Retail’s Big Show, hosted by NRF, is always a great event. It’s exciting to see what’s going on in the industry, learn from innovators who are taking the lead with new ideas and strategies, and share thoughts on where the retail sector is going next. There was plenty of enthusiasm on display at the 2025 edition and the brands and providers in attendance were eager to showcase how technological advancements are reshaping the customer experience.
by Tim Tang
As expected, AI was a huge area of focus in many discussions at this year’s Big Show. The event featured some great AI-driven tools designed to address specific store challenges, such as accelerating onboarding of new employees with private GenAI assistants. New use cases are emerging to optimize store operations too, with some tapping into maturing voice and video AI solutions. However, as the use cases for AI expand, costs are also skyrocketing, and brands are keen to control their spend by applying AI more strategically within the customer journey. While everyone wants an AI strategy, many have been challenged to achieve tangible business results. The stores are still very much a black box when it comes to customer behavior. As the place of shortest distance from inspiration to purchase, retailers need more insight into in-store customer behavior to drive the business and AI may prove useful in this area soon. 
Retailers still grapple with a lot of long-standing challenges, but they’re now looking at applying existing technology in new ways to address those issues.
Loyalty programs are also getting a boost from targeted AI use, helping brands accelerate customer service by surfacing meaningful real-time insights about which customers are most valuable, what those customers want, and how to align services and offerings with customers’ preferences. Speedier service often means customers buy more, and faster delivery means they shop more often. But because customer data is a high-value target for hackers, AI will also be key to building data privacy programs that are robust enough to protect shoppers’ information while simultaneously elevating the customer experience and driving revenue.
Not surprisingly, the growth of retail media networks was another central theme in many of the conversations at NRF 2025. With so much innovation happening in the sector, brands have discovered additional benefits from having digital media in their stores. For example, the right technologies can deliver information that helps shoppers as well as employees. Store associates spend their shifts in an environment full of retail media, enabling them to easily learn about new offerings, new promotions, and the advantages of particular products. They can then use the knowledge gained from in-store retail media assets to engage with customers and assist them in discovering products that are well suited to their needs.
Cybersecurity isn’t a new topic, but it’s still in the foreground when technology is part of the discussion because its impact on retailers and consumers alike continues to grow. Defending against AI-driven malware and other attacks is an ongoing challenge for brands. Breaches are costly, both in financial terms and in the negative impacts they have on customer sentiment. For their part, consumers are weary from years of data breach headlines and offers for credit monitoring services. Customer trust fades with each new breach, and delivering a delightful experience becomes much more complicated when shoppers aren’t sure their data is safe.
Unfortunately, hackers (and their AI tools) are getting better, pushing brands to find new technologies to boost their cybersecurity efforts. The good news is that many cutting-edge AI capabilities, such as Network Detection and Response (NDR), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), and anti-ransomware solutions, were on display at NRF 2025 that can help retailers stay ahead of emerging threats and respond quicker to network intrusion or potential data loss. By looking across the different types of attacks—ransomware, malware, credential theft, etc.—managed service providers can see where innovations in AI, coupled with powerful automation capabilities, are making real inroads in building customer trust and thwarting attacks by protecting against cybercriminals and reducing incident response and remediation times. A strong store network infrastructure will remain central to the customer and employee in-store experience.
A final takeaway is that retailers still grapple with a lot of long-standing challenges, but they’re now looking at applying existing technology in new ways to address those issues. We’ve seen other retail sectors use breakroom TV as a direct line of communication to talk with frontline staff about overall priorities, to promote the organization’s culture, and to set expectations for delivering the customer experience. Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) are now expressing similar interests, and this looks like an important trend that can enable more comprehensive workforce communication strategies.
I enjoyed talking with many brands and technology providers during NRF 2025, and I was struck by the eagerness to understand where AI and other advancements could empower their teams. From delighting shoppers to defending customer data, retailers have a variety of tools available to help them enhance the customer experience at every touchpoint.
Tim Tang is Director, Enterprise Solutions at Hughes Network Systems. At Hughes, Tang analyzes and anticipates industry trends, engages with organizations to understand their needs, and collaborates with ecosystem partners to design solutions. He actively participates in various standards and trade organizations, such as Conexxus, RTN, and IFBTA, to help make technology more accessible.
Photo by Anantachai Saothong on Unsplash
