There’s no doubt about it… When retailers gather together, magic happens. 🪄 

Over the past three days, we soaked up as much NRF as we possibly could, connecting with leading retail experts about business-critical challenges and technology that can drive the industry forward.

These are a few of our favorite moments from the final day at NRF:

Innovative partnerships = progress

A major theme of NRF 2023 is synergetic partnerships. With new learnings, retailers are leaning into the community of other industry leaders to crowdsource ideas. The days of leaving competitors in the dark are over, and brands are reaching across verticals in order to collaborate with leaders of other teams at brands who have aligned missions and shared challenges.

“When our brands do things together, it’s because the leaders of both brands genuinely believe that it is value enhancing for each,” says Chairman and CEO Anish Melwani, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc.

Retailers are focused on elevating in-store experiences 

“Great employee experience drives great customer experience, so from a business perspective, it’s worth the investment,” says Traci Chernoff, Sr. Director, Employee Engagement at Legion Technologies. “Legion focuses on human-centrism to turn hourly jobs into good jobs…Ensuring employees at every level and position felt empowered and accountable for their piece of the pie”

We love these conversations about better business. It’s clear that retailers are beginning to truly believe that consumers first = employees first.

“If you start from a place of “why” as a leader, you are able to coach and to guide your team, versus just focusing on tactics,” says Karen Peters, Global Head of Retail and Store Development at Alo Yoga  “If the team understands why they are working for the brand, they’re engaged.”

Serving communities, first and foremost

From sustainability, DE&I, the journey towards carbon neutrality, to social responsibility, retailers are embracing the generations, the families, and communities they serve.

“It starts with our goals,” says  Liz Hershfield, Senior Vice President & Head of Sustainability for J. Crew Group, Senior Vice President of Sourcing for Madewell on the topic of responsible leaders who are innovating what resale means for retail. “We can never execute unless it is the full team and the company is invested in it.”

👋Let’s keep the conversation going! 

We know there’s a lot happening in retail these days, and stores can only do so much. That’s why we built Zipline – to make store teams’ lives easier. For far too long, retail brands have struggled with disconnects between headquarters and frontline teams. In fact, only 29% of HQ directives are executed correctly by stores. 

All these disconnects impact customer experience, sales, and brand sentiment. As you’re being asked to roll out more and more, and store teams are being asked to do more and more, it only gets harder to keep everything and everyone on track.

To ensure success tomorrow, you’ve got to keep today on track.

📣 We’d love to hear about the store initiatives you have planned this year and, if you’re interested, share more about how Zipline can help. Schedule some time and let’s chat again soon.