Events Archives - SPS Commerce Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:12:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 What to Expect at Retail’s Big Show: NRF 2026 https://www.spscommerce.com/blog/nrf-2026/ Thu, 18 Dec 2025 02:48:10 +0000 https://www.spscommerce.com/?p=761326

The National Retail Federation’s Big Show is back, and the theme, The Next Now, perfectly captures the urgency and opportunity facing retailers and industry players today.

This year, the Big Show is pleased to partner with celebrity entrepreneur Ryan Reynolds to discuss the trends that are transforming the industry and how businesses can make strategic, operational decisions required to succeed right now.

NRF 2026 is built around three core pillars, all centered on modernizing efficiencies and operational strategies:

  • Making priceless connections: Forging valuable partnerships and peer-to-peer relationships.
  • Gaining practical education: Accessing data-driven insights and actionable strategies.
  • Exploring futuristic solutions: Discovering the innovative technology powering retail’s next chapter.

With 175+ sessions and thousands of exhibitors, here’s what you can’t miss.

Featured session—Future under pressure: Inside the moves retailers are making for 2026 with SPS Commerce

The path to profitability in modern retail is defined by supply chain performance, automation, and efficiency.

Retailers are navigating a period of unprecedented pressure, forcing a complete rethinking of operating models. Leaders in the retail world from Canadian Tire, RONA, and Spreetail will provide an unfiltered view of the operational decisions they are making to thrive under four distinct forces. The conversation will focus heavily on how these organizations are eliminating friction and leveraging modern solutions to stay ahead.

The four critical forces shaping the session include:

1. Instant commerce expectations

  • The Pressure: Consumer demand for speed (same-day, next-day, instant pickup) is rising faster than retail economics. The core challenge of instant commerce is achieving this speed not just quickly, but profitably and predictably. This requires organizations to move away from slow, sequential processes to instant, synchronized data exchanges across networks.
  • Modernization Focus: Meeting these expectations requires a dramatic increase in supply chain visibility and automated processes. This pressure drives the need for smarter inventory placement, rapid partner-to-partner data exchange, and predictive analytics to ensure fulfillment costs don’t erode margins.
  • Tie-in to NRF 2026: Solutions for achieving instant commerce are heavily featured in the NRF Innovators Showcase, where new logistics and fulfillment technologies are being unveiled.

2. The great rewiring of trade

  • The Pressure: Global volatility, trade shifts, and risk are forcing organizations to abandon fragile, just-in-time operating assumptions. Redundancy is becoming resilience. Every player in the ecosystem is being forced to rethink sourcing, diversification, and the routing of products. This demands the type of systems that can manage complexity and risk without manual intervention.
  • Modernization Focus: Leaders are digitally rewiring their global trade routes. This massive shift requires high-fidelity, real-time data, and collaborative systems that can manage complex cross-border logistics and rapidly reposition inventory. This proactive approach ensures a resilient supply chain that can pivot when volatility strikes.
  • Tie-in to NRF 2026: The need for resilient leadership and value-driven supply chains directly aligns with the keynote message from Mary Beth Laughton (President & CEO, REI Co-op), who discusses building trust and strong operational foundations in a changing world.

3. Removing friction (automation everywhere)

  • The Pressure: Friction in the form of manual processes, bad data, reconciliation errors, and inconsistent signals is the silent killer of efficiency, blocking capacity for growth. Every time a human touches a process that a machine could handle, profit is lost and speed is sacrificed. Eliminating this friction creates the capacity necessary for scalable growth.
  • Modernization Focus: Removing friction means automating data flow end-to-end, standardizing data exchange with partners, and letting machines handle the repetitive task of transaction validation. This focus on automation (the “everywhere” aspect) is the core strategy for building a leaner, more efficient retail ecosystem.
  • Tie-in to NRF 2026: The Innovators Showcase is filled with technology (AI, machine learning, automation) specifically designed to eliminate these points of friction. The dedicated All-New AI Stage offers practical, actionable sessions on implementing these technologies to drive capacity for growth.

4. Retail’s footprint revolution

  • The Pressure: The physical store is no longer just a place to shop; it is increasingly a dual-purpose asset serving as an experience center and a micro-fulfillment hub (buy online, pick up in store; ship from store). This fundamentally changes assumptions about inventory placement, labor models, and supplier replenishment.
  • Modernization Focus: Leaders must rewrite operational assumptions about how inventory is distributed and leveraged across this hybrid network. This revolution requires flexible logistics solutions, smart store technology for rapid fulfillment, and the ability to view all inventory (in the warehouse, on the shelf, in transit) as a single, available resource.
  • Tie-in to NRF 2026: Solutions for managing the complex, multi-purpose footprint are featured across the main Expo floor and in specialized areas like the Foodservice Innovation Zone, which showcase operational excellence in high-urgency fulfillment within a rapidly evolving physical network.
Don’t just keep up—get ahead. Attend this session for a competitive edge and a chance to win a $1,000 gift card.

Keynote speakers: leadership, branding, and purpose

Beyond operational execution, the Big Show keynotes offer inspiration on brand building, leadership, and customer trust.

Session Speaker(s) Key Takeaway
Building Brands That Win Ryan Reynolds, Entrepreneur, and Ethan Tandowsky, CFO, Adyen Discover how Reynolds used authenticity and humor to scale challenger brands like Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile in the age of the empowered consumer.
Leading with Purpose Mary Beth Laughton, President & CEO, REI Co-op Learn how REI is revitalizing its co-op model through member feedback, community engagement, and innovation while staying true to its core values.

The Expo: where innovation powers efficiency

For retailers, suppliers, and 3PLs focused on modernization and efficiency, the Expo floor is the ultimate destination for discovering Futuristic Solutions.

  • The All-New AI Stage: Dedicated to practical education, this is your central hub for integrating AI, agentic AI, and other advanced technologies. Move beyond theory and find actionable insights for embedding AI into your business strategies today.
  • The Innovators Showcase: NRF hand-picks 50 cutting-edge companies featuring immersive and interactive experiences in technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Machine Learning, and more. This is where you see “The Next Now” on full display.
  • The Startup Hub: Meet the newest and most agile companies shaking up the retail industry. If you are looking for a groundbreaking technology partner or an unexpected solution to a supply chain challenge, the Startup Hub is where the disruption begins.
  • Food Service Innovation Zone: As retail and food service convergence continues, this dedicated area focuses on specialized technologies transforming quick service and food retail. Explore the latest in order fulfillment, kitchen automation, and the modern experience.

Look for us at NRF!

Whether you’re a retailer, a supplier, or a logistics provider, we have solutions designed specifically to help modernize your business and improve your profit margins.

We’re looking forward to meeting you. Find us at booth #6357 or schedule a 15-minute meeting with our experts. Anyone who signs up for a meeting is entered for a chance to win a $1,000 gift card. Come say hello!

]]> Three takeaways from SuiteWorld 2024 https://www.spscommerce.com/blog/suiteworld-takeaways/ Fri, 20 Sep 2024 17:21:50 +0000 https://www.spscommerce.com/?p=557466 SPS Commerce was thrilled to attend and participate in SuiteWorld 2024, marking an incredible ten years of this industry-leading event! As a long-time partner of Oracle NetSuite, it’s always an honor to be part of the innovation and community this show brings together. This year was no exception—SuiteWorld delivered insights that promise to reshape how businesses run.

Here are three big takeaways from this year’s event:

Growth and scalability

With a theme of “All Systems Grow,” it’s no surprise that business growth and scalability were dominant topics throughout the event. Across the three-day show, there was a strong focus on how companies can effectively scale, whether expanding locally or going global, all powered by NetSuite’s robust ERP solutions. This theme carried heavily into the keynote session, with a strong emphasis on the importance of providing tools that empower organizations to deliver operational excellence.

“Oracle NetSuite designed its product suite to be that ideal foundation for growth. To connect the entire business and provide a platform for expansion. We started in 1998 with a vision of a single system to run an entire organization, interconnecting every complex function in a way that feels simple.

Evan Goldberg, NetSuite Founder and EVP

From insightful sessions to real-world success stories, the message was clear: growth doesn’t have to mean sacrificing efficiency. NetSuite’s latest innovations were all about empowering companies to grow while maintaining balance and efficiency.

The power of “Suiteness”

One of the most exciting concepts unveiled was “Suiteness”—NetSuite’s approach to having all business functions integrated into one system. Ideally, a business could see all the data relevant to its supply chain in one system. From orders to inventory to shipments, having complete visibility into your business without jumping from platform to platform can help you streamline the entire order fulfillment process. Throughout the show, the buzz focused on the value of utilizing the full suite of NetSuite modules for end-to-end business management.

A few statistics shared at the event proved the impact of “Suiteness”:

  • 61% of users improved forecast accuracy.
  • 40% eliminated spreadsheet-based models entirely.
  • Warehouse management users reported shipping items more than a week faster.

“Suiteness” is designed to empower businesses to operate more efficiently while driving growth, providing a scalable solution that centralizes data and processes.

AI innovations

This year’s show also introduced some exciting AI-driven tools that will enhance the capabilities of NetSuite’s applications. With these tools, customers can reduce manual data entry, improve budgeting and planning, expand insights and increase workflow efficiency. Oracle Code Assist allows developers to speed up code generation. NetSuite Analytics Warehouse will enable businesses to quickly generate data-driven reports and visualizations using AI-powered insights.

AI tools have long been a staple for eCommerce, from chatbots to automated sales funnels. But as AI gets better, more will jump on the trend in an effort to improve business processes and brand experience.

When used correctly, AI can help companies create a more efficient and resilient supply chain. To learn how SPS Commerce is helping companies incorporate AI into their supply chain, read this blog from Director of Technology Jason Popillion.

This year’s event made it clear that NetSuite continues to evolve and innovate, focusing on automation, AI and cohesive solutions that drive growth while simplifying business processes. Learn more about how your business can benefit from NetSuite automation or analyze point-of-sale sell-through data in NetSuite Analytics Warehouse.

]]> Acumatica Summit 2024: A recap https://www.spscommerce.com/blog/acumatica-summit/ Wed, 14 Feb 2024 14:00:25 +0000 https://www.spscommerce.com/?p=447468 The SPS Commerce team headed to Las Vegas for another year to gather with everyone in the Acumatica community. The show was wonderful as always and was filled with customer and partner conversations, great breakout sessions and an amazing after party at The Sphere.

Here were some of our top takeaways:

New logo. New era.

The show kicked off with a keynote address by John Case, Acumatica CEO, where he introduced a refreshed logo to indicate the innovations coming in this “new era.”

“We believe the new mark better reflects our market momentum and our forward-looking approach and represents an evolution of who we are as a Community — moving forward together, with clarity and purpose,” said Case.

Focus on sustainability

Hackathon 2024A key theme at this year’s event was sustainability which was highlighted during the annual Hackathon—an event for developers, marketers and anyone else who’d like to join, hosted the day before Acumatica Summit starts. This year’s theme focused on sustainability and how to meet the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Representing SPS, Acumatica MVP Patrick Chen was on the winning team (aptly named Sustainable Shippers). They built a solution to minimize the number of packages needed for shipping, reducing overall waste.

Blurring the lines in retail

Another theme dealing with emerging trends in retail highlighted the idea that the lines are blurring in retail. It’s no longer just about shipping wholesale B2B or just shipping eCommerce. Almost everyone is expanding or reinventing their business to ship directly to the consumer or to expand their overall presence.

A few of the other emerging trends include:

  • Competitive market – The market is becoming even more competitive as companies move into new sales channels (e.g., large distributors/suppliers going direct-to-consumer).
  • Demanding customers – Consumers want more flexible delivery and payment methods.
  • Complex operations – The fulfillment process is gaining complexity as the market is changing and lines are blurring.
  • Profit margins – The pressure on profit margins is driven by competition and the cost of fulfilling orders across channels.
  • Workforce constraints – The labor market has also become increasingly competitive.

At SPS, we’ve also seen the retail world become more and more complex over the last few years. Consumers want to buy items where they want to buy them, when they want to buy them and at the best price possible. At face value that seems simple enough, but acquiring and maintaining the systems and processes to pull it off can be incredibly complex.

Awards

SPS is honored to have won ISV Partner of the Year: Distribution. In addition, we’re thrilled to be part of the President’s Club for another year! These awards attest to the ongoing success of our partnership with Acumatica.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t also recognize some of our amazing partners who also won awards at the conference, including:  Algorithm Inc., ASWi, Blytheco, Crestwood Associates, Net at Work, NexTec Group, SWK Technologies, Inc, and WM Synergy LLC.

We look forward to seeing everyone next year!

Interested in learning more about full-service EDI for Acumatica? Visit our Acumatica page for more details.

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