Executive Summary

The FGRT team is attending NRF 2018 Retail’s Big Show in New York City this week. With more than 35,000 attendees from 95 countries, including 18,000 retailers and more than 600 exhibitors, the trade show is one of the biggest in the retail industry. Below are our key takeaways from the second day of the event.

• IBM demonstrated a blockchain application for supply chains and a retail analytics platform called MetroPulse, among other technologies.
• Spencer Fung, CEO of Li & Fung, delivered a keynote presentation on creating the retail supply chain of the future.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the retail space by helping retailers provide engaging customer experiences and personalized interactions as well as enabling them to deliver products to customers anywhere, at any time.
• Despite negative events and data, there are many positives with regard to the outlook for retail.
• Salesforce showcased AI-powered personalization and engagement solutions.