Shoptalk

That's a wrap on Shoptalk Fall 2026 🎸💥 Shoptalk's vibe met Nashville's vibe, and Retail Unplugged brought candid, authentic conversations to every stage. Our final day saw Crocs, Inc. talk on turning a brand into a cult favorite. David's Bridal on reinventing a 100-year-old company. Equinox on evolving from a health club into a lifestyle brand. Plus loyalty, AI, and why a little friction can be good for a brand when it creates joy. Thank you so much to all our attendees, sponsors and speakers for making it unforgettable. Join us again back to Nashville next year, October 5-7, 2027. Joe Laszlo #ShoptalkFall

A huge thank you to Flixmedia for sponsoring Shopwalks, and to Jack Daniels and Favorite Daughter for rolling out the welcome mat yesterday 🙌 Small groups of retail and consumer brand leaders got a behind-the-scenes look at Nashville's Jack Daniels General Store, then wrapped up with a happy hour at Favorite Daughter ahead of the Shoptalk Fall Honky Tonk. #ShoptalkFall

Good music. Great company. One unforgettable night. 🤠 Shoptalk Fall took the connections beyond the show floor and into Category 10 for a night out, Nashville style. Thank you to everyone who joined our Honky Tonk Party and brought the Shoptalk spirit to Music City. Hit play for a little honky-tonk déjà vu. #Shoptalk

Meet retail’s rising AI rockstars! Together with the Retail AI Council, we celebrated the next generation of retail leaders at Shoptalk Fall with the Rising AI Rockstar Awards, recognizing the people driving AI innovation across the industry. A big congratulations to this year’s honorees: • Hannah F., Software Engineer II, FASHIONPHILE • Xiangmeng Ge, Director, Measurement & Reporting, DG Media Network • Matt Guider, Director of Ecommerce, Bridges Consumer Healthcare • Raghu Vuyyuru, Manager, IT Mobile Apps & HRIT, Tractor Supply Company • Tom DeMartino, Head of Growth, JustFoodForDogs The future of AI in retail takes people with fresh ideas and the drive to put them into action. We’re proud to help shine a spotlight on these rising leaders. Join us in congratulating them!

Shoptalk Fall Day 3 has begun 🎸💥 Last night's Honky Tonk, sponsored by Constructor, went off. Today we bring the week to a close with an amazing final day ahead of us. Keynotes are kicking off now, including leaders from Crocs, Inc., David's Bridal and Equinox, who will share how their businesses are navigating change and what they are building next. #ShoptalkFall

From Shoptalk Fall's drops and collabs panel with Lauren Gallo-Rodriguez, VP-Brand Marketing, The Walt Disney Company: The way to protect some of the most recognizable IP in the world is to set the guardrails once, up front, and then open the vault. Other notable insights included… -Start with the objective, not the partner. Every collaboration begins with what Disney is trying to accomplish and what success looks like. Consumer research and insights map the market and the white space, then the decision comes down to a partner's distinct point of view and what the two can co-create. -Research informs, emotion decides. Insights shape the choice, but the deciding factor is the end state of what Disney wants consumers to feel. That is where the magic comes from, and it is the part no spreadsheet can settle. -Guardrails first, then the vault. Disney aligns up front on what is essential to the brand and its franchises: brand integrity, character integrity and its values. Then it opens the arsenal, meaning Disney storytellers, its artists and access to the vault across all of its IP, so partners know the sandbox they can play in and build on top of that heritage instead of tiptoeing around it.

Agents demanding deals and refunds are "happy to navigate a phone tree or stay on hold or have an awkward conversation with an agent where they get rejected... and then try again."

Day two of Shoptalk Fall done ✅ Joe Laszlo, Head of Insights, US, closes out the day with a few highlights … Senior leaders from Glow Recipe, StockX and TikTok Shoo took the Headliner Stage, covering how they are transforming retail as we know it. Across the smaller stages, the content was just as strong, including our second-ever teen panel offering unfiltered views on brands. Attendees also joined a lively debate on how AI is transforming marketing, and a hands-on session on building your first AI agent, no prior experience required. Day three opens tomorrow morning on the Headliner Stage with leaders from Crocs, David's Bridal and Equinox. #ShoptalkFall

From Shoptalk Fall's drops and collabs panel with Vanessa Enns, VP-Integrated Marketing, Merit Beauty Supply Inc: A brand partnership is a tool, not a strategy, and you reach for it only when there is a piece of the plan you cannot pull off on your own. Other notable insights included… -Every partnership ladders up to a pillar. MERIT plans the year around a few strategic pillars: acquiring new customers, getting customers to come back and broadening reach to build brand buzz. A collab gets added to the calendar only when it fills a gap in one of them. -Go where the adjacent customer already is. MERIT's partnership with The Ritz-Carlton came out of looking at the communities next door to beauty lovers, and travel was one of them. MERIT products in club lounges and guest rooms reach a new audience in an elevated setting, and a smaller version of the collab sells on MERIT's own site so the core customer gets a taste too. -Standardize everything behind the curtain and keep everything the customer sees bespoke. Partner evaluation criteria, success metrics, timelines, process and legal contracts all get templated as the partnership arm grows. The relationship, the creative concept and the go-to-market plan are built fresh every time.

Sarah Potempa, Founder & CEO of Beachwaver, took a product brief straight from her TikTok community: cow print. The result was the brand’s fastest TikTok sellout to date. From the pattern to the colors, conversations with her live community helped shape the collection. Her story offers a concrete look at how regular customer interaction can influence product development and build anticipation before a launch.