Reimagining Retail Innovation by the River: Our Key Takeaways

During NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show, Valtech partnered with Google Cloud and Shopify. We invited leaders in the retail space to share ideas and insights on the latest technologies, trends and business models. 

Breakfast with a view

Joined by clients, partners and friends, we brought together +40 executives to kickstart the day with breakfast and an insightful panel discussion at Google’s Cloud Space at Pier 57.

Robbie Clews, Global Lead of the Google Cloud partnership at Valtech, moderated the event and kicked it off by asking the panel about the initiatives that retailers should prioritize to elevate the customer experience in 2025.

"Hyper-personalization would be the priority. Reports say that 70% of retailers are planning to use GenAI on the front-end and the back-end of their business. And they're trying to bring knowledge of customer intent through real-time data utilizing LLM models and tools like the ones that Google and Shopify bring to the table", said Gabriel Laliberté, Head of Retail Strategy at Valtech. "Customers want relevancy and cohesiveness, and they want it at speed", he added.

Central to the discussion were the importance of innovation, powerful brands, a consistent omnichannel presence and putting the customer at the heart of every decision. Chris Jow, Lead of ISV Partnerships at Shopify, stressed: "Real-time data insights are the backbone of everything. How do we provide that immediateness to consumers and mimic that in-store associate feeling as a brand? Besides first-party and zero-party data, you need to leverage AI insights with data points to provide recommendations and improve the customer loyalty by offering a much more empathetic experience". "If you think about the journey altogether, the engagement with the brand doesn't just start at the website", he added. "We want to aggregate that data from different touchpoints and channels to provide the best experience".

Bringing the hyperscalers' perspective, Chris Colyer, Head of Retail Industry Partnerships at Google Cloud, added: "We think about the connected store, how do you replicate the experience that you have at the store in a digital way? Instead of the hierarchical eCommerce that we have today, where you have to scroll, pick a color, pick a size... we see the future of conversational commerce, where you're going to talk to your own personal shopper to get a truly customized recommendation".

The experts also dived into the role of data in supply chain and demand forecasting: "Retail brands have a lot of data available through product customization. Consumers are feeding all that data to you, and now you can take that data to some level of demand forecasting to shape production and predict the next trend", said Chris Colyer. "We're seeing momentum across retail and CPG brands. They have interest, but they start running POCs and get stuck in that process that can feel a bit staggering and too long. Businesses often need support to move past that stage and actually get supply chain to the top", concluded Gabriel Laliberté.

Your next step towards retail innovation

Through our strategic partnerships, Valtech delivers best-in-class solutions that drive innovation and create a competitive advantage. Retailers can benefit from our pre-integrated solutions for data, commerce, and personalization, combined with access to cutting-edge AI accelerators.

Connect with our experts today to discuss your specific challenges and explore how we can support your retail innovation journey.