After what could only be described as a BIG week, the RetailOasis team are back from NYC and ready to share our insights into the year ahead and beyond.

Some pretty clear trends became obvious, both at the NRF Show as well as walking physical stores in Manhattan - the rise of Generative AI, the need to return to basics on the back of COVID, and the continued extension into services to support product sales....not to mention the emergence of Gen Z as the new consumer force in the market.

1. GENERATIVE AI
Over the past 8 years that we've been attending the NRF, there's been lots of talk about Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, with lot of promise of what they can do, but very little scalability in how this could be used in businesses (without it being labelled a one off brand building project). This year, thing changed.
With the emergence of Generative AI, and open source tools like ChatGPT, there is a sense that this is the future for most, if not all, retailers. Gen AI is able to enhance customer service, both in-store and online, as well as having incredible applications in the training of employees. So, while it might sounds like a momentary trend, it's something that we see that could have a huge upside for retail - and the ability to improve the experience for the customer. You'll hear about live examples of how retailers are utilising Gen AI at our BIG Breakfast event.

2. BACK TO BASICS
Prior to the pandemic, we were seeing a lot of exciting, and sometimes irrelevant, extensions by retailers (e.g. Under Armour's acquisition of MyFitnessPal - which held a lot of promise, but whose execution was ultimately lacking). Fast forward to 2024, post pandemic, and a lot of this extraneous (capital-intensive) activity has been eliminated. Innovation has been exchanged with the need to keep business going. What we've seen happened is retailers returning to basics and ensuring that their execution is flawless. If anything, the pandemic exposed weaknesses in the foundations of businesses which made extension into new categories, the acquisition of new businesses or technology, impossible. We're now in an era where it feels like many retailers have had to go 'back to scratch' reminding us all that you have no business is the basics aren't brilliant! That is not to say there isn't innovation but rather this isn't done at the expense of fundamentals. You'll hear about live examples of how retailers are executing on basics at our BIG Breakfast event.

3. SERVICES ARE QUEEN
One thing the pandemic hasn't changed is the push of product retailers into supporting services. This is something we've seen building over the passed decade that we've been attending the NRF, and we're particularly happy to see continued innovation in this area with the likes of Petco, Ulta Beauty, Sephora, REI etc back this as a core strategy of their business. As expenditure on services (the experience economy) continues to outpace product, the future is working out how to blend the two. All the notable and new retail concepts we saw on our Retail Study Tour incorporated this insight and manifested it in execution. Want to hear more about live examples of how retailers are executing on services? Be sure to get your ticket to our BIG Breakfast event.

This is just a snippet of what we saw and heard at the NRF as well as our own Retail Study Tour. To learn more about these trends as well as the rise of Gen Z, the importance of sustainability, and the rise of accessorisation, please join us for our 10th Annual BIG Breakfast.