"Retail and growing a business today relies a lot more on developing alternative revenue streams and brand building that goes far beyond the typical selling products at a good price," said our analyst Blake Droesch during a recent “Behind the Numbers” podcast recorded live at the National Retail Federation's (NRF) 2026 Big Show.

This year's conference highlighted how successful retailers are moving beyond traditional business models to drive growth and innovation.

Droesch noted that main stage presentations focused surprisingly little on core retail fundamentals, instead covering "everything from events to foundations to sports betting, data centers in space."

This shift reflects how retailers must develop alternative revenue streams beyond their original business models to remain competitive.

• "These companies that are successful and are doing cool things and have interesting things to say... have to be doing something beyond just performing successfully as a core retailer," Droesch said.
• The path to retail innovation increasingly involves ventures outside traditional retail operations.

But product remains king.

"If you don't have a really good product, you might have amazing in-store experience, but it doesn't matter,” said our analyst Suzy Davidkhanian. This tension between retail fundamentals and expansion into new territories defined many conference conversations.

Retail media networks gain sophistication

The partnership between Amazon Retail Ad Service and Macy's has emerged as a significant development in the retail media landscape.

"Amazon will be able to pipe in additional demand and streamline the friction that advertisers feel when it comes to buying media across disparate networks," said our analyst Sarah Marzano.

The collaboration has already delivered measurable results, with Macy's reporting 175 net new advertisers investing in their retail media network through this partnership.

Michael Krans, head of Macy's Media Network, noted that the Amazon partnership is "helping them build credibility with enterprise level advertisers while easing friction for the torso and long tail of advertisers."

This demonstrates how even established retail media networks need strategic partnerships to maximize their potential.

Despite retail media's growing importance as a revenue stream, Marzano expressed surprise at its limited presence on the NRF conference agenda: "I continue to be surprised every year at how retail media is largely a neglected topic... It's a hugely important revenue generator for retailers, and we are not past the hype cycle here."

Breaking down organizational silos

Analysts discussed the persistent challenge of organizational silos as a recurring theme throughout the conference.

Davidkhanian observed that silos exist "across every organization, and it's not the typical ones we used to think of like marketing, digital, merchants, but it's across everything," including delivery and supply chain operations. Successfully balancing operational efficiency with strategic needs requires breaking down these barriers.

Marzano highlighted how this applies specifically to retail media.

• "Retail media exists because of retail, and media has to understand how retail works in order to succeed in those environments."
• As retail media expands beyond websites into physical stores, cross-departmental collaboration becomes increasingly critical.

This organizational challenge was exemplified in a conversation with Mark Williamson, who leads Costco's retail media network. Williamson described their "merchant first and member first retail media organization" approach, which sometimes means declining revenue opportunities that don't align with core values. For instance, Costco has avoided monetizing its data at scale outside the retail media environment because it wouldn't bring value to customers.

AI hype versus practical applications

Artificial intelligence dominated the conference agenda, though many attendees expressed fatigue with the hype cycle.

• Droesch noted the lack of standardized definitions around AI-related terms, particularly "agentic commerce," which appeared in numerous panel titles but was discussed differently in each session.
• "We are really exhausting a conversation around what is primarily a theoretical topic at this point," he said, suggesting that more precise language would benefit the industry.

Many vendors privately acknowledged the AI hype cycle might be nearing its end. Davidkhanian reported that several technology providers compared the current AI buzz to previous cycles around "RFID, internet of things, Roblox, Web3," suggesting the industry will eventually settle on practical applications after the initial excitement fades.

Google made a particularly strong showing at the conference, aggressively courting retailers for partnerships around their shopping platforms and AI initiatives. Their booth effectively showcased how AI enables retailers on both front-end and back-end operations, with clear messaging about practical applications.

Innovative in-store technology

Despite the focus on digital transformation, physical retail innovation remained a key theme on the exhibition floor.

• Marzano highlighted ClearLED, a vendor offering technology that transforms existing store surfaces like windows into digital displays.
• "They can leverage existing physical retail surfaces... to basically turn them into what seems like a digital screen, and use that for dynamic storytelling," she explained.
• This addresses a major barrier to in-store retail media adoption by potentially eliminating the need for additional infrastructure.

Another notable innovation cited by analysts came from Dover Fueling Solutions, which is developing technology for fuel pumps that enables customers to see what's available in convenience stores and place click-and-collect orders directly from the pump, potentially driving impulse purchases.

Listen to the full episode.

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This article was prepared with the assistance of generative AI tools to support content organization, summarization, and drafting. All AI-generated contributions have been reviewed, fact-checked, and verified for accuracy and originality by EMARKETER editors. Any recommendations reflect EMARKETER’s research and human judgment.