Next in Tech | Ep. 203: NRF conference shows AI challenges and rewards

The National Retail Federation conference (NRF) launches just as retailers are cleaning up from the holiday shopping season. This year there was a focus on how technology can empower employees while reducing customer friction. Sheryl Kingstone, Rich Karpinski and Jordan McKee return to the podcast to share their insights on the conference with host Eric Hanselman. Traditional in-store retail concerns are a big part of NRF and innovation in Point of Sale (PoS) technologies, like softPoS and the integration of biometrics were on display. For the latter, there’s still the issue of consumer trust, as well as onboarding requirements. The show also saw an issuing bank debut its own PoS offering.

The promise and the challenges of AI were a large part of the conference. Delivering on AI will take infrastructure upgrades and retailers are looking at building ecosystems across technology vendors to share cost and risk. Digitization is going forward as logistics look to move from picking products to smart warehouses that can sense products. AI mastery can create a competitive advantage, but it requires the integration of a lot of moving parts.

More S&P Global Content:

• Next in Tech | Ep. 184: Dreamforce Preview
• Payments modernization on full display at NRF 2025
• Going beyond last year's AI, NRF looks to revitalize the modern commerce experience

Credits:

• Host/Author: Eric Hanselman
• Guests: Sheryl Kingstone, Rich Karpinski, Jordan McKee
• Producer/Editor: Kyle Cangialosi and Odesha Chan
• Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith