The transition from NRF 2025 to NRF 2026 marks a watershed in the history of global retail. This is not a new technological wave or another promise well presented on stage. What became evident in 2026 was a profound structural change in the way retail operates, decides and relates to the consumer.
In 2025, artificial intelligence proved that it worked. In 2026, she took charge.
NRF 2025 consolidated an important point: artificial intelligence definitively left the field of speech and began to deliver real and measurable ROI. Global retail saw, in practice, relevant gains in operational efficiency, cost reduction and improved customer experience.
Cases of computer vision, logistics automation and digital twins have become common. Smart cameras started to monitor flow and stock in real time. Robots have increased the accuracy and speed of distribution centers. Digital replicas made it possible to simulate scenarios before making critical decisions.
Despite advances, the dominant model in 2025 still carried important restrictions. Artificial intelligence acted as a support tool, not as a protagonist. She suggested, informed, analyzed — but did not decide.
Solutions remained isolated in silos, disconnected between areas. Each department had its own technology, without an integrated view of the operation. And, at the end of the process, the decision remained essentially human: the AI presented data, but the cognitive effort and final responsibility fell on people.
This model prevented retail from reaching its maximum potential of efficiency, speed and operational intelligence.
Now, NRF 2026 marked the definitive break with this paradigm.
Artificial intelligence is no longer peripheral and has taken over the center of retail operations, starting to orchestrate end-to-end processes, with increasing autonomy. Retail evolves from an “AI-assisted” model to an AI-driven model.
This transformation is not just technological. It redefines three fundamental dimensions of the business: how retail interacts with the consumer, how it operates its routines and flows and how it decides, from the operational to the strategic level and AI becomes the organization's nervous system.
One of the most emblematic examples presented at NRF 2026 was the partnership between Google and Walmart. In it, the complete purchasing journey takes place within a single conversation with AI.
The consumer expresses their needs naturally. AI understands context, recommends personalized options, adjusts preferences in real time, and completes the purchase — all without redirects, excessive clicks, or friction.
Search, recommendation, cart and checkout are no longer fragmented steps and become a continuous, conversational flow. Traditional navigation loses prominence to intelligent dialogue.
This new model is based on an unprecedented architecture: the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). Instead of separate systems, commerce now operates as a unified ecosystem, orchestrated by AI. In this model, artificial intelligence coordinates in an integrated way: intelligent search, dynamic content, personalized offers, simplified checkout, optimized logistics and active after-sales.
And commerce stops being a sequence of systems and becomes an intelligent organism, capable of continually adapting to the context.
But perhaps the most sensitive change is in assortment management. Products are no longer defined in fixed planning cycles and are dynamically adjusted by AI, considering local data, regional profile, real-time weather, events, seasonality and consumer behavior.
In this new paradigm, the phrase is straightforward: AI does not support the assortment — it decides the assortment. The same reasoning applies to prices, inventories, logistics and even financial decisions.
At NRF 2026, artificial intelligence also appears as an executive copilot. It not only presents dashboards, but simulates complex scenarios, tests hypotheses, evaluates impacts and recommends strategic actions with clear justifications.
Executives gain the ability to anticipate consequences before critical decisions, reducing risk and accelerating strategic movements.
The evolution culminates in the concept of agentic AI. Instead of generic systems, specialized agents emerge that operate in a coordinated manner: inventory, price, sales, financial and logistics agents
Each agent decides within its domain, but in collaboration with others. Retail starts to function as an autonomous coordinated system, capable of reacting in real time to market changes.
The impact is direct and measurable. Repetitive tasks are eliminated. Analyzes that took days can now be carried out in seconds. Executive time migrates from operations to strategy.
In sales, AI captures real-time intent signals and presents offers at the exact moment, with deep contextual personalization. Conversion stops being a random event and becomes orchestrated.
Brazil is faced with a historic opportunity — and a real risk. The technologies presented in NRF 2026 are not exclusive to developed markets. They are available to anyone who decides to act.
First adopters create a disproportionate competitive advantage. Anyone who hesitates widens the efficiency gap and runs the risk of becoming irrelevant in an increasingly intelligent market.
The main message of NRF 2026 is unequivocal: artificial intelligence is no longer an emerging trend. It has become the central architecture of modern retail.
The technology already exists. The cases have been demonstrated. The return is proven.
All that remains is the decision — lead this transformation or watch it happen from the outside.
Marcelo Antoniazzi is CEO of Gouvêa Consulting, which is part of Gouvêa Ecosystem
