Key Takeaways from a Crazy NRF 2024

Every year, NRF: Retail’s Big Show marks a significant event in the retail calendar, with thousands of industry professionals attending to keep a watchful eye on what to expect for the coming 12 months. This year’s edition did not disappoint. Three action-filled days of meetings, demos and pure excitement flew by – and now we have to wait a whole year to experience it again.

New York’s Javits Center was filled from wall-to-wall with attendees looking to pick up the latest insights from the retail industry, despite the ongoing severe weather warnings. A week later, as we reminisce about NRF 2024, we reflect on the key takeaways from the show, exploring the trends that have set the wheels in motion for this year’s retail industry. Here is an NRF 2024 Recap!

No Escaping Unified Commerce

Unified commerce isn’t anything new. In fact, brands and retailers have been talking about the need for an omnichannel offering for years. However, this year’s show felt that there had been a dynamic shift in the omnichannel conversation. It’s not only a must-have in today’s market, but retailers are now at a significant disadvantage if they are deploying a unified commerce solution that isn’t operating at full efficiency.

NRF 2024 was filled with brands demonstrating their own unique approaches to delivering unified commerce. And if they weren’t, they were exemplifying how their solutions would fit into an omnichannel approach. The message is clear: retailers no longer consider their online and in-store sales channels as separate. Anything a brand does from this point forward must keep that in mind.

Loss Prevention Dominates

Combatting the shrink dilemma was always going to be a key theme heading into NRF 2024. Whether through in-store theft or losing products as they move through the supply chain, shrink dominated the headlines in 2023, with a number of household names openly commenting on how it has negatively impacted them in the past year.

Shrink’s influence was clear in New York this NRF 2024, and one particular technology – RFID – proved to be a particularly popular solution to several issues. Within the supply chain, inventory management continues to fall under the microscope and Teamwork’s on-booth Asics wall showed attendees just how RFID technology can help retailers seamlessly track products at item-level throughout their operations.

On the flip side, RFID technology for Self-Checkout is not only an attractive way to enhance the customer shopping experience but also reduces theft. RFID not only facilitates an immediate response to theft through alarms and notifications but also plays a role in strengthening long-term security in stores, thanks to the extensive data that can be collected.