From September 15 to 17, NRF Europe 2026 brought together more than 12,000 visitors, 525 exhibitors and 200 speakers at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.
TimeSkipper was on the Zebra Technologies stand as part of its partner ecosystem, which let us compare the trends we saw at the show with those we had already identified in one of our previous articles on retail innovations to watch in store operations.
After three days on our feet in the aisles (and a few thousand steps later), five NRF Europe 2026 retail trends stand out:
• RFID is back in the spotlight
• The connected cart: gimmick or new data source?
• Security and shrink: moving from detection to action
• Autonomous stores: do we really need to make things more complex?
• The Zebra ecosystem: when technologies start talking to each other
RFID is back in the spotlight
RFID is obviously nothing new. Yet it was particularly visible at NRF Europe, notably with Avery Dennison, who was on the Zebra stand.
This year the company launched an RFID solution for fresh products, in collaboration with Walmart. The initiative revives a question we were already asking: can RFID finally find its place in food retail?
The cost of RFID tags remains a barrier, especially given unit margins. But fresh, with its higher margins, could be a first way in.
One to watch...
The connected cart: gimmick or new data source?
While connected carts now come in different forms, the idea isn't new. For nearly 30 years, retailers have been looking for the right formula to turn the cart into a real tool for guiding the shopping journey.
Their ambition: to bring the smoothness of online shopping into the store, by giving customers more information and services while they shop.
Hanshow, with shopreme and Lucky Cart, is betting on a tablet attached to a standard cart: customers scan their products and cameras check the items placed inside. The approach brings together three areas of expertise. Instacart goes further with Caper Cart, where products are detected automatically, fruit and vegetables are weighed and payment is made from the cart itself. Somewhere in between, Coopérative U is testing a model developed by KBST in Bischwiller, combining a built-in cart, scanning, a scale and cameras.
Hanshow’s connected cart
Instacart’s smart cart
Coopérative U’s connected cart
What is the value of the connected cart?
Three approaches to the same question: what value do customers really find in a connected cart? To win people over, the device has to be useful enough for customers to adopt it, while delivering concrete benefits to the retailer, from loss prevention to shopping-journey data.
The more flexible model of a tablet fixed to a standard cart may therefore have some advantages: it extends the logic of handheld scanners, with potentially lighter investment.
One question remains, though: does the connected cart really help customers keep better control of their basket, or can it also push them to buy more? Instacart, for example, reports a double-digit increase in average basket size at several retailers equipped with Caper Cart. The key will be striking the right balance between what customers expect, notably keeping their budget under control, and what the retailer needs: delivering on its commercial plan.
Security and shrink: moving from detection to action
Security and the fight against shrink (unknown shrinkage) also had a significant presence at the show. We had already seen this with connected carts, through camera and weighing systems designed to curb fraud. But beyond these devices built into the shopping journey, another trend is emerging: fraud prevention through data analysis.
Sensormatic Solutions showcased Shrink Analyzer, a cloud solution that analyzes losses by cross-referencing several dimensions: the product or category involved, and where and when the loss occurs, thanks to RFID tags (yes, we're back to RFID). By detecting which product is leaving the store, retailers can identify the categories, zones or time slots most at risk and give teams concrete insights to prevent potential losses.
Auror, for its part, focuses on sharing security incidents across stores. Its platform centralizes reports, cross-checks information between stores and helps identify recurring patterns or high-risk profiles so they can be avoided in the future.
This confirms an underlying shift we had already sensed: technology is no longer used to correct, but to prevent and steer upstream.
Autonomous stores: do we really need to make things more complex?
After the enthusiasm of recent years, the autonomous store model also seems to be evolving.
Boxy in France closed its stores in 2024. Amazon has also stepped back from Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh, largely because of their costs.
Yet the French network API shows that another model is possible.
Its convenience stores of around 40 m² (about 430 sq ft) run with nearly 700 products, an app or a QR code for customer identification, and no permanent staff. One manager can look after several stores thanks to a lean organization and local support.
There's no need here to multiply cameras or computer vision technologies. Simpler technology, combined with a very concrete local need, can be enough.
This approach raises an interesting question for the store of tomorrow: will the most relevant technology really be the one that does the most?
The Zebra ecosystem: when technologies start talking to each other
This was probably the strongest signal of the three days: innovation is no longer just about adding more technologies, but about making them work together.
On the Zebra stand, RFID, electronic shelf labels, mobile devices, computer vision and software solutions like TimeSkipper were brought together in a single ecosystem.
And for the store, this interconnection changes the game: teams no longer have to juggle siloed tools.
Piling up tools without connecting them can, on the contrary, add complexity for teams: a store full of gadgets that don't talk to each other is a bit like a meeting where everyone speaks at once.
That is precisely why TimeSkipper was there alongside Zebra. Our mobility solution, integrated into Zebra Workcloud Sync, makes it possible to manage field tasks in real time, directly in the environment the teams already use.
The goal: to go from a connected store to a truly managed store.
The real common thread: turning data into action
RFID, connected carts, shrink-prevention tools, mobility, autonomous stores... These innovations all have one thing in common: they keep producing more and more data.
But data on its own is just information. The real challenge for the store of tomorrow will be to bring this information together, interpret it and, above all, turn it into concrete action on the ground.
This is also what we observed in our thinking about the data-store: equipment is gradually becoming the sensors of a broader system, able to circulate information between the point of sale, the supply chain and support functions.
And this shift directly affects store teams.
As AI and technology take over some repetitive tasks and make analysis easier, the goal is not to take decisions away from store operators.
On the contrary, it is to give them clearer information at the right time, so they can decide and act with greater autonomy. Knowing what's left to do, understanding priorities and seeing the team's activity at a glance: all of these help organize store activity management better.
Our conviction: managing in real time is good; empowering teams to work autonomously is better. That's what our mobility solution makes possible.
In short: the NRF Europe 2026 trends to remember
After three days at the show, one trend is confirmed: the store of tomorrow will probably be more technological. But above all, it will need to be more connected, more responsive and more action-oriented.
Technology alone doesn't make a smart store: it all comes down to the ability to turn the right information into a decision.
What about the shelf-stocking robots we hear so much about? They probably deserve an article of their own. In the meantime, experiments continue and there is still a way to go...
