NRF Recap

Let’s get this show on the road!

Last month, Pio took to the floor in New York City at the 2023 edition of NRF’s trade show at the Javits Center — officially marking our US commercial launch! Over the course of the 3 day show, our team had the privilege to speak to hundreds of attendees from around the globe. And “globe” is not an exaggeration: attendees from more than 70 countries were present at this year’s event.

In addition to the people, we had the chance to see some cool new tech from across the retail industry spectrum too.

Retail show or tech show?

From smart carts and self-checkout systems for grocery stores to touchless (”frictionless”) stores and omnichannel flows, it is clear that there have been massive investments to advance retail tech in recent years.

There are likely many reasons for this; not only did COVID accelerate the growth of ecommerce and the adoption of technology for businesses of all shapes and sizes (remember when you had to teach friends and family how to use a QR code at a restaurant?), but there was a theft prevention angle to many of the solutions found on the show floor. After all, having touchless stores would certainly cut down on shrink, and shoplifting has gotten a lot of coverage in the US mediain recent months.

Even corporations like Amazon have continued to develop new retail solutions beyond their pioneering Amazon Go frictionless stores — showcasing their tech, Amazon One. By utilizing biometric scanners, they pair your phone number and a credit card to a scan of your palm, enabling you to quickly check out with a wave of your hand over a sensor.

Other solutions we found showcased inventive applications of cameras and AI, such as systems that utilize eye tracking to determine how long a customer’s gaze focused on any particular items on shelves — data collection that has numerous applications for marketing, product design, and even store layout design.

AutoStore

Even our parent company, AutoStore, introduced a new fighter to the ring at their NRF booth this year in the form of the new PickUpPort — the first customer-facing module for the AutoStore system designed for omnichannel experiences. In fact, many of the attendees from retailers that we spoke to at the show were looking into fresh “customer experiences” and omnichannel shopping technology and expressed interest in AutoStore’s latest offering.

So what about Pio?

Well, for starters, we drew big crowds! Hundreds of attendees from all across the globe stopped by our booth to learn more about Pio and our mission to bring robot warehouses to independent brands. While many recognized our robot from our AutoStore colleagues’ booth nearby, others were being introduced to the pioneering cube storage solution for the first time and were fascinated by its potential.

From inquisitive minds to potential business partners, our visitors had great questions during our conversations and the feedback we received from them was overwhelmingly positive, with FashionUnited listing us among the top five industry disruptors at the whole event!

You'll find us at other events in the US and also in Europe in the coming months, so be sure to follow us on our socials to know where to find us!

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