“Retail Together” – NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe: Shaping the Future of Commerce

(Advertorial) NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe, which will be the largest retail event in Europe, will take place in Paris from 16 to 18 September 2025. This inaugural edition marks the fusion of the well-established and long-running Paris Retail Week with the global expertise of the US retail organisation the National Retail Federation and its Big Show, which runs annually in New York.

The event comes at a time when international retailers are facing heightened uncertainty amid political and economic change, ongoing regional conflicts, trade tariffs and the ongoing tightening of family budgets.

As a result it has arguably never been more important to bring together the strengths of the European and North American retail markets, and the event will fully embrace its theme: Retail Together. The event will address themes including seamless, unified retail; store design innovation and technology; logistics and the supply chain; CSR and ESG; expansion of marketplaces; payments innovation; CRM systems; the intelligent use of data and fraud and cybersecurity.

Indeed, despite the many challenges that have faced retailing in the five years during and after the pandemic, the retail mix of 2025 is far from the delivery-dominated model predicted when online sales soared during Covid. Instead, unified commerce [all channels working consistently and seamlessly] has emerged as the driving strategy and physical stores and destinations have thrived again, all while the industry awaits a pivotal year for the application of AI.

As an example, visits to malls in the US are actually up around 7.3% over 2019 (the last full year before the pandemic) according to footfall analyst Placer.ai and while online sales as a proportion of total retail sales continues to edge up slowly, the reality is that nearly eight out of every 10 consumer dollars, euros and pounds is still spent in a store.

But online shopping is gradually becoming more significant and by 2029 analyst Forrester expects US total retail sales to reach 6 trillion dollars, with online retail sales at 1.8 trillion, representing online retail penetration of 29%.

The critical question for retailers is how they balance investment, and how they integrate the channels. In particular, retailers need to encourage online returns to be made in-store because when they do, customers then tend to spend more than the original purchase value. It is just one example of leveraging channels to produce a return on investment.

Undoubtedly an area that is catching headlines and will continue to dominate the digital agenda is AI. The prevailing view from the annual NRF Big Show in New York in January was that 2025 is the year retailers need to start delivering AI-led projects rather than simply testing and learning. By the time NRF Big Show Europe comes to Paris in September, we should know just how far the retail world has come at delivering AI and unified commerce.

“NRF Retail’s Big Show: Europe will be the most comprehensive retail gathering in Europe and marks a significant shift from a national gathering to a truly international experience,” says Arnaud Gallet, Retail Business Unit Director at event organiser Comexposium. “The retail industry remains resilient and agile and is repositioning itself for a new generation of consumers and profound evolution, as artificial intelligence drives innovation and efficiency at every level.”

He adds: “This is a critical year in the blending of physical, digital and new technology. The retailers that thrive will be those who embrace everything from in-store customer service to new AI delivery and make it all feel part of one brand. That means Retail Together.”

Mindful of these trends, NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe will feature a world-class exhibition and exclusive tours of Paris, with more than 480 international exhibitors including Vusion Group, Relex, Stripe, Zebra, NielsenIQ, SOTI and SymphonyAI. The expo hall will span 25,000 m² across two pavilions (Hall 4 and Hall 6), and will highlight the latest advancements in retail digitalisation, logistics, seamless solutions and customer engagement technologies. Expo tours will be offered as well as store tours of innovative retail spaces throughout Paris.

The Innovation Lab & Startup Hub is a dedicated space spotlighting breakthrough technologies and emerging brands that are shaping the future of commerce, and the Big Ideas sessions will serve as a platform for exhibitors to showcase cutting-edge innovations and emerging trends.

Throughout the conference, international CEOs and c-suite executives from Europe and the US will deliver keynote speeches, offering their strategic vision on the future of retail. In addition, senior industry leaders will take part in topic-based breakout sessions to discuss key challenges and opportunities facing the sector.

NRF and Comexposium successfully launched NRF 2024: Retail’s Big Show Asia Pacific last June, which will run again 3-5 June 2025 in Singapore, and this first edition in Paris has been devised to unite the retail ecosystem across Europe.

To be informed about the opening of visitor pass requests for NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe, click here.