Shoptalk '23 Recap - Key Takeaways

Earlier this afternoon we brought the curtain down on Shoptalk 2023, after four fascinating days in the Great Theatre of Retail.

Four days, 10,000 attendees, 275 speakers, 700 sponsors, 50,000 1-2-1 meetings, 80 content sessions featuring 59 hours of inspiration and education on the future of retail. What a show!

Here’s my key content takeaways from this week.

Generative AI hype is real

It’s the tech of the moment, and it was hard to go five minutes at Shoptalk 2023 without Generative AI being discussed. And for good reason; among the use cases explored at the show were opportunities to solve three key retail priorities:

• Improve efficiency - Through further automation of tasks, from administration to replenishment. After all, mass retail is at its core an exercise in process efficiency
• Enable Commerce Everywhere - Generate and serve the copy and creative in the quantity required to genuinely be wherever your customers want, in a relevant way
• Personalization at scale - Could Generative AI finally be the key to unlock personalization at scale in mass retail?

Generative AI really does feel like it has the genuine potential to solve retailer pain points.

Commerce Everywhere

As I woke up this morning, I saw a notification on my phone thanking Shoptalk 2023 for “finally killing omnichannel”. This stems from a whole series of conversations about Seamless Shopping, or Unified Commerce, the principle of enabling your shoppers to buy your brand or from your store wherever they are, whenever they want.

It’s about putting the shopper at the center of everything, rather than focusing on industry constructs like channels. And then understanding the shopper journey across the whole path-to-purchase, recognizing routes to extract value right across this.?

Store renaissance?

Linked to this is the renaissance in physical stores, a key area of discussion at Shoptalk 2023, and an area you’ve asked us to dedicate more time and energy to. We identified two key priorities for developing Seamless Stores; reducing shopper friction and providing continuous experiences.

Whilst so much focus (and funding) has been on reducing friction, we believe the biggest prize lies in delivering continuous shopping experiences, those that link online and offline shopper behavior. Beth Gerstein , Founder & CEO of Brilliant Earth , discussed this fantastically in her keynote, yet for mass retailers there’s clearly more work to be done.

Decisions, Decisions

Whilst the macroeconomic climate remains dominated by volatility, the tone of Shoptalk 2023 was overwhelmingly (maybe surprisingly) optimistic. Yet the investment climate is clearly more pragmatic, financial rigor a strong undertone.?

Michael Fiddelke, CFO of 塔吉特百货 , summed this perfectly when he said it is "prudent" to be cautious on some category plans in the short-term, but investment decisions must be made for the long-term, and he will prioritize investing in stores and people. A significant part of this investment will be in technology, and the store focus centered on the insight that 20% of Target sales are now digital, yet 95% of sales go through the store network.

Return to Sender

Supply Chain as a strategic growth driver, as well as enabler of cost savings, was another important conversation across the show. It was the perennial eCommerce topic of returns that I learned most insights on.?

Discussions focused on two elements; preventing the returns in the first place, and then improving the efficiency of the returns process once underway. Routes to reduce the demand for returns included:

• Using AI to improve produce information pages
• Development of Fit-Tech to get a personalized and brand-specific match
• Sales generated by influencers for some brands were less likely to result in returns
• Closer collaboration between retailers and brands to identify the causes of returns, e.g. shipping packaging

With research partners Coresight Research we explored the role of Web 3 technologies in the retail supply chain. The takeout was clear; we are at a nascent stage, however there are many use cases for Web 3 technologies in a B2B environment to reduce cost and better serve customers.

Let me entertain you

It was fitting for the Great Theatre of Retail that engaging shoppers focused on entertaining them. About getting the right balance of convenience and inspiration in physical retail, and bringing joy and excitement to eCommerce.?

Bill Ready , CEO of Pinterest , discussed in his keynote both the opportunity for product discovery and purchase on his platform, and about running a social media company with a focus on positivity.

And we heard many use cases of companies unlocking growth through video, right across the path-to-purchase, from awareness to conversion. Of livestream opportunities resonating in certain categories, and short-form clips in others. Of video consultations unlocking conversation. And of visual search enabling product discovery.

Whilst these were the key themes for me, so many more were discussed, including enabling and empowering front-line retail workers; authentic leadership; purpose and sustainability; changing retailer relationships and Retail Media Networks; marketplaces as a route to test & learn; innovations in payments etc, etc.

To get the full picture, you probably just needed to have been here.

Our ambition at Shoptalk is to organize shows that inspire and educate. We hope you’re returning to your businesses today inspired to make change, and equipped with more knowledge and contacts to be able to make it happen.

And what happens in Las Vegas…. continues in Barcelona. See you next for Shoptalk Europe, 9th-11th May.