The show must go on. The 2022 NRF’s Big Show went on from January 16-18, 2022 at the Javits Center despite omicron variant.
Yes, it was less vendors and attendees as compared to previous years but still packed a powerful punch about being the world’s largest retail conference & expo. There were 800 exhibitors with 38k attendees and 16k retailers from 99 countries.
There were many informative sessions on a variety of topics.
Below are some highlights of some of the sessions.
NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay sat down for a chat with Target board chairman and CEO Brian Cornell, the recipient of The Visionary Award on January 16, 2022. Brian felt more optimistic than we probably did six months ago about where we are, but we’re still living with COVID, Also, Brain felt consumers might also look at private label brands as an alternative.
Retail’s Big Show had their keynote address from President and CEO of Walmart U.S., John Furner, who became the new NRF Board Chairman. John took over Mike George,Qurate Retail, Inc. former President and CEO, who stepped down from his two-year stint as NRF Board Chair. John Furner talked about on the next normal for the retail industry.
John Furner wanted to be a musician which did not work out. Instead, he took a part-time job in a Walmart store and never left.
Furner emphasized that roughly 56 percent of the company’s new hires are people of color; 44 percent of people promoted to management in the last year are women, and of those, 39 percent are people of color and 18 percent are Latina.
On January 18th, 2021 was a keynote session from the President and Chief Brand Officer of Nordstrom Inc., Pete Nordstrom met virtually with Phil Wahba, senior writer for Fortune Magazine. He discussed about the two partnerships in 2021, with ASOS and Fanatics. Nordstrom stores will carry ASOS merchandise, as well as be a pick-up and return location for ASOS online orders.
I checked out The Big Show’s Innovation Lab, There were more than 55 companies who were on hand to show and point out the latest developments in retail tech, robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles, and other interesting topics.
Here is a coverage of Gatik’s autonomous box trucks on social media with the following link :
https://www.instagram.com/p/CY9TAQQlnvE/
Also, there were companies like Returnity with sustainable and reusable packaging with the following link on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CY5izORtq3X/
There was the new DE&I Stage and Showcase with two sessions on diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and leadership. Also there were round-table discussions led by industry leaders along with a luncheon.
We were able to network and talk to entrepreneurs of more than 40 Black and Latinx/ Hispanic brands. They were upbeat and gave some samples.
I posted some on social media like Earth Elements Soap
https://www.instagram.com/p/CY71iJkNGJS/
There was a Startup Zone where you saw some of the newest companies.
On the NRF’s Big Show website are informative white papers like how retail organizations are prioritizing Retail Planning & Analytics.
More about the NRF’s Big Show can be found at https://nrfbigshow.nrf.com.
I am glad to cover and attend this show. Hats off to NRF’S staff, JavIts Center Employees and others to make this happen.
Covered by Mitchell Acks- Resource Liaison & Blogger