The Clarkston retail team attended NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show earlier this week, gathering industry leaders and retail professionals to discuss the biggest themes and challenges impacting the industry in 2026 and beyond. Below, Brandon Regnerus and Catherine Ault share their biggest NRF 2026 takeaways. 

4 Key Takeaways from NRF 2026 

1. Everything is Agentic

“Agentic” was definitely the buzzword at NRF this year. Agentic commerce, customer service agents, agentic marketing, and more all made regular appearances in booths, sessions, and keynotes. It’s the next progressive step of implementing AI, moving away from just machine learning models and LLMs that can generate predictions or content, and becoming full-service tools that can take complex requests and execute multiple step processes to help retailers drive results for customers and employees alike. 

We heard from many retailers (Pandora, Warby Parker, 7-Eleven, Tecovas, Gap, Ulta, and more) on how they are applying these agents to real challenges. Pandora deployed a customer service agent (“Clara”) to handle peak-season demand, with ~60% of chats initially handled by the agent while maintaining service quality during the holidays. Under Armour uses Salesforce’s agentic tools to enable merchants to quickly update order management rules and other configurations. 

Even with this AI excitement, though, we also heard caution from Warby Parker and others about not forgetting the security elements of AI. Teams have to consider the data access agents have and the increasing surface area for attacks – balancing innovation and experimentation with security. 

2. AI is the Tool, People are the Focus 

With AI everywhere, we heard from leading retailers about how they are keeping people at the focus of the AI change wave and ensuring that the data is leveraged to enhance the operator experience, not overrun it.  

The team heard from organizations leveraging analytics and AI to better run their stores. For example, using AI and data and analytics, retailers are able to improve employee scheduling and ensure floors are well-staffed on peak hours, season, and days. 

Leveraging data tools to do this work frees up managers to be able to pour more into their teams with new hire onboarding and leveling up customer approach tactics. At the “AI in Retail: From Hype to Sustainable Success” session, Lenovo shared that with only 1% of CEOs listing their AI adoptions programs as a “success,” retailers that frame AI as enablement, not replacement, are seeing faster adoption, higher trust, and better frontline execution. 

3. Unified Commerce Expanding Beyond Omnichannel 

Retailers are no longer just unifying web and store buying experiences, but rather expanding beyond and incorporating agentic buying, social commerce, marketplace models, and wholesale to truly unify the customer journey. eCommerce changed where we shop, but agentic AI and other new channels are changing how we shop. Retailers and software providers are recognizing this shift and adjusting processes to meet the customer’s changing expectations. 

As Salesforce shared, “Customers don’t care which system answers the question. They care that the answer is right — and actionable.” This is impacting not only the retail technology stack, but also how retailers operate and deliver for the customer. 

4. Continued focus on experiential retail  

While AI tools provide insights into customer store traffic and seasonal patterns that influence buying based on the weather, driving unique and brand building customer experiences in stores remains top of mind for retailers.  

Examples were shared at NRF highlighting Dick’s Sporting Goods focus on House of Sport stores that emphasize the athlete experience. They feature rock walls, golf simulators, and batting cages, growing the opportunities for customers to come to their stores and get in the mindset of the athlete that DSG is selling to.  

Other examples shared include Kendra Scott not straying away from highlighting its Color Bar experience where customers can customize jewelry that expresses them, and Tecovas bringing more to boot shopping by including bars, live music, and other events in their store locations.  

Retailers who have been around 150 years focusing on only the sale likely won’t make it another 150 years without focusing on the experience, accepting change, and remaining open to leveraging data and tools to help them get there. 

Looking Ahead 

NRF 2026 showed that retailers and their software partners continue to adapt to evolving technology and customer expectations. They are finding ways to trim costs and get the right products to customers, leveraging cutting-edge AI applications and novel operational concepts, despite consumer spending and supply chain headwinds. The pace of change can be overwhelming for retailers, and finding the right ways to apply new technology can be difficult.  

If you’re interested in chatting more about these NRF 2026 takeaways or any other emerging industry trends and themes, our team would love to connect.