SAP.iO at NRF 2023 - The Highlights

NRF is probably the most important event in the Retail industry. With 3 days of a huge expo featuring the latest retail solutions by 1000+ exhibitors, an Innovation Lab and Startup Zone featuring the best startups, and many professional sessions, NRF 2023 in NYC was simply amazing!

As you would expect from a market leader, SAP was one of the "Chairman's Circle" sponsors of NRF and had a huge presence on site, with a massive booth, large team of professionals, many partners and exclusive side events.

The SAP.iO team and our portfolio startups and partners were also there, this year in a greater presence than ever before, to show our clients how SAP can offer them the most innovative and richest solution portfolio in the industry.

Here's a taste of what happened there...

The SAP.iO Team & Booth

This year we had a dedicated SAP.iO booth hosting and featuring 6 of our portfolio startups: Jebbit , EcoCart , Obsess , FindMine , Mercaux , and Inspectorio , who were engaged with dozens of clients who visited the booth during the 3 days of the expo.

2 SAP.iO Rising Stars partners, Mention Me and Zoovu , had a dedicated partner booth of their own within the larger SAP booth, and 2 additional SAP.iO alumni startups ( Wisy Platforms, Inc. and C2RO ) were presented at the SAP demo stands.

Overall, 36 SAP.iO alumni startups attended NRF and were supported by the team.

Launch of New Thought Leadership Report

We took advantage of having a large industry event to launched new SAP.iO Thought Leadership Report on the topic of Innovative Sustainability for Consumer Industries. The report was presented on stage at the SAP Customer Theater on Jan 17th and included a live demo of SAP partner Footprint Technologies . The report showcase how SAP customers can turn their businesses into sustainable enterprises by implementing cutting-edge startup solutions developed by 6 SAP.iO Foundry alumni startups who participated the SAP.iO Rising Stars program: Clarifresh , Footprint Technologies , EcoCart , Everledger , Klarys , and GenLots .

The report is now available online: https://sap.io/ci-sustainability-trinity/

SAP.iO Startup-Client Sessions at the SAP Theater

3 SAP.iO alumni startups presented case studies with clients at the SAP Theater at NRF: Zoovu with Bosch, Mention Me with Puma, and Paradox with Lids.

• Bosch Power Tools Drills into Customer Needs to Drive Digital Transformation: Bosch Power Tools needed a way to highlight product capabilities and remove technical jargon. The session presented how Bosch digitalized the experience by combining SAP Partner Zoovu AI content discovery platform with SAP Commerce Cloud, which has resulted in a 211% conversion increase, 6x growth in average order value, and 90% engagement improvement.

• How Smart Brands Future-Proof Growth Through Customer Advocacy: SAP Partner Mention Me, a referral marketing platform, and the sporting goods company Puma presented how brands are harnessing the power of their brand fans to turn customers into their most effective marketers – all while gathering rich first-party referral data that amplifies their entire marketing technology stack.

• How Lids Uses Automation to Create Faster, Hyperpersonalized Experiences: In this session, the American headwear retailer Lids explained how they use SAP Partner Paradox conversational AI to augment SAP SuccessFactors solutions, speeding hiring processes to keep candidates engaged 24x7, which increased applicant flow by over 130%.

SAP Show-Floor Meets Top-Floor

3 SAP.iO startups were selected to present at the exclusive SAP Retail client event “Show-Floor Meets Top-Floor” on Jan 17th at the SAP office in Hudson Yards New York. Footprint Technologies , Expivi , and Jebbit got a stand to present and demo their solutions, while Jebbit also presented a demo on stage to an audience of more than 100 clients.

SAP client delegation from Brazil

The SAP.iO program, the new thought leadership report, and 2 SAP.iO startups presented to a delegation of more than 30 SAP clients from Brazil, hosted at the SAP office in Hudson Yards New York. SAP.iO alumni startups Expivi and FindMine joined physically to give a live demo.

SAP Fashion Dinner event

On Jan 16th, SAP.iO Rising Stars partner Mention Me was one of the sponsors of the SAP Fashion Dinner event in NYC, an invite only seated dinner that took place at the Yale Club. Mention Me presented to an audience of 100 fashion CIOs and fashion executives.

SAP Networking & Reception events

On Jan 14th, we had an SAP.iO happy hour reception with the SAP.iO family, SAP.iO startups, and selected SAP executives and clients, at the Porchlight Bar.

On Jan 16th, the SAP.iO team and selected alumni startups joined an evening of CX insights, peer networking with customer experience leaders and fantastic cuisine at the exclusive SAP Customer Experience and Emarsys NRF Reception at the Lavan541 club. We had the chance to experience a unique and immersive Fashion Showcase, and network with industry peers and guest CX market influencers over curated cocktails, food, and music.

So that was my experience at this year's National Retail Federation conference, and I can't wait for next year!