RETHINK Retail is the definitive resource that unites the retail community with the insight, experience, and connections that will enable the next generation of leaders. Every single webinar, conversation, and piece of data we present is chosen for one reason: to make technology work.

Why Scale Is Where Pilots Go to Die

Most connected store conversations begin and end with technology. What those conversations rarely address is what happens when that technology hits a real shift handover on a real Monday morning.

Most retailers have demonstrated that connected store technology is effective. The problem is that a successful pilot and a scalable operating model are two very different things, and the gap between them is where most initiatives quietly fall apart. The question RETHINK Retail is asking out loud is not whether to invest in connected store technology. It is whether your organization is actually ready to run it at scale. That is exactly what this webinar is designed to answer. ⁽¹⁾

The AI Investment Surge Retail Leaders Cannot Ignore

The economics of retail transformation have crossed a threshold. The numbers from the industry’s most trusted technology sources are no longer aspirational. They are ready.

80% of retail and consumer products firms have a long-term strategy for innovation in AI, indicating that AI is not merely an afterthought anymore but is rather the main driver behind their development. As a matter of fact, AI has helped to raise customer satisfaction and retention by 31%. ⁽²⁾

79% of surveyed executives expect AI to significantly contribute to their revenue by 2030, up from 40% today, while AI investment is predicted to surge approximately 150% between now and 2030. Yet 68% of executives worry their AI efforts will fail due to a lack of integration with core business activities. This is precisely the operational readiness problem RETHINK Retail’s webinar is designed to address. ⁽³⁾

RETHINK Retail exists at this exact inflexion point, bringing together the leaders who are solving this integration challenge in real stores, in real time, and sharing what actually works.

Microsoft: Intelligence Across Every Corner of the Store

Technology budgets across retail and consumer goods are projected to hit $113 billion in 2026, and the C-suite mandate has shifted from “innovate” to “prove the ROI and scale.” ⁽⁴⁾

Microsoft’s Forrester Total Economic Impact study of its AI solutions for retail projects 124% to 282% ROI over three years, with $7.7M to $17.6M in net present value for a composite $5 billion enterprise. Benefits solely from AI-powered demand forecasting and inventory optimization amounted to $3M-$6.3M in savings over three years. Further, 66% of people using AI state that it enables them to focus on important tasks, while 58% of them mention that they generate content that they couldn’t before. ⁽⁴⁾

In terms of the latest retail technology from Microsoft, the store operations agent is publicly available now, enabling associates to access information about stock, policies, and processes in a natural language form, analyzing signals such as customer flow, weather, and regional events to prioritize staff planning and operations management. It is exactly the sort of applied intelligence showcased by RETHINK Retail speakers with help from real-life examples. ⁽⁵⁾

Cisco: The Network Foundation Everything Else Depends On

No connected store works without a network built to support it. Cisco’s inaugural State of Wireless Report 2026, based on interviews with 6,098 wireless decision-makers across 30 global markets, draws a direct line between network investment and business results.

84% of retail organisations report improved operational efficiency, and 80% report improved employee productivity from wireless investments. 77% of retail IT leaders report enhanced customer engagement. At the same time, 97% of retail organisations report rising operational complexity driven by IT, IoT, and OT workloads. ⁽⁶⁾

The security picture demands equal attention. 58% of organisations have incurred financial losses from wireless security incidents, and 87% face visibility gaps that impair network troubleshooting. ⁽⁷⁾ 

The strategic reward for closing these gaps is significant: organisations that address complexity, security, and talent together are 4x more likely to achieve strong wireless ROI, and AI-driven automation can reclaim 850+ hours per IT practitioner annually. ⁽⁸⁾

RETHINK Retail’s webinar addresses exactly this challenge, presenting platform-first thinking and modular infrastructure design so retail leaders leave with a clear operational framework, not just a vendor roadmap.

Palo Alto Networks: Security Is Not Optional at Scale

As new IoT sensors, smart shelves, and edge nodes are incorporated into any connected retail environment, the attack surface grows. This is supported by the findings from the 2026 report on the Global Incident Response Report compiled by Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks covering over 750 major cyber attacks from 50+ countries during Oct. 2024 to Sep. 2025.

Attacks are now 4x faster than last year. The fastest intrusions moved from initial access to data exfiltration in just 72 minutes. 65% of initial access is driven by identity-based techniques, and 87% of attacks unfolded across multiple attack surfaces simultaneously. ⁽⁹⁾

In regard to retail specifically, theft of data and extortion attacks, which are not encrypted and occur between mid-2025 and early 2026 among financially motivated actors, are a major new threat pattern that retail entities need to be prepared for. In addition, in the majority of cases where theft occurred, preventable vulnerabilities were responsible for the breach. ⁽¹⁰⁾

Security cannot be bolted onto a connected store architecture after deployment. It must be engineered from day one. This is one of the governance realities RETHINK Retail’s webinar surfaces directly, giving leaders the frameworks to build resilience into scale, not just technology.

Google Cloud: Edge Intelligence Where Retail Happens

Connected store value is generated at the store level. Intelligence must live where the action is, not in a distant data centre.

Google Cloud’s AI Agent Trends Report for Retail and CPG 2026, drawn from a survey of 585 senior retail and CPG leaders, identifies five agent trends shaping 2026: agents for every employee, agents for every workflow, agents for customers, agents for security, and agents for scale. ⁽¹¹⁾ 

Google’s Distributed Cloud infrastructure enables retailers to process real-time inventory and customer interactions locally at the edge, ensuring zero latency even if the store’s internet connection is unstable. ⁽¹²⁾

Organisations regularly using AI are saving 40 minutes per AI interaction per employee. At retail scale, that reclaimed time across thousands of store associates is a structural competitive advantage, not a marginal efficiency gain.⁽¹³⁾ 

RETHINK Retail’s webinar brings these edge intelligence frameworks into retailer spotlights, showing how real-world deployments translate infrastructure thinking into measurable outcomes on the shop floor.

What RETHINK Retail’s Webinar Will Deliver

This session cuts through vendor noise to address what scaling really requires: the governance, the people, the operational infrastructure, and the platform thinking that most technology conversations never reach. ⁽¹⁾ 

Attendees will leave with real-world retailer spotlights demonstrating connected store success, platform-first thinking around data visibility and modular design, and a clear framework for building stores today for capabilities that grow with your business. ⁽¹⁴⁾

RETHINK Retail does not host product showcases. Every session is built on practitioner insight, peer perspective, and the honest conversation that only happens when the right people are in the room together.

Join us. Bring your hardest operational questions. Leave with a clearer path to scale.

Register now: https://intenttechpub.com/webinar/the-connected-store-at-scale-from-tech-hype-to-operational-reality/

Hosted by RETHINK Retail | In partnership with VusionGroup

References

(1) RETHINK Retail / IntentTechPub – The Connected Store at Scale: From Tech Hype to Operational Reality – May 2026.

(2) IBM Institute for Business Value – The AI Decisions That Will Define Retail for the Next Two Years – January 2026.

(3) IBM Institute for Business Value – IBM Study: AI Poised to Drive Smarter Business Growth Through 2030 – January 2026.

(4) Microsoft Cloud Blog – Agentic AI Is Reshaping Retail and Consumer Goods Economics – May 2026.

(5) Microsoft News – Microsoft Propels Retail Forward with Agentic AI Capabilities – January 2026. 

(6) Cisco Blogs – 5 Wireless Trends Retail IT Teams Cannot Ignore in 2026 – April 2026. https://blogs.cisco.com/networking/5-wireless-trends-retail-it-teams-cant-ignore-in-2026

(7) Cisco – State of Wireless Report 2026: Wi-Fi ROI Multiplier – April 2026. 

(8) Cisco Newsroom – Cisco Report: Strategic Wireless Investments Are Driving Higher ROI for Enterprises in the AI Era – April 2026.

(9) Palo Alto Networks Blog – 2026 Unit 42 Global IR Report: Attacks Now 4x Faster – February 2026. 

(10) Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 / RH-ISAC – 2026 Unit 42 Global Incident Response Report – March 2026. 

(11) Google Cloud – AI Agent Trends in Retail and CPG 2026. 

(12) Google Cloud – AI for Retail: 12 Use Cases with How-Tos. https://cloud.google.com/use-cases/ai-in-retail

(13) Google Blog – Google Cloud Business Trends Report 2026: Key Findings – January 2026. https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/infrastructure-and-cloud/google-cloud/ai-business-trends-report-2026/

(14) RETHINK Retail – Transform Retail with Connected Stores – 2025. https://rethink.industries/video/transform-retail-with-connected-stores/