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 first day of the event.

• Intel demonstrated several solutions—not products—for retail, all of which are based on data.
• Factoring weather data into decisions can help companies forecast more accurately, reduce inventory, increase efficiency and raise net income, according to Planalytics and JDA.
• Walmart still views retailing as a people business and the company continues to feel the presence of its late founder, Sam Walton.
• Instagram is increasingly becoming a platform through which businesses can connect with consumers.
• In e-commerce, international retailers are gaining advantages in terms of customer experience rather than price.