Kevin’s Quick Takeaways
- Learning to avoid building a Frankenstein monster.
- Retail experience is the real differentiator for success.
- “Soft POS” evolution is starting to have an impact.
What is the biggest lesson or takeaway from 2025?
The hardest lesson was translating what we heard and how we thought about a problem, then taking a customer’s need and turning it into a technical requirement without building a Frankenstein monster. We learned that we have to be more present; you can’t truly understand a retailer’s needs until you observe them on the floor. We also saw that “self-service” technology is only good until it isn’t. When a global outage hits, like the one Cloudflare experienced, retailers aren’t looking for a chatbot. People want a real helpline when a problem pops up. Human customer service is becoming a top-tier decision factor again.
What are you excited about in 2026?
I’m excited about the “Retail Experience.” Retailers are realizing they have to differentiate to survive. I’m seeing a local high-end jewelry store build a “speakeasy” space behind bookcases for private consultations—creating a calm, special environment that you can’t get online. I’m also excited about how AI is becoming more accessible to small businesses, enabling personalized digital shopping that suggests products based on past behavior rather than generic ads.
What are the trends you’ll be looking for at NRF this year?
Hardware is high on my list—I want to see faster, nicer-looking, and more reliable units. But I’m specifically interested in seeing the evolution of “Soft POS” technology. Encouraging retailers to utilize tap-to-pay options directly on mobile devices—rather than relying on separate payment terminals—can help lower hardware costs and enhance security. I would like to see the market shift towards adopting tap-to-pay methods, similar to what we observe in Europe. Additionally, I will be exploring emerging technologies, particularly in the AI sector, to identify which companies have made significant progress since last year.
How do you see AI impacting retail in 2026?
For us, it’s about embedded AI. On our development platforms, we’re adding reporting features so an AI agent can perform predictive analysis for you. For Counterpoint, we’re working with NCR on the “Next Gen” version, which will be OS-agnostic (running on Windows, iOS, or Android) and cloud-enabled. This transition makes it much easier to plug in AI tools for things like automated purchase orders and inventory rules, moving retailers from “old school” processes to a modern, automated ecosystem.
