I am grateful to the organisers of Shoptalk for the invitation to attend the conference in Las Vegas this year. It was a challenging, inspiring and confronting event checkin in with so many retailers, tech experts and others on the state of retail and how tech is helping retailers evolve rapidly.
From a retailer perspective, Shoptalk 2025 highlighted that rapid extensive change is here, standing still is not an option. Without explicitly saying it, the suppliers there, supported by so many speakers, urged change in retail from the ground up.
It was encouraging hearing some claim that retail specialisation is for many a thing of the past, that a shingle should not define what a business sells. I have thought this for a long time.
Plenty of the GenAI discussions were around using this tech to take you beyond your boundaries as they relate to your business, to see new possibilities.
In the context of the Tower verticals, the flexibility of our software helps retailers who want to play outside what has been traditional for their type of business. We are setup for helping them break through barriers.
I was reminded last week that we are in a moment of extraordinary change driven by AI, whether we like it or not. I expect history will compare the extent of disruption of this moment to that of the Industrial Revolution. While I’m no expert, I suspect it will deliver a bigger impact than the Industrial Revolution.
The AI and related tech advances we see at the moment favour small businesses because they are small, nimble and faster to make decisions.
It is in this moment where I see opportunity for small business retail, and opportunity for us to encourage this.
Watching the revolution from the sidelines is not where you want to be.
The one on one sessions organised y Shoptalk were terrific. I got to meet plenty of vendors with cool products. Better still was the business discussions, learning how retailers are evolving rapidly.
Shoptalk 2025 attracted around 10,000 retail and tech/retail attendees and featured 200+ and 900+ suppliers.
Shoptalk is a conference for retailers about retailing, a place to discover what’s on the mind of retailers large and small. I attended conference sessions, one-on-one meetings organised by Shoptalk and a round table with 7 retailers talking tech.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the hot topic on stage and on the trade show floor.
Comparing the AI focus at Shoptalk with what I saw at the NRF Big Show in New York in January, there has been a shift. At Shoptalk the focus was more specific with vendors being clear as outcomes available for retailers from embedded AI tools.
Key contexts for embracing AI are heightened competition and the speed of change inside and outside retail. I heard examples like reducing underperforming inventory, cutting the cost of analysis and generating marketing text for inventory.
It’s good to know Tower Systems already offers access to these AI tools within the POS software. Within is the key word here. While so many pitch AI, plenty don’t offer it themselves.
I have no doubt that competing against software without AI tools is an easy win for any company with AI tools.
Given the money being spent by tech businesses of the AI pitch, companies without such a pitch may find it challenging.
There were around 50 Australians at Shoptalk. I’m sure they found it valuable.
Now, it’s time for working on the action items.
Mark Fetcher. 0418 321 338. mark@towersystems.com.au.
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