Upon arriving at NRF 2026, the exterior of the first booth we encountered said it all: “Lead with experience.” It was a message from Toshiba that was widely shared by exhibitors and panelists across Retail’s Big Show, as retailers grapple with balancing human connection and the proliferation of AI. Held Jan. 11-13 at New York’s Javits Convention Center, this year’s show drew more than 40,000 attendees who came to network, learn and address the “Next Now” in retail, from agentic commerce to media networks.
While roaming the expo, we noticed several exhibit trends and tactics that may signal what’s to come for trade shows in the year ahead. Like the very long line that formed to create an AI luggage tag in AWS’s booth. Or the human-size Verizon Business AI robot that stopped attendees in their tracks as she described her surroundings (for us, the realistic way her eyes moved around was genuinely disturbing). Read on for more of our findings from the floor, and check out our video recap here.
WORLD CUP & SPORTS INTEGRATIONS
Showcasing retail solutions through the lens of sports is nothing new for NRF exhibitors, but there appeared to be more brands than usual leaning into sports, including nods to the upcoming FIFA World Cup, to lure in attendees this year.
World Cup sponsor Lenovo’s booth featured a fan zone and several other World Cup-related vignettes; T-Mobile shined a spotlight on its F1 partnership via checkered flags and flooring; SAP dedicated a chunk of its extensive booth to tennis and its partnership with Wilson with themed vignettes and a pickleball challenge; Samsung went all in on sports from football to F1 to basketball with the help of a mosaic of screens; and the exterior of HP and Intel’s exhibit featured a display of soccer jerseys and cleats.
EMBROIDERY
Given the nature of the retail show, there were plenty of booths featuring apparel displays, and in some footprints, including Adyen’s and Nedap’s, attendees had the chance to get clothing or accessories custom-embroidered right on-site.
PARTNER SPOTLIGHTS
Cross-collaboration among brands is common within the retail industry, but we noticed an uptick in the number of exhibitors that leveraged booth space and/or messaging that shined a spotlight on their partners.
Salesforce, in particular, made a point of showcasing how its technology is leveraged by leading retailers, using a sizeable portion of its footprint to create a mini shopping mall of sorts that featured curated vignettes from Pandora, Janie and Jack, Shark/Ninja and PepsiCo. Meanwhile, Adobe dedicated a decent portion of its footprint to its Coca-Cola partnership.
Related:
- NRF 2025: Five Exhibit Design Trends from Retail’s Big Show
- Four Ways AT&T’s Retail Activation Scored During NBA Draft Week
PLUSHIES
Are plushies the new “it” swag for 2026? If NRF 2026 was any indication, they just might be (thanks, Labubu). Brands including Narvar, Fabric, Twilio, Ordinary Theory, HPE and Digital Wave Technology all offered plush toys, either as takeaway swag or prizes earned by interacting with the company.
PODCAST STUDIOS
A handful of exhibitors, like Vusion (whose massive booth was more like a small grocery store) and Diebold Nixdorf, incorporated podcast studios into their booths, where brand experts and other industry insiders delivered real-time insights on retail and the show at large.
HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAYS
We spotted more holographic displays and installations on the floor than in 2025, perhaps because the technology is improving. With Hypervsn tech fueling many of the installations this year, brands showcased how holographic innovations could change the way customers interact with retail products and spaces.
Consider AWS, which had an interactive installation powered by Hypervsn that allowed attendees to customize a digital Coach bag using voice commands. Or Cisco, which leveraged an AI-powered holographic chatbot to bring its new AI-driven customer support experiences and in-store engagement solutions to life. What’s more, the hologram was an avatar of an actual Cisco employee named Kailey, who could answer questions about Cisco’s Edge solutions—in multiple languages. Meanwhile, the real-life Kailey was also on-site.
BEVERAGE BARS
In-booth coffee and juice bars have been a staple of NRF over the last few years, but in 2026, offering refreshments, whether complimentary or for purchase, felt like table stakes among the bigger players. In several booths, exhibitors showcased their retail solutions by requiring attendees to order their drinks using the brand’s technology. And nearly every beverage bar we encountered had a line of thirsty, or caffeine-deprived, visitors. Among brands offering beverages were JP Morgan, T-Mobile, Mastercard, Shopify, Verifone, WorkJam, Adyen, Twilio, Vusion, Nedap and Diebold Nixdorf.
SHOUT-OUTS
We’d be remiss not to mention a few of the other engaging tactics discovered around the expo. Among our favorites was HPE, which themed its exhibit around a dog mascot named Patrick, whose image was used throughout the exhibit. The highlight, though, was the appearance by the real-life Patrick, who happily posed for photos with attendees. Visitors could also take home a Patrick plushy.
Other touchpoints worth shouting out: Narvar’s Dirty Soda Shop, located just outside the main show floor, where attendees could snag beverages infused with various Torani syrups; an installation of the star symbol associated with Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, hanging over the brand’s booth, which despite its size felt like a subtle nod to the brand’s AI prowess; The Howard Company’s “Pit Stop” go-kart racetrack activation, located on a lower level in the Food Service Innovation Zone, which showcased drive-thru and menu board solutions; the retail-themed superhero game offered by Diebold Nixdorf that yielded a physical photo keepsake; and IBM’s digitally enhanced game of foosball that demonstrated watsonx technology.
Partner credits: Kubik (HP x Intel); Exhibitus (Toshiba); Elevation 3D (Adobe); Proto Hologram and Acree AI (Cisco hologram); Boundless Trade Shows (Narvar); George P. Johnson (Google, Cisco, IBM).
More Scenes from NRF 2026:
Photo credits: Jason Dixson Photography; Kait Shea; Courtesy of Cisco
