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Making NRF Work Better—for Retailers and Exhibitors

Barney and Rethink Retail

Each year, thousands of retailers and solution providers gather at the NRF Big Show with the same goal: to find ideas, partners, and technologies that genuinely fit their business.

And each year, many leave disappointed—not because innovation was lacking, but because too many conversations missed the mark.

NRF doesn’t fall short due to technology. It falls short when conversations become sales pitches instead of discovery.

This is a simple guide for both retailers and exhibitors on how to make NRF more effective—by prioritizing good advice, clearer expectations, and better use of time.

NRF Is a Discovery Environment, Not a Closing Room

Retailers don’t come to NRF to sign contracts on the show floor.
Exhibitors don’t realistically expect deals to close in a booth.

The real value of NRF is discovery:

What problems are real versus assumed?
What solutions work in live environments—not just in demos?
What fits a retailer’s operational, technical, and budget reality?

When exhibitors treat NRF as a selling opportunity, retailers disengage.
When retailers treat booths as free consulting sessions with no intent, vendors disengage.

Both outcomes waste time.

For Retailers: Better Questions Lead to Better Conversations

Retailers can dramatically improve booth conversations by shifting from “Show me what you do” to “Help me understand if this fits.”

Questions that tend to unlock real insight include:

Where does this solution typically struggle in real deployments?
What does this require from store operations—not just IT?
What does a pilot really demand in time, people, and support?
What usually stops projects like this from moving forward internally?

These aren’t confrontational questions. They’re clarifying ones. And they often shorten conversations by quickly identifying whether a solution is relevant—or not.

For Exhibitors: Advice Builds Trust Faster Than Features

Retailers at NRF don’t need more features. They need context.

Exhibitors who consistently stand out tend to:

Explain who their solution is not for
Share lessons learned from failed or stalled projects
Acknowledge trade-offs instead of overselling perfection
Ask thoughtful questions before launching into a demo

Providing honest guidance—even when it leads to disqualification—signals confidence and credibility. Over-pitching does the opposite.

Ironically, the exhibitors most willing to say “this may not be right for you” are often the ones retailers remember and follow up with.

Time Is the Most Valuable Currency on the Show Floor

NRF conversations work best when both sides quietly align on a few basics:

Is this an exploratory conversation or an evaluative one?
How much time do we realistically have?
What would justify a follow-up—or a clean no?

A focused 10–15 minute conversation with clarity is far more productive than a long, unfocused pitch. Efficiency isn’t cold—it’s respectful.

Why Good Advice Matters More Than Ever

Retail technology has become more complex, not less. Integrations, service models, compliance, security, field support, and total cost of ownership all matter—and often matter more than the product itself.

In this environment:

Retailers need help seeing around corners
Vendors need credibility more than volume
Honest conversations outperform polished decks

NRF works best when it feels less like Tinder or Bumble and more like informed matchmaking.

The Bottom Line

NRF delivers the most value when:

Retailers arrive curious but prepared
Exhibitors lead with insight, not scripts
Both sides focus on fit rather than flash

The best outcome of NRF isn’t a deal—it’s clarity.

And clarity, followed up thoughtfully, leads to better decisions for everyone involved.

Barney Stacher is independent retail consultant. Please contact for more info!

More Resources

Trade Show Maximization Checklist

(NRF — or any major retail / technology event)

Before the Show: Preparation Wins the Week

☐ Define success in advance
Decide what “good” looks like: discovery meetings, partner conversations, analyst briefings, or competitive intelligence — not closed deals.
☐ Pre-book your top 10–20 meetings
Use the show as a forcing function for conversations that would otherwise take months to schedule.
☐ Use the tradeshow website and mobile app
Typically for NRF using the matchmaking Grip app will provide 50 good contacts PRIOR to the show
☐ Have a Press and PR strategy
Newsletters are great for establishing interest, and you generally have their contact info. LinkedIn is a very low traffic channel and typically saturated with “Come See” blurbs prior to show. Set up the show as Event and then invite your customers via LinkedIn. That is better than just a shotgun post hoping you hit something.
☐ Clarify your 30-second story
What problem do you solve, for whom, and why now — without slides or demos.
☐ Align booth staff roles
Who qualifies, who demos, who handles executives, who captures notes.
☐ Prep intelligent questions
For retailers: “What’s breaking in your current workflow?”
For vendors: “Where are deployments stalling — and why?”
☐ Have lightweight digital assets ready
QR code to a one-pager, demo video, or follow-up page — not a content dump. For your website and your landing page, remember that likely 70% of viewers are going to be on mobile. Test your assets using mobiles for effectiveness.

During the Show: Maximize Signal, Minimize Noise

☐ Protect time ruthlessly
Every conversation should earn its place. It’s okay to politely disengage.
☐ Listen more than you pitch
The best insights come from how people describe their problems, not your solution.
☐ Qualify fast
Are they a buyer, influencer, partner, or “interesting but not now”?
☐ Capture context, not just contact info
Write down why the conversation mattered and what to do next.
☐ Walk the floor intentionally
Look for patterns: what’s everywhere, what’s missing, what feels forced.
☐ Schedule follow-ups on the spot
A calendar hold beats a business card every time.

After the Show: Where ROI Actually Happens

☐ Follow up within 5 business days
Reference the specific conversation — generic emails get ignored.
☐ Segment contacts immediately
Near-term opportunity, long-term watch, partner, press/analyst.
☐ Share internal insights
What trends kept coming up? What assumptions were challenged?
☐ Measure outcomes, not swag
Meetings booked, pilots discussed, partnerships advanced.
☐ Decide what changes before the next show
Messaging, booth design, demo flow, staffing mix.

Reality Check

Trade shows don’t fail because of bad technology.
They fail because companies show up without a plan, chase the wrong conversations, and confuse activity with progress.

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