Agenda themes

Through innovative thinking and technical capabilities, retail and brand leaders are redefining standards for greatness in strategies and operations. This is happening at both the organizational and departmental levels. Shoptalk’s 2027 keynote and track sessions will highlight the strategies, models, and leadership approaches that are delivering stronger customer experiences, greater agility, and measurable business results.

Headlines in today’s media make one thing clear: there’s increased pressure to prioritize, execute, and prove the value of digital investments. Sessions at Shoptalk 2027 will reveal how retail and brand leaders are prioritizing initiatives, choosing technologies, measuring outcomes, and scaling operations that accelerate revenue growth, improve efficiency, and deliver meaningful ROI.

Digital stores are defined by being more connected, intelligent, customer-centric, and designed with the purpose of supporting shoppers that are often on a cross-channel buying journey. Attendees at Shoptalk 2027 will walk away with a clear understanding of how physical locations are deployed with the right technologies to enhance associate productivity, improve shopper experiences, and create tangible business impact without adding unnecessary complexity.

Having more, better, and/or less expensive products is no longer enough to win and retain retail customers. Leaders within these organizations know they must be smarter about each customer’s behaviors and expectations, while at the same time achieving robust data and insight capabilities for generating reliable business analytics and reporting. How to make this happen lives at the core of content for Shoptalk 2027, as well as how retailers and brands are capturing, managing, and transforming data into customer insights and operational excellence to make faster decisions, personalize experiences, and create sustainable competitive advantages.

It’s happened: AI has moved from experimentation to enterprise-wide execution, and conversations have now evolved into topics like agentic/agents, vibe coding, and synthetic personas. At Shoptalk 2027, attendees will learn how retailers and brands are implementing AI across merchandising, operations, marketing, commerce, and supply chain functions to improve performance, increase productivity, and unlock new opportunities for growth.

At no time have there been more opportunities for retailers and brands to consider new vendor capabilities and new retail models for driving growth. But innovation is often driven by those willing to challenge conventional thinking, and at Shoptalk 2027, we’re focused on bringing exposure to the startups and emerging retail technology companies introducing breakthrough solutions, redefining industry standards, and shaping the future of retail.