Publicis Group Chief Commerce Strategy Officer Jason “Retailgeek” Goldberg speaks at NRF Nexus 2024.
When retail leaders in technology, marketing and innovation seek new ways to engage customers through retail tech and digital innovation, they go to NRF Nexus.
“This is the best show,” said Publicis Group Chief Commerce Strategy Officer Jason “Retailgeek” Goldberg, who discussed the role of competitive marketplaces in product discovery, the growth of agentic AI and the challenges retailers face in staying on the cusp of innovation.
From July 15-17 at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., NRF Nexus 2024 convened retail leaders to discover the latest trends in consumer behavior and how artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation are assisting in one-to-one customer personalization. The growth of generative AI and its implementation was at the forefront of discussion.
Where to invest
GenAI is saving retailers time, nurturing creativity and inspiring new product discovery. When implementing GenAI, leaders at NRF Nexus said they start with a question (“Can we do X?”), followed by a prediction (“If we do X, customer will do Y.”). GenAI provides the data that allows them to implement a certain action (create X for those most likely to make a purchase).
“Business needs prediction, prediction requires machine learning and machine learning needs data,” said Eric Siegel, founder and CEO of Gooder AI, whose six-step model for running predictive projects includes goal-setting and metric-building to properly train AI models before deployment.
Product discovery is happening on social media, and many retailers face challenges with how they define social commerce versus how the consumer defines it. Brian Beitler, founder/general manager of QVC affiliate Sune, wants the livestreaming shopping app to sit alongside Instagram, TikTok and YouTube as a place where shopping is the entertainment.
Incorporating entertainment into digital experiences fosters repeat shoppers — who eventually become loyalty members, who shop more frequently and spend more, said Levi Strauss & Company’s Priya Beuning, vice president of U.S. ecommerce.
Knowing customer pain points is a great place to start to determine where to make AI investments, said Glenn Allison, vice president of IT applications development at Tractor Supply Company. Retailers can enable AI to produce predictive scenarios where a customer will and will not buy a product. AI can use this data to generate models that optimize these predictive scenarios. That can save companies time in developing marketing collateral as well as inform where to optimize marketing investments.
Poshmark Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Tristan Young said his company utilizes these models for personalization via product recommendations not only based on trends, but also brands users already like.
Walmart has invested in GenAI tools that free up time for associates to dedicate to understanding customer journeys. Desi Gosby, vice president of emerging technology at Walmart Global Tech, discussed how the tech is fostering inclusion, improving associate empathy and enhancing creativity. “AI gives our associates superpowers,” she said. “How can we make them better and more productive?”
How to implement
While leveraging GenAI can solve many innovation and production challenges for retailers, companies should use it as a tool to assist in procuring the information that’s best for their business needs, rather than a trending tool that makes them competitive. At The Vitamin Shoppe, Chief Information Officer Scott Devlin says the retailer’s AI strategy looks more like a “’make the business better and improve our capabilities’ strategy.”
GDR Creative Intelligence’s Kate Ancketill urged retailers to use zero-party or first-party data, delete old or inaccurate data, check for biases and accuracy, and procure employee feedback for the best results. Artificial intelligence assists in a building, partnering and buying strategy but should be used as an assistant, not a solution, said Ram Rampalli, vice president of new ventures and growth at Walmart Global Tech. “If you are not focusing on data, we may not be able to get the result from these AI investments,” he said.
One of the biggest challenges in GenAI adoption is organizational alignment, said Brian Seewald, executive vice president of digital at Victoria’s Secret & Co. Domino’s combats that challenge with internal evaluation from teams that provide multi-level education not only on the tech but also marketing strategy to fully understand how it will be leveraged, said Chief Digital Officer Christopher Thomas-Moore.
And while the goal is to lead in generating branding experiences that create great shopping experiences, retail moves quickly. Retailers’ biggest competition has — and always will — lie with the dynamic, ever-evolving consumer. “No one retailer stays on top forever,” Goldberg said. “We’re always being disrupted.”
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