Written by Greta Brauer, Executive Manager
Twice a year, my LinkedIn feed lights up with posts from ShopTalk, one of the retail/CPG industry’s biggest annual events. As a lifelong Chicagoan, Kellogg grad, and someone who’s spent years in the retail and CPG world, this year’s Fall event in Chicago meant that the Venn diagram of my network and attendees was almost a perfect circle.
ShopTalk is a conference where the latest in retail analytics, customer experience, and omnichannel strategy come alive among industry leaders, strategists, and brand storytellers. ShopTalk also runs separate spinoff events specific to Luxury brands (Luxe) and Grocery (GroceryShop - going on right now!) - which are great events too. After a brief two-year career detour on the analytics vendor side, I came back to ShopTalk this fall wanting to see firsthand what’s shaping the future of retail, what’s turning heads on the expo floor, and what trends will define the next year (and beyond?).
The agenda leaned heavily on interview-style panels across retail and CPG leaders. Common threads included:
- Tariffs and the global supply chain ripple effects
- The rise of in-store activations and pop-ups
- Blending “intuition and science” in merchandising (part of the conference’s theme)
- Trend cycles and staying power
- Testing as a tool, and the courage to go all-in
- AI as both a disruptor and operator’s new best friend
On the expo floor, many booths centered around familiar themes - AI, Shopify integrations, and packaged analytics products were front and center. With so many commonalities, it was clear how challenging differentiation can be.
What really stood out, though, were the booths that went beyond nice graphics and branded water bottles and leaned into experiences. Activations that somehow aligned to brand messaging were what drew the biggest crowds, from puppy stations, DIY cosmetic bags, perfume blending, tarot card readings, and on and on. It was a great reminder that in-person connection and experiences > messaging. Even better, this aligned seamlessly with the themes from the sessions: vendors here weren’t just talking about what retailers should do, they were actively demonstrating it.
My top learnings:
- Hyper-personalization is here - Retailers are building personalization not just into digital journeys, but into in-store experiences, loyalty programs, and media placements. Retailers are no longer satisfied with segmentation at a high level. They’re moving fast into individual-level personalization across every touchpoint. Online, that means tailored product recommendations, curated landing pages, and predictive offers. In-store, it’s about dynamic pricing, personalized promotions tied to loyalty apps, and even store layouts shifting to reflect localized preferences. Loyalty programs are evolving into personal media networks, where brands push offers, content, and experiences directly to their best customers. Media placements are becoming more targeted and valuable as retailers unlock their shopper data for ad sales. More and more retailers are spinning up their own media networks (see next point)! In short, personalization is no longer a “nice to have”; rather, it’s the new baseline for differentiation and growth.
- Omnichannel isn’t enough - The industry is quickly evolving from omnichannel to omni-media. Traditional omnichannel focused on ensuring the customer journey is connected across store, web, and mobile. But now, retailers are treating every surface - digital, physical, social, in-store screens, even packaging - as a media channel with monetization potential. In-store digital signage now doubles as ad-inventory. Co-branded TikTok campaigns now convert in store. Retailers are leveraging their data and reach to become full-fledged media platforms. This alters the economics of the business, where value is captured not only through product sales, but also by monetizing user attention and access. The challenge (and opportunity!) is ensuring these experiences are additive and non-intrusive. Customers should still feel the brand connection even if retailers are opening up a new revenue stream along the way.
- AI isn’t new, but it’s unifying - Ask any large CPG or retailer about the “new wave of AI” and you might get an eye roll in return. Most have been using AI in some form for years, whether it’s for forecasting demand, detecting fraud, or optimizing logistics. What’s different now is speed and accessibility. AI is moving out of data science teams and multi-quarter project plans and into the line of business. Merchants, marketers, and operators are using AI-powered tools directly to make decisions in real time. While AI was a through-line of nearly every session, the focus has shifted. It’s now being used innovatively to solve core business challenges, not just to boost team productivity.
The official conference theme, “Retail Alchemy,” was less about buzzwords and more about the operational muscle behind fusing data-driven decisions with human creativity. Retail is entering a phase where customer experience, monetization, and AI are no longer separate initiatives but core to how businesses run. Across presentations, panels, and side conversations, the message was consistent: data, analytics, and AI are moving out of the back office and into the front lines, steering customer journeys in real time and fueling revenue growth.
Looking forward to learning more at the Spring Show in Las Vegas!