Everyone is investing in technology. Far fewer are seeing meaningful change.

This session shares early findings from our 2026 Retail Research, examining how brands are navigating the widening gap between ambition and reality in digital transformation.

The research explores the deeper shifts behind successful retail evolution — from how organisations build data foundations and rethink roles, to how they enable real-time decision-making and resilience across the value chain.

We’ll unpack the key patterns and tensions emerging from the study, including purposeful tech adoption, workforce reinvention, and more collaborative operating models. The discussion will highlight where brands see genuine opportunity across the product journey, from AI-assisted creation to automation, and where progress continues to stall.

The goal isn’t to predict the future, but to understand what’s actually working today, what isn’t, and why.