Retail Operations
Want to stay ahead in retail? This guide highlights the must-attend retail tech conferences where leaders connect, share insights, and explore game-changing innovations.
Choosing which conferences you and your leaders should attend can be tricky, especially when not all business conferences are dedicated to your industry. Thankfully, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of retail tech conferences all over the U.S. — organized by region.
Find out who’s speaking, where each conference is located, and learn a bit about how each caters to its attendees.
Every event below is a retail technology conference rather than a general retail show — the agendas centre on systems, data, AI and commerce infrastructure rather than merchandising or store design. If you're looking for retail innovation events, retail industry networking events, or retail tech trade shows and expos specifically, this is the list. Each entry notes who it's built for, so you can match the event to the seniority and function of whoever you're sending.
Looking for even more retail conferences and events? Browse our complete list of 80+ retail conferences in 2026.
Best for: innovators in the cloud technology space, specifically at the enterprise level.
The 2026 event focuses on the latest advancements in AI and cloud, including generative AI, cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and real-world AI adoption across industries. With executive keynotes, technical deep dives, partner showcases, interactive demos, workshops, and community events, you're getting incredible value. Early bird pricing is available at $999 for a limited time.
Learn more about Google Cloud Next.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Thomas Kurian - CEO of Google Cloud
Yulie Kwon Kim - VP of Product at Google Workspace, Google Cloud
Matt Renner - President of Global Revenue at Google Cloud
Jeanine Banks - VP & GM at Developer X, Google Cloud
Sandra Joyce - VP at Google Threat Intelligence, Google Cloud 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
When: April 22–24, 2026
Best for: retail and eCommerce leadership and c-suite executives looking to network and sharpen their skills.
Both the in-person and online versions of this retail tech conference are at capacity, but that means it’s one of the most in-demand conferences of the 2026 event season. This is a networking and leadership-focused event where nearly 80% of Fortune 100 companies congregate. If you’re an executive or qualified professional, make sure you keep an eye out for future events from the Quartz Network.
Learn more about SCOPE events.
2025 Session Speakers:
MD Rakibul Hassan - Head of Performance Excellence at Ocean Spray
David Kern - Vice President, Enterprise Commercial Strategy & Global Procurement at Tripadvisor
Tony Gagliardi - Head-Indirect Sourcing, Americas-Global Real Estate at Elekta
Edmund Konadu - Global Head of Corporate Supply Chain at Littelfuse
Kumar Selvam - Head of VendorX & Global Trade Compliance at Fanatics 2026 Featured Speakers:
Edmund Konadu - Global Head of Corporate Supply Chain, Littelfuse
Anthony Huffman - VP of IT, Digital Manufacturing, Global Pacific
Seref Alptekin - VP Supply Chain & Procurement, Closure Systems International
Ramon Gonzales - SVP Operations & Supply Chain, Nilfisk
Jeff Barry - Chief Innovation Officer, DOT In-person Details:
Where: Phoenix, Arizona
When: March 29–31
Best for: managers and executive-level professionals in rapidly growing start-up environments or established medium-sized retail companies.
Focused on interactive table workshops, one-on-one meetings, and exhibit spaces, Grow LA is a fantastic opportunity to discover new tools, find answers to your most pressing business challenges, and connect with other like-minded professionals across the retail and tech industries.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Amanda Mitzman - Director of eCommerce at Paul Mitchell
Ben Yahalom - CEO at True Classic
Sara Ahmed Holman - CCO at Bobbie
Sarah Zurell - CMO at Chinese Laundry
Matt Fey - Director of Marketing at Portland Leather Goods 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Los Angeles, California
When: April 26
Best for: all types of jewelry industry professionals — from small-business sellers to global jewelry manufacturers.
If you’re a part of the jewelry industry, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got your tickets for this one. JCK is a globally attended event, making it the place to network, learn about industry trends, and even sell your wares. With jewelry manufacturers, retailers, and designers gathering all in one place, this is your chance to make a splash. Along with the exhibiting floor, JCK will feature a showcase stage with talks about business management, industry trends, sales strategy, AI innovation, and more!
2026 Conference Details:
Best for: C-suite leadership and executives who need to recharge, while also focusing on challenging discussions and networking.
NRF is a retail tech conference built on the back of industry expertise. Rather than being an event for sales pitching to a captive audience, this event is focused on curated content from vetted speakers, open dialogue, and networking. It’s the hub for retail innovators to encounter big ideas, recharge their minds, and make meaningful connections. With a full schedule of keynotes, sessions, and think tanks — this year’s NRF Nexus is one you shouldn’t miss.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Prashant Agrawal - Founder & CEO of Impact Analytics
Emeline Berlind - SVP & General Manager, Loyalty at Sephora
Kevin Ertell - CEO of Mistere Advisory
Martin Gilliard - CEO at Arteli Inc.
Jason Goldberg - Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis Groupe 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Colorado Springs, Colorado
When: July 22–24
Best for: corporate leaders from retail or technology companies that have more than $50 million in revenue.
As an invite-only event for retail’s senior leaders, eTail is the meeting place for some of the biggest retail brands in the world, including Apple, Coca-Cola, Disney, Mattel, Nike, Samsung, and more. With one-on-one meetings, curated learning experiences, and connection-focused events, this retail tech conference is an opportunity to build strong relationships across the industry.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Sandra Campos - CEO & President at PetMeds
Ellie Quartel - Chief Digital Officer and Head of DTC at Fossil Group
Matt Repicky - SVP Chief Brands Officer at Tailored Brands Inc.
Adeela Hussain Johnson - CEO of BÉIS Travel
Stephanie Hinze - VP Global Direct-to-Consumer at Manscaped 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Westin Carlsbad Resort, California
When: September 23–25
Best for: independent grocers, investors, or leadership professionals operating in the groceries or consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries.
GroceryShop is the only global event for the grocery and CPG industry. With 150+ speakers, more than 50 countries represented, and over 5,000 executives attending, it’s a no-brainer to get your tickets. This retail tech conference provides opportunities for dedicated networking events, engagement with interactive retail demos, access to the Spark Startup Hub for up-and-coming innovators, and the return of the TechTalks Stage for rapid-fire learning sessions.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Kabir Jain - Chief Growth Officer at Erewhon
Danielle Sporkin - SVP, Media and Marketing Services at Ferrero
Suzy Monford - CEO of Heritage Grocers Group
Leslie Lee - VP, Digital Experiences at Hormel
Stewart Samuel - Director of Retail Futures at IGD 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
When: September 22–24
Best for: any businessperson who works in, manages, or owns a business built on white-label product sales or distribution.
This event is tailored for retailers who operate in the world of white-label products. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with suppliers while also gaining insight into how to optimize their online sales funnels and improve their margins. White Label Expo will also be running alongside Retail Supply Chain + Logistics Expo, Smart Retail Tech Expo, eCommerce Packaging & Labeling Expo, The Business Show, and B2B Marketing Expo.
Register for your free tickets.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Marcel F. Schaerer - Deputy Director, Nevada Department of Business & Industry
Pierce Woodward - CEO & Founder of Brand Pierre
Heather Marianna - CEO of Beauty Kitchen
Saul Ramos - Nevada SBA District Director, U.S. Small Business Administration
David Naumann - Global Retail Marketing Strategy Leader, Verizon Business 2026 Featured Speakers:
Chloe Walsh - Founder & CEO, Clomaná Beauty & CMFRT
Oliver Cookson - Founder, Entrepreneur, Investor & Philanthropist, Myprotein, Verve, and Cookson First Aid
Jonny Bradley - Founder of The SellerPro Academy
Reco McCambry, MBA - Founder, President & CEO, Novae - The Credit & Money Company
Stuart Trevor - Founder, All Saints
David Pujolar - CEO, Footasylum 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
When: September 23–24
Best for: senior-level or executive IT professionals who support retail businesses who are looking to network and learn.
Prioritizing interactivity and intimate roundtable discussions, Retail IT Connect is the retail tech conference for senior-IT leaders for the top retail companies in the United States. Retail IT Connect is crafted for experience, maximizing creativity and passion with panel debates, transformative content, one-on-one meetings, and exceptional networking opportunities you may not find anywhere else.
Find out if you qualify and request your invite here.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Saritha Ivaturi - Chief Technology Officer at Guitar Center
David John Smith - Chief Technology Officer at 3Z Brands
Hector Almaguer - Chief Technology Officer at Blindster.com
Serge Moreau - VP of Technology at Tommy John
Matt Ezyk - Head of Technology & eCommerce at Pet Supermarket
Maggie Cowie - Senior Director of Application Development at Alex Lee, Inc. 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
-- Where: Nashville, Tennessee
Best for: branding or marketing professionals who support businesses operating in retail, CPG, DTC, or other consumer-facing industries.
Founded in 1994, CRMC is a conference dedicated to the world of marketing and branding. With many of the largest retail brands in the world attending, this could be a great opportunity to learn, connect, and grow your brand presence. With meetups, roundtables, workshops, and exclusive case study presentations focused on CPG, DTC, and other retail-adjacent industries, CRMC 2026 is poised to be one of the biggest retail tech conferences in the Midwest.
Register and lock in your room.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Neil Pasricha - Happiness Expert, New York Times Bestselling Author, and TED speaker
Riaz Meghiji - Human Connection and Leadership Expert, Author
Shabnam Mogharabi - Positive Psychology Expert, Entertainment Executive, and Bestselling Author
Brand presentations from Bealls, BevMo!, Bombas, Carter’s, GAP Inc., Great Clips, Hilton, J.Crew, Lowes, McDonald’s, Michaels, OXXO, Omni Hotels and Resorts, PetSmart, Pizza Hut, Princess Cruise Lines, Sephora, Subway, Sweetgreen, The Home Depot, and Tyson Foods. 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Frisco, Texas
When: June 1-3
Best for: retail professionals in tech-forward businesses who are looking to improve their workflows and supply chain or seeking networking opportunities with specific individuals.
ShopTalk is in the business of “uniting the entire retail ecosystem.” This retail tech conference is dedicated to clarifying the conversation around the rapidly transforming retail environment, with a focus on digitization, merchandising, and supply chain. The most unique opportunity that ShopTalk enables is its Meetup program — which facilitates 15-minute double opt-in meetings between any attendees. So, if there’s someone you absolutely must speak with, ShopTalk Fall just might be your chance!
Get your tickets and schedule your Meetup.
Past Featured Speakers:
Sharon Price John - CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop
Kyle Leahy - CEO of Glossier
Jennifer Wilson - SVP, Chief Marketing Officer at Lowe’s
Michelle Gansle - Global Chief Data and Analytics Officer at McDonald’s
Jennifer Hyman - Co-Founder & CEO of Rent the Runway 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Nashville, Tennessee
When: September 29–October 1
Best for: senior-level leadership who are looking to expand their skills and knowledge in the eCommerce and retail industries.
Serving as the eTail conference option for the Southeast United States, eTail Connect East is putting eCommerce at the forefront. Like other eTail events, this one is also invite-only and tailored for senior-level leadership specializing in marketing, eCommerce, and retail. With several keynote events and panels, eTail Connect East is shaping up to be one of the biggest yet.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Smeeta Khetarpaul - SVP and Head of Marketing at The Children’s Place
Faraz Iqbal - Chief Technology Officer at Edible
Kelly Cook - CEO of David’s Bridal
Vivek Bharadwaj - Chief Data Officer at Happy Socks
Paul Myers - SVP of Technology at Fabletics 2026 Featured Speakers:
Steven Malony - Chief Executive Officer, Belkin Int’l
Umesh Sripad - Chief Digital Officer, PetMeds
Devin Van Hout - Chief Digital Officer, BBQ Guys
Sophia Tsao - Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, Fashionphile
Rebecca Ginns - Global Head of Perigold, Wayfair 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Miami, Florida
When: May 12–14
Best for: retail industry branding and strategy professionals who are interested in exploring tech integrations for their businesses.
With more than 2,000 meetings, 3,000+ attendees, and over 180 speakers, Lead Summit is poised to cap off Spring in NYC. This event is designed to help attendees learn high-impact strategies for their brands, dialogue with industry peers to solve some of the biggest challenges facing their companies, and experience transformational technologies that could be integrated into their workflows.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Ellie Quartel - CDO & Head of DTC at Fossil Group
Kristin Patrick - CMO & CDO at Marc Jacobs
Ricardo Lajoie - Global Chief Merchant at Vans
Tracy Bay - SVP, Head of Strategy & Head of eCommerce at J.Crew Group
Steve Malony - CEO of Belkin 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: New York, New York
When: May 20–21
Best for: retail and CPG innovators who are seeking a blend of community-building, technological exploration, and growth-centric learning.
Positioned as a community experience, CommerceNext brings digital, marketing, and technology retail leaders together. Blending a focus on peer-to-peer connections, actionable insights, and cutting-edge technology, this event is for anyone in the retail industry — from startups to global brands. Network with industry leaders, seek investing opportunities and work with peers to unlock exponential growth.
Apply for free admission or purchase your tickets.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Tom Ward - EVP & Chief Operating Officer at Sam’s Club
Kim Waldmann - Global Chief Customer Officer at Footlocker
Craig Brommers - CMO at American Eagle
Fiona Tan - CTO at Wayfair
Stuart Hogue - SVP, US Consumer at Lands’ End 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: New York, New York
When: June 23–24
Best for: any retail professional operating on the east coast who is looking to network and share ideas with their peers.
Designed to be a community cornerstone for retail innovators, eTail Boston brings some of retail's brightest minds, biggest ideas, and biggest challenges to the forefront. Level up your skills with mastermind sessions, connection-centric meetups, and hands-on workshops. Unlike other eTail events, Boston isn’t limited to senior-level leadership — making it one of the best opportunities for all retail professionals to experience the future of the industry.
2025 Featured Speakers:
Jaclyn Fu - CEO of Pepper
Matt Trainor - SVP, Brand Creative & Marketing at Lands’ End
PJ Olesak - CEO of Nuts.com
Ryan McClurkin - Chief Analytics Officer of JTV
Meredith Glansberg - Chief Revenue Officer at Quip. 2026 Featured Speakers:
TBD 2026 Conference Details:
Where: Boston, Massachusetts
When: August 10-12
Most teams pick conferences by reputation and regret it. A more reliable filter is four questions, in this order.
1. What outcome are you actually buying? The events on this list serve genuinely different jobs, and the format tells you which:
| If your goal is... | Look for... | Format signal |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluating vendors | A large expo floor | "Expo", "show", hundreds of exhibitors |
| Meeting peers at your level | Curated, invitation-based events | Hosted buyer programs, one-to-one meetings, capped attendance |
| Learning a specific discipline | Deep, single-track agendas | Workshops, certifications, technical sessions |
| Generating pipeline | Sponsorship and speaking slots | Sponsor prospectus, speaker CFP |
| Industry awareness | The big keynote conferences | Named keynote speakers, press presence |
An expo is a poor use of an executive's time if what they wanted was peer conversation. A curated summit is a poor use of a procurement team's time if what they needed was to see forty vendors in two days.
2. Who is actually in the room? Attendee seniority and function matter more than headline speaker names. Ask the organizer for the attendee breakdown from last year — by job title and company size. Reputable events will send it; the ones that won't are telling you something.
3. What is the real cost? The ticket is rarely the largest line. Budget for travel and accommodation at conference-week rates, three to four days of a senior person's time, and — if you're exhibiting — booth, build and staffing, which typically dwarfs everything else.
4. How will you measure whether it worked? Decide before you go. Meetings booked with target accounts, vendors shortlisted, a specific question answered, or hires sourced. "Good networking" is not a result you can act on next year.
The difference between a productive conference and an expensive one is almost entirely preparation:
This guide covers U.S. events. Retail technology has substantial conference activity in Europe and APAC as well — the UK, France and Japan all host significant retail tech shows with their own vendor ecosystems and buyer audiences.
If you operate across regions, plan the calendar as a whole rather than by market. The same vendors and much of the same content circulate between them, so attending the U.S. and European flagship events in the same year often means paying twice for one conversation.
Worth being clear about the distinction, because the two attract different people and reward different preparation.
Retail conferences cover the industry broadly — merchandising, store operations, marketing, real estate, consumer trends. Attendance skews toward commercial and merchandising leadership.
Retail tech conferences — the events on this list — focus on the systems layer: commerce platforms, ERP, inventory and supply chain systems, AI, payments and data. Attendance skews toward operations, IT and digital leadership.
If you're evaluating an ERP or commerce platform, the tech events are where the vendors are and where the practitioner conversations happen. If you want the broader industry picture, our complete list of 80+ retail conferences covers both categories across the full year.
If you’re in the market for a headless ERP solution tailored to fit your business — and you don’t want to hit the expo floor at your closest event — then schedule a demo with us today.
We’ll show you how our API-powered ERP solution can unlock exponential growth for your business, without sacrificing your flexibility or mucking up your workflows.
The strongest options depend on what you need. For enterprise cloud and AI, Google Cloud Next; for ecommerce and digital retail, the eTail series; for grocery and CPG, GroceryShop; for supply chain leadership, the Supply Chain & Logistics Summit; for curated peer networking, invitation-based summits like Grow. The full regional breakdown is above.
Retail conferences cover the industry broadly — merchandising, store operations, marketing and consumer trends — and attract commercial leadership. Retail tech conferences focus on the systems layer: commerce platforms, ERP, inventory, AI, payments and data, and attract operations, IT and digital leaders.
Start with the outcome you want — vendor evaluation, peer networking, learning, or pipeline — because each maps to a different event format. Then check who actually attends by job title, calculate the true cost including staff time, and decide in advance how you'll measure whether it was worth it.
They can be, but only with preparation. The teams that get value book meetings before arriving, send people to different sessions, prioritize small-format workshops over keynotes, and follow up within a week. The teams that don't tend to treat the ticket as the investment rather than the time.
Early-bird pricing typically closes two to four months ahead and the saving is meaningful. More importantly, the attendee lists and meeting apps usually open several weeks before the event — and the people worth meeting fill their calendars quickly, so late registration costs you more than money.
The list above is organized by U.S. region — West Coast, Midwest and East Coast — so you can filter by travel distance. For a fuller calendar including non-technology retail events, see our complete list of retail conferences.
AUTHOR
Abby Nitta
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