NRF 2025: retail proves data is the fundamental fuel of Generative AI

The leaders present at NRF 2025, the largest retail fair in the world that began on January 12, in New York, confirmed: the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Generative is one of the hottest topics of the moment.

Leaders of giants like Levi’s, Walmart and Craig highlighted in their talks that this is the real key to the success of this technology. 

Several CEOs, CMOs, vice presidents have stressed the importance of organizing and investing in quality data, readily available to drive AI in different areas.Only then will the efforts surrounding this technological tool move towards the entire business, bringing real benefits.

The three ‡’s of the data journey
Another interesting point of the Generative AI debate at the fair was raised by Jennifer Acerra, vice president of Customer Insights at Walmart.The executive presented the three “C” essential to a successful data journey: curiosity, collaboration and courage. 

Curiosity, she said, is the engine for exploring opportunities from data. Team collaboration enables discoveries to become reality. And courage is essential to embrace new digital tools and transform the potential of each of them into concrete results.

Within this dynamic, it is also clear how much the role of the technology area has changed. CIOs and CTOs are no longer just support and assuming strategic positions, actively participating in company decisions.

For this reason, there is an increasingly attentive look at the training of professionals in the sector. They need to develop beyond a technical scope, understanding each particularity and objective of the business 

All these trends prove the growing importance of technology for business success.NRF 2025 makes clear how this scenario, guided by generative AI and data, is already a reality and should be a great agent to promote transformative results in the future of retail.