Retail in the age of AI is the overarching theme of the 2026 Shoptalk Spring event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

March 26 marked the third and final day of the conference, which ended with a bevy of panels featuring retail and Hollywood A-listers.

Speakers included Barbie Cameron, Macy’s chief stores officer; Max Magni, Macy’s chief customer and digital officer; Joe Preston, New Balance’s president and CEO; Travis Katz, YouTube’s GM & VP of shopping; and Jessica Alba, The Honest Company’s founder.

These retail leaders covered a variety of topics, ranging from the power of connecting the human touch with digital optimisation to the ever-growing influence of the creator community.

From discovery to service: Winning the omnichannel customer journey with AI at Macy’s

Starting the panel, Bloomberg Television anchor Romaine Bostick opened with a statement that centred on the evolving state of retail, particularly in integrating technology with the human touch.

“There is this idea that retail has changed and that today retailers are not necessarily trying to supplant the human touch with technology and AI, but instead using it to augment the customer experience.”

Few retail executives understand the importance of integrating technology while still prioritising the personal touch more than Macy’s executives, Barbie Cameron, Macy’s chief stores officer, and Max Magni, Macy’s chief customer and digital officer.

Cameron, who’s been with the brand for over 30 years, reflected on this shift.

“I’ve been with Macy’s from the time when we had Kimball tickets, and we punched the numbers in the registers, to where we are today. I’m really excited about what we’re doing with AI and how it will augment the customer experiences,” Cameron said.

However, as she told the audience, it is Macy’s prioritisation of the human touch – combined with technology to better understand customers – that is helping the brand make a comeback.

Adding to Cameron’s comments, Magni said:

“We’re not just in the business of transacting. We’re in the business of creating memories and moments that truly matter and showing up for our customers when it matters, whether that’s helping you find a suit for your first interview or a dress for the prom.”

Using the latter example, Magni noted that with AI, customers are not only presented with a clinical selection of dresses, but also a curated range based on human-sounding prompts.

Once these items are shown to the customer, they can walk into a Macy’s store and have a full-circle experience with a knowledgeable associate.

“At the end of the day, it all boils down to how you make a customer feel, and that’s through genuine care, hospitality and building trust in the moment,” Cameron said.

Built for the long run: How New Balance sets a global pace

Similar to Macy’s, Joe Preston, New Balance’s president and CEO, and his team have been working to revive the legacy footwear retailer’s profitability and relevance.

Preston admitted that the nearly 120-year-old brand experienced a slump between 2015 and 2020, during which it failed to keep pace with changing consumer behaviour.

“The consumer was changing the way they were experiencing and shopping for brands, and we were just not keeping pace, so our sales and profitability reflected that. [Moving forward], we wanted to make sure that we were controlling our destiny and doing the things we needed to do to show up for the brand.”

One of those steps was narrowing in on a target consumer – an independent-thinking, globally based 18 to 29-year-old – and reshaping everything from store design to promotional tactics around that audience.

New Balance also shifted away from heavy discounting and other sale-driven incentives that could damage brand perception, instead focusing on two core pillars: quality design and cultural relevance.

The latter was done through developing deep relationships with industry tastemakers, ranging from artists like Spanish singer Rosalía to athletes such as tennis player Coco Gauff and baseball star Shohei Ohtani.

“As the brand has become more popular and more people experience it, it’s becoming easier for people to want to come and do business with us,” Preston said. “As we enter into sports, we want to make sure that we have the best athletes in the world representing us… It creates a snowball effect, and it’s incredible to see how our teams are curating stories from these athletes and making sure their expression is coming through.”

Creators, brands and the future of shopping

Few forces have been as impactful in retail as creators – formerly known as influencers – particularly in storytelling and driving purchasing decisions.

Addressing this were YouTube’s GM and VP of shopping, Travis Katz, and actress and The Honest Company founder Jessica Alba.

When asked about the future of social shopping, Katz said it will centre on creators.

“Creators have created this sense of authenticity and have basically become the ultimate filter for people’s buying decisions,” Katz said. “Because people trust creators and listen to them in the same way they listen to their friends.

“This is not a niche happening. Today, people watch roughly 110 million hours of shopping-related content on YouTube every day. There’s an entire universe of shopping, from unboxings to product reviews to ‘get ready with me’ videos. As a brand or a retailer, if you’re not in the conversation, you’re missing out.

“The big opportunity is to figure out how to put yourself in that conversation,” he added. “Whether you’re trying to buy ads around content creators or engaging with them directly, you definitely want to be in the conversation. That is how people are making their decisions today.”

Alba, who has centred brand awareness and sales strategies around creators, reflected on how the landscape has evolved.

“The ‘creator economy’, which is the official term now, wasn’t a thing when I started,” Alba said. “I was an OG of storytelling about telling my authentic story… But before any of that happened, it was all about building a community and trust.”

From the beginning, The Honest Company focused on building organic relationships with creators by sending products to those who aligned with the brand.

As those relationships developed, Alba said it was important to give creators both freedom and some structure to authentically share their connection to the brand.

Katz added that the most successful content tends to come from creators who have built sustained relationships with the brands they feature.

Looking ahead – especially as AI tools such as Google Gemini accelerate content creation – both Katz and Alba emphasised the need for brands to stay engaged.

“We’re in this moment where you’re going to just see an incredible amount of innovation,” Katz said. “I think we should all just hang on for the ride, enjoy the moment and really lean in.”

Further reading: Shoptalk Vegas Day 2: Etsy, Home Depot and Victoria’s Secret discuss innovation