AWS brings exciting new retail technologies to NRF 2023

That’s a wrap!

It’s official, NRF 2023 has come to an end. For those who were able to join us this year, we would like to extend a big thank you! If you missed the event, we have put together our best highlights from the show in this post.

Big takeaways from our Exhibitor Big Ideas speaking sessions

This year, we heard from Chico’s and AWS Partner fabric, Carter’s, Neiman Marcus Group, and Compass Digital and Just Walk Out technology by Amazon in the Exhibitor Big Ideas sessions hosted by AWS. You can now watch the recordings from each session here.

We hope you stopped by to say “hi!”

From featured demos to Retail TechTalks, our booth was filled with opportunities to engage with AWS Partners, retail customers, Amazon, and AWS experts.

See our video sizzle that recaps the experience at NRF 2023 or read more about it in the RIS News article, Best of NRF 2023: Top 10 Takeaways.

Hear more from our customers

We caught up with our customers at NRF, and here’s what they had to say about AWS technology powering retail.

Learn about Pilot Company’s digital transformation with AWS

Learn about Neiman Marcus Group’s digital transformation with AWS featuring Vijay Karthik

Learn about Neiman Marcus Group’s digital transformation with AWS featuring Sriram Vaidyanathan

Learn about ALDO and Fluent Commerce’s omni-channel solution powered by AWS

Featured Demos at NRF

Unified commerce in action

The NRF Big Show is over, but you can learn more about the technology showcased on our website and connect with our specialists for questions.

Just Walk Out

Elevate the retail experience with Just Walk Out technology by Amazon

Frictionless checkout is the latest in physical store technology. Thousands of conference-goers stopped by the AWS booth to see Just Walk Out by Amazon, Dash Cart, and Amazon One technologies. When it comes to a hassle-free, in-store shopping experience, Just Walk Out technology by Amazon is setting new standards across Amazon Go, Amazon Fresh, and Whole Foods Market stores as it also gains traction with retailers in the US and Europe. Read our latest blog about it to learn more, Retail’s Big Show is back in force: 3 takeaways from NRF 2023.

Immersive commerce

Understanding the evolution of the digital customer experience

Digital commerce is accelerating in a world where consumers demand a wider selection of products, as well as low prices anytime and anywhere they shop. Digital channels are becoming the first stop on the way to physical stores, and online consumers are looking for fresh and engaging experiences like voice commerce, interactive live stream video, AR/virtual reality (VR), and ML-powered personalization. AWS uses its experience with Amazon.com to redefine the future of digital commerce and helps retailers stay at the cutting edge of industry innovation.

At the expo, we walked retailers through many exciting new technology solutions for both builders and buyers. Here’s a recap of what we covered.

Personalization in Retail

Retailers have the opportunity to improve product recommendations to consumers and increase sales conversions by using personalization, and Amazon Personalize now lets you measure how your personalized recommendations can help you achieve your business goals. 

Say Goodbye, generic shopping: Three ways to personalize the customer retail experience, or dig deeper in our latest ebook, How to supercharge your retail personalization capabilities for boosted sales and deeper insights.

Livestream Commerce

Using Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS), retailers have integrated technologies from companies like VTEX, eStreamly, Firework, and StreamShop to attract and convert millions of customers experiences. Learn about it in our recent blog, Experience immersive commerce at NRF 2023, or see our latest infographic for a snapshot of livestreaming commerce on AWS.

3D Product Visualization and Immersive OS

We featured multiple AWS Partner solutions in the Immersive Commerce demo area, including Hexa’s hyper-realistic and stunning AR-powered 3D product visualization that allows consumers to see how products fit and look in their home, on their body, or on their face before they make a purchase. Hexa can also help you meet your sustainability goals, while making your merch look fabulous. You can request a demo here.

Virtual Stores

AWS Partner Obsess showcased virtual stores for experiential ecommerce that uses AR to generate a 360-degree 3D digital store on the web so that shoppers can browse items as if they were physically in the store. To learn more about how enhanced customer experiences increase conversions, we suggest this newest ebook, Navigating the new world of digital commerce in retail, for a deeper dive into how brands like Sainsbury’s, Zappos, and Morrisons use AWS to deliver unprecedented customer connections.

Digital Commerce

Another popular demo featured Buy with Prime, that has shown to increase shopper conversion by 25% on average while delivering a new way to grow your direct-to-consumer (DTC) business and how you can add Buy with Prime on your site. Buy with Prime lets millions of US-based Prime members shop directly from merchants’ online stores with the trusted experience they expect from Amazon. No longer invitation only, Buy with Prime will be widely available to more US-based merchants by January 31, 2023. Learn more about it here.

To learn more about trends and investments to drive ecommerce growth read this new report we featured as part of one of 40 Retail TechTalks we curated at NRF with AWS Partner VTEX and their analyst in residence. The report covers where leading brands and retailers are making their investments, including customer retention over acquisition, fulfillment and inventory, and new customer engagement models.

Customer insights

Knowing your customer across physical and digital channels

Retailers have long been able to understand customer behavior online, but the physical store has been a challenge. Now AWS can help capture and digitalize consumer behavior in the store using cameras and AI/ML technology to uncover key insights around dwell times, heat maps, and paths to purchase. When it comes to understanding the power of store analytics, we showcased our capabilities with AWS Panorama, an edge computer vision solution that is expected to increase insights and analytics capabilities inside the store. Learn more about it in this blog, AWS shows why physical stores matter more than ever at NRF 2023.

With so many options to browse and so many products to discover online, we all know consumers don’t shop linearly. Instead, they use many different channels—from social media and websites, to email campaigns and targeted ads, as well as actually shopping in a brick-and-mortar store. A customer data platform (CDP) can help retailers create a holistic 360-degree view of the customer. CDPs on AWS, such as ActionIQ, revolutionize the way brands think about customer experience, digital transformation, and the value of customer data as a core corporate asset. See the on-demand ActionIQ demo or read this blog about Why Retailers Need a CDP to Power Their Customer 360 Strategy and discover AWS Partners offering enterprise-level CDPs powered by AWS.

Retail operations

Optimizing the retail value chain from planning to the last mile

The Retail Planning and Operations demo area showcased how AWS helps retailers drive operations from initial forecasts to order delivery. This demo dove into how AWS services like Amazon Forecast use the same technology that Amazon.com uses to forecast millions of items. Amazon Forecast is a time-series forecasting service that uses machine learning to forecast retail inventory from pre-season to store/SKU detail. We showcased how Amazon Supply Chain handles the fulfillment needs of retailers at scale. Retailers can have orders delivered in as soon as one day with greater than 97% on-time delivery rates using Amazon Supply Chain. We also featured AWS Supply Chain to help retailers connect to the existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management systems, without replatforming, up-front licensing fees, or long-term contracts. Discover how you can use AWS Supply Chain data lakes, insights, demand planning, and more.

We also featured how Amazon Today offers a new way to market your in-store selection on Amazon.com and brings Amazon’s reliable and trusted same-day delivery promise and buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) technology to your brick-and-mortar locations throughout the US and growing.

Anaplan, an AWS Partner, featured their PlanIQ solution that helps retailers improve assortment planning by leveraging ML with internal, external, and third-party data to unlock insights. We walked retailers through how to gain the product visibility necessary to optimize replenishment levels and react quickly to changes in demand.

AWS and MACH Alliance

During the Retail’s Big Show, we were excited to visit the MACH Haus hosted by the MACH Alliance and to connect with partners and customers (including fabric, Constructor.io, VTEX, Fluent Commerce, Pivotree, commercetools, and others), to talk about adopting composable commerce and saying goodbye to monolithic architectures. Adopting MACH allows you to move away from a cycle of constant re-platforming and leverage a best-of-breed strategy that delivers better speed to market, reduced risk, and a path to seamless customization that allows you to innovate without the hassle of disruptive upgrades.

Download AWS Partners in MACH infographic >>

Join AWS at MACH Two conference in Amsterdam on June 13-14, 2023.

Retail for Good

AWS also proudly sponsored the RetailROI (Retail Orphan Initiative) SuperSaturday event that brings together top retail and technology executives for networking. However, the ultimate aim of this event was raising funds and creating solutions to help orphans around the globe as well as children in the foster system. We are thrilled to say that the event helped raise $384,000. Learn more about the event here.

Until next year

While this year’s NRF chapter has ended, that doesn’t mean the fun, or the learning, must end. If you’re interested in learning more about AWS services and capabilities, visit the AWS for Retail to discover innovative technologies that help accelerate innovation in retail.