement of advanced analytics, AI/ML, and other sophisticated techniques. Layered across this are end-to-end inventory business processes supported by integrated planning and execution systems. We’re excited by the trends we’re seeing as they will significantly help retailers improve business performance, eliminate waste, and improve corporate culture.”

Regardless of brand, retailer or analyst views, three major themes seem to be consistent:

  • The intentional consumer is no longer retail loyal, but is looking to engage with brands that reflect their core beliefs and deliver value.
  • Mobile (now 40-plus percent of all digital commerce) is becoming the primary platform as social engagement and platforms are commanding screen time and shopper attention.
  • AI is here and is being applied — consumers will embrace the technology for personal assistance and simplification in their lives; retailers will embrace the technology for efficiencies, cost savings and optimized profit growth.

As NRF 2025 came to an end, retailers from around the world returned to their businesses with a renewed sense of purpose for their brands, a strengthened commitment to their customers, and a clearer vision of a new era in the industry that is being created by artificial reality.

Lucille DeHart is a Women in Retail Leadership Circle member, founder of Yogassists, and marketing expert for Columbus Consulting.

* Republished with permission from Women In Retail.

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