Hello and welcome to live from NRF, the retail podcast. I am with the man of the hour, my Co host for five things Friday, Mr Reef Quail, managing director, fresh off stage, centre stage. Wow, yes it was. And the ribbon cutting session that we've had. Reef, how are you doing? I'm pretty good. It's been a bit of an emotional journey, but I'm fine. I'm still standing. I'm still standing. Actually, to be honest with you, this is the best part.
When soon as the doors open and the people are here, it's it makes a huge difference. I, I noticed this morning we had a whole full conference room for you so that was really good to see and the show floor was packed and I think one of the things we're going to do now you're actually going to take me through some of your your highlights if.
You like absolutely there's and there's some really cool stuff on that highlight to it for me. You know, we have some really cool global programmes, but it's also really good local stuff as well for local participation. So innovative showcase the latest and greatest technology pitched by VCs around the world and also Fair price. Singapore's largest retailer has their own installation, the store of the future.
So I really. Cool. I did have a look at it. It looked pretty, pretty impressive in terms of the scale and structure. And I presume one of the feelings that I've got about this NRF is this whole bringing data to life. A lot of people focused on bringing that data life. I don't know what the themes. Yeah, it ties beautifully with the theme because really retail unlimited is not retail unlimited without your data, without your data in order, I can't say data, I say data, right.
So without without your data in order, you really can't take advantage of the opportunity which is retail unlimited. So it starts with data, it starts with getting that stuff sorted, and then you can then scale your business. Fantastic. Well, let's go inside and take a. Look, absolutely. Let's go. Hello, my name is Seth Webb. I work with NRF to curate the Innovator Showcase here, which is the only curated section of the Expo 4.
All of the these companies have to apply and demonstrate that they have a new technology that's come to the market in the last two to three years. They have to show how that technology has been validated and, and, and proven market fit, product market fit. And then they have to also show why they're ready to scale because everybody who comes to this show is ready to do something that can work everywhere. So we've got 25 companies that
fit that bill. A lot of them are early stage, some are, some have been around for a little bit and come up with new innovations. We curate this based on recommendations from a network of venture capitalist tech accelerators and retail operators. And we're hoping to answer the question for everybody who comes to the show, What's new, What's next? How is tech transforming retail? I've got a question. I know you've got to go. He's an incredibly busy man.
We've just caught him off guard. What is that key trend people should be watching apart from AI? Yeah, AI. But. What do you? Think we'll put him on the spot? Because you said what you said, what is the trend? And I was going to say, well, it's AI. It's AI and it's AI. So, you know, I'm sorry that we have a lot of the same. Here, but we actually outcomes
from. AI, look, here's what's happening here and what you're going to see in the showcase is you're going to see how AI is being applied to sourcing and supply chain, product awareness, inventory, product consideration, customer engagements, payments, service of logistics, loyalty, like the whole commerce journey, right? Like how is it fitting in? What's coming to market, what's matured, and it's changing on a daily basis.
And you know, a lot of the things, one of the things that we've been talking about here this week is how the geopolitical shifts have created a challenging market and, and how AI can help you with some of that regulatory compliance, navigating some of the and, and staying up to up to. Speed. On how there's different changes in in some of your key markets? Fantastic. And that's and that's, to be honest with you, why I love
working with Stephanie's team. The innovative showcase is a complete feature of our floor and it's a really, it's a real joy because these companies are from all, as I can see, Germany, India, USA. That's right. We've got we've got 12 Asian companies, 12 N American companies, 4 European. Yeah. And so that means that you're seeing companies from all over the world that retailers, management specific would normally not get to see in one place. This is that's spectacular. That's right.
Great. Well, you know, look, besides AI, we've got, we've got, we've got AI applied to robotics, we've got it applied to software, we've got it applied to in store hardware to create digital displays. I mean, it's, it's, it's integrated in everything here. How about this? I'll come back later when you've not as pressed for time and we'll go and look at some of the
key ones. Yeah. And we'll, we'll, we'll go in deep so that way you can get off now and we'll come in and do a deep dive on that. Thank you so much. That's OK. Thanks. Thank you. Right. Hello, everyone. You are at the next level of five and five is where I take over. And Alex stays quiet. This will be challenging for him, but that's OK.
I've got this, I think, right. So today we're going to introduce you to a new event that's coming to Southeast Asia, Imedia. And, and what better person to speak about this than Mr Michael Lambs, who's been involved with Imedia for now for more than a decade. This is true. Yes, it's true.
Tell me about. Tell me about the event, Michael. So we are bringing the media format to Southeast Asia in Penang next year, 2026, September 2026. The idea for our media is we bring together retailers from all over the region and we're bringing together a senior group of retailers who will be able to share ideas and thinking with each other.
They'll experience some fantastic content from the stage and they'll be able to mingle and interact with lots of different solution providers who are experts at what they do and can bring solutions that will be hopefully game changers in those retailers businesses. And what and what I love about our media is you, you, you, you take people away from the office. You take people to a destination, a beautiful destination in Benang, Malaysia. Absolutely. And they don't.
They don't leave and they spend time together. Yes, we lock them in. No, we don't. But it's a, it's what's really lovely is when people to arrive at the destination, people kind of decompress and walk into a beautiful environment, but then they're confronted with all of their peers and lots of fantastic people in the industry that they're just itching to chat to. The thing about our media is the quality of the conversations
that you can have there. It's such high level is that all of the the retailers that come it's an invitation only events. All the retailers attending have all been selected for the seniority and the the quality of the business that they represent. And so everybody there is of a is a is a high level business person that you with fantastic conversations to be had amongst each other and with the vendors there. Brilliant events.
So it's been very much part of my retail journey and I think Southeast Asia get ready because it's going to be a lot. Of fun. It is a lot of fun as well. People will really enjoy themselves and come away energised and lots of new ideas for their businesses so. Thanks, Michael. If there's one thought left that you want to talk about, I mean, you have. We just got all the thoughts out today. Come along and experience it. So we run these events across
the region. So we've run Australia and New Zealand. We've our colleagues in Japan run the events there. Our colleagues in India run the events there. So we've been going for a long time. A fascinating is a brilliant format and we always have people come back to us after the event saying how much they've enjoyed it, how much value they've got. So bring on Southeast Asia. Thank you, Michael. My pleasure. Glad to have you involved. My friend, fantastic. Enjoy, see you.
So we're outside the store of tomorrow, but Reef, we're not going to get a chance to go in there today because it's five things. Friday. It's not even Friday, but we're just doing a really quick overview. Tell me about it. What is this? This is Fair Prices Store of the Future, So Fair Prices Store of the Future is really highlighting some of the technologies that will be part of the shopping experience with Fair Price as they view the
future of retail. Fair Price is one of Singapore's, if not Singapore's largest retail group. They have fish everything from from great screen technology to smart carts to AI to facial recognition. There's so many cool things in this exhibit. It's curated by fair price. So it's actually curated by a retailer, not a vendor. Yeah. So it's their view of the future as a retailer. So it's something special, something not to be missed.
And what I'm sure Alex will catch up with these guys and do it a real tour through that, through the experience. Well, hopefully day 2 tomorrow you'll TuneIn and your day three you'll see the outcome. So anyway, thank you so much for giving us your time until tomorrow. We're signing off now.