What: Over 15,000 retail professionals gathered at the debut NRF Europe 2025 in Paris to explore unified commerce, marketplaces, payments innovation, and social commerce trends.

Why it is important: The event highlights how retailers are adapting to economic uncertainty with AI-driven scalability, social commerce disruption, and creator-led marketing, setting the tone for the future of global retail strategies.

The IADS attended the first edition of NRF Europe 2025 in Paris, which attracted over 15,000 professionals to discuss the transformation of retail amid political and economic challenges. Several major themes emerged:

• Payments innovation: PayPal emphasised the importance of localisation in building customer trust when entering new markets, addressing issues like hidden currency fees and integrating solutions with PrestaShop to ease international growth.
• Marketplace evolution: Decathlon shared its shift from a vertically integrated retailer to a global marketplace, scaling to €700 million in GMV. The company uses automation and AI for catalogue management and multilingual operations, while maintaining in-house customer support to protect brand integrity. Its future goal is transitioning into a comprehensive sports platform with both product and service integration.
• Social commerce growth: TikTok Shop showcased its rapid rise, highlighting that affluent and older customers now drive most revenue, while Gen Z fuels engagement. Its creator-led affiliate model empowers ordinary users to act as brand marketers, shifting commerce from search-based to discovery-based experiences.
• Retail startups: The House of Innovation Pavilion, led by IADS partner RetailHub, highlighted 16 startups in AI, retail media, in-store intelligence, reverse logistics, and customer insights. Featured players included Footprints AI, iF Returns, Secret View, and RealO, all offering tested retail solutions.

The report reinforced how technology, scalable platforms, and new customer engagement models are transforming retail dynamics across Europe and beyond.

NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show Europe