(Advertorial) Five years ago, retail industry experts queued up to make what turned out to be wildly inaccurate forecasts about the future of retail at a time when grocery sales pivoted online and the role of supermarkets was called into question as the pandemic fast-forwarded e-commerce sales for food, drink and essentials.
And yet, the retail mix of 2025 is far from the delivery-dominated model predicted and many shoppers have continued to prefer visiting stores. Instead, unified commerce [all channels working consistently and seamlessly] has become dominant.
However, now retailers are facing uncertainty over global tariff negotiations, supply chain disruptions, plus an AI third tech wave after Google and Meta.
The critical question for the retailers is how they balance investment and new services, and how they integrate the channels and prioritise stores, click-and-collect and delivery for their customers.
Between 2024 and 2029, Forrester predicts an increase in online sales in Europe from €389 billion in 2024 to €565 billion in 2029 across the five major country markets – France, the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. The expected annual growth rate has slowed a little and between 2023 and 2029, the compound annual growth rate is forecast at 7.8%, lifting online sales to a share of almost 21% by 2029 compared with 16% in 2024. By 2029, offline sales will be increasing by 1.7% annually, Forester predicts.
“This is a critical year in the blending of physical, digital and new technology,” says Arnaud Gallet, Retail Business Unit Director at NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe organiser Comexposium. “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.”
The show takes place in Paris from 16-18 September, replacing the long-standing Paris Retail Week, as its organiser and the National Retail Federation come together for the NRF’s first ever European event after their successful collaboration in Singapore with an Asian event.
Fittingly, this year’s umbrella theme in Paris is ‘Retail Together’ and pre-registration is now open, so visitors can order their passes, plus in a multi-faceted event, the extensive conference programme is also available online and there will be retail store tours around Paris and expo tours for an event expected to attract over 15,000 international visitors to the French capital. Exclusive Retail Store Tours, curated walks through Parisian flagship stores, will all be part of the mix.
One key topic will be the opportunities and challenges around AI. The word from the annual NRF Big Show in New York at the start of the year was that 2025 is the year retailers need to start delivering AI-led projects rather than simply testing and learning and there is growing evidence of AI being deployed in all areas of retailing.
By the time NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe comes to Paris, the industry should know just how far the retail world has progressed – from the increasing use of agentic AI for customer relationships and communication through to AI as a supply chain optimiser as retailers and brands look to build resilient and flexible supply chains to cope with changing environments.
Retailers will also be looking to their source markets, and considering whether to expand production to markets such as India, move closer to their target markets with nearshoring strategies or even seek to exploit supply chain challenges in the U.S. as familiar suppliers pause exports to North America while tariff rules are agreed.
At such a time of global volatility and economic and political uncertainty it has never been more important to be part of Europe’s biggest retail launch, as NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe truly represents the coming together of the industry’s most influential players amid an ever-evolving marketplace.
The event will be the most comprehensive retail gathering in Europe and will cover all the major industry themes, challenges and opportunities facing the major European retail markets and all the main disciplines, including: Seamless unified commerce; Store design innovation and equipment; Logistics and the supply chain; CSR and ESG; Marketplaces; Payments innovation; CRM systems; and The intelligent use of data.
The only way to be involved in the change is to be part of it and NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe will truly see Retail Together.
To attend NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe, click here: nrfbigshoweurope.com
