Comments from 5 Loved Brands at NRF 2025
At NRF 2025, retail’s most innovative minds gathered over three days to dive deep into the future of the industry. Here’s what top leaders from Coach, IKEA, Macy’s, Sephora, and Anthropologie had to say about redefining the customer experience.
[Photos by Jason Dixon]
Coach
Through ‘Coach Play’, they’re transforming luxury shopping into a community-driven experience, creating immersive colour spaces, and taking the brands’ audience beyond mothers to their daughters. By putting Gen Z at the forefront, their focus shifts to balancing experience per square foot with sales per square foot by seamlessly blending physical and digital realms. The iconic Coach Tabby Bag Hot Air Balloon that launched in August 2024 is an excellent example of this.
IKEA
IKEA believe mastering the connection between retail with real-life emotions and moments is paramount. Javier Quinones, IKEA CEO gave a beautiful anecdote during his keynote session that explains it best, “When I go to buy a bed for my daughter, I am not just buying a piece of furniture for her room based on style, size, and colour, I am buying a bed for the most important person in the world to me”.
Anthropologie
Anthropologies Chief Marketing Officer, Elizabeth Pries delved into ‘Anthropologie Magic’; the art of predicting the consumer’s next step by always delivering the unexpected, bringing to market brands and products the customers didn’t realize they desired. They follow a simple equation for success; Screen Share + Mind Share + Heart Share = Wallet Share. This has allowed them to diversify their product lines and categories and in turn, create in-store experiences that you can’t experience online.
Sephora
For Sephora, beauty is more than skin deep; it’s about passion and human connection. The Sephora CEO, Artemis Patrick emphasised the importance of predicting customer desires, launching brands online to gather data before introducing them in-store. This data-driven approach ensures that their stores remain dynamic and relevant.
Macy’s
With the rise of ‘dupe culture’, Macy’s explored the challenges of maintaining customer loyalty. Their focus has shifted to delivering an enjoyable and integrated customer experience, believing in the power of blending the tactical elements of brick-and-mortar with digital innovations. Macy’s commitment to the in-store experience ensures that they remain a destination, not just a store.
Conclusion
NRF highlighted how brands are redefining retail by balancing digital innovation with authentic, in-person connections. As these brands evolve, one thing remains certain: the future of retail is as much about emotional connection as it is about technological advancements.
Published January 2025