Logos of companies participating in the 2026 National Retail Federation (NRF) APAC Innovators Showcase features 23 companies from around the world that are applying new technology tools to transform how retailers and brands sell and how consumers shop.
The 2026 National Retail Federation APAC Innovators Showcase spotlights technology companies transforming how retailers operate and how consumers shop. Curated by the NRF Innovation Advisory Committee — of which Forrester is a member — this year’s cohort is defined by one overarching theme: the rise of agentic and generative AI across every corner of retail. The innovators span three key functions in retail: e-commerce, business analytics and trends, and in-store shopping.

E-Commerce Agents Enable Smarter Selling At Every Touchpoint

Many of this year’s innovators tackle long-standing e-commerce challenges: scaling marketplaces, monetizing retail media, and personalization, live commerce, and product content automation. Together, these companies reflect a broader industry push to extract more value from every stage of the digital shopping journey. For example, Mirakl is helping major merchants such as Macy’s and Nordstrom scale marketplace and retail media operations at a time when Forrester forecasts that global retail media spend will surpass $300 billion by 2030. Intelligence Node monitors competitive activity in real time so retailers can rapidly adjust prices, promotions, and product content to maintain market share. These are all critical capabilities as e-commerce growth decelerates globally.

Business Analytics And Trends Embrace Real-Time Intelligence

A cohort of innovators is turning fragmented signals such as social trends and competitive pricing into actionable intelligence in real time. The common thread is AI’s ability to compress the gap between insight and action. Propheus is one example, aggregating external signals like weather and competitive activity and using AI agents to recommend actions across inventory, staffing, and promotions. Trendier AI helps beauty brands identify and act on emerging social media-driven trends near instantaneously, compressing product validation timelines from weeks to a single day.

In-Store Insights Finally Match E-Commerce Analytics

Physical retail has lagged far behind digital in data sophistication — but that’s changing. This year’s in-store innovators are bringing the intelligence layer that brick-and-mortar has long been missing, using AI, sensors, and digital twins to give retailers the same granular visibility offline that they’ve enjoyed online for years. Planoverse uses AI-powered 3D digital twins for store planning to help merchants such as Woolworths optimize shelf layouts before a single product moves. Whale unifies different store systems and enables business users to ask questions in natural language across numerous disparate interfaces.

To read about each of the companies, view the new 2026 APAC Innovators Showcase report. Forrester clients can schedule a guidance session to discuss these themes and any other timely topic with me.