From CES To NRF: Tech Leaders Targeting AI Growth Partnerships

By Dean DeBiase

Meeting with companies at The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the consumer tech behemoth otherwise known as CES, and shortly headed to the lesser-known National Retail Federation (NRF) show, I am struck by the vast number of partnerships being announced, from big dogs like Nvidia and Walmart to the next generation of small, but bold, tech companies.

As I move from meeting to meeting shaping partnerships, walking the vast show aisles of the show, like a grocery store shopper, I find myself introducing CEOs who think they are here to find clients but instead found more value in securing unique growth partners. On the surface some seem like odd pairings—whether from obvious big and small size gaps or completely unrelated sectors—while others discover “one plus one equals three” scaling scenarios—in these serendipitous Reese’s® peanut butter cups meets chocolate moments. As my regular readers and listeners on The Reboot Chronicles Show know, I strongly believe that is where you create scalable growth and sustainable value.

Of course, there is lots of buzz about AI here, and more news than a non-AI brain can absorb—and makes me want to connect more dots between conversations I’ve been having with CEOs of the emerging platforms, from datacenters and AI agents to retail technology players. E.g., Nvidia’s Cosmos platform, a generative foundation model designed to advance physical AI systems like humanoid robots, has implications for logistics and retail, or the GE Profile Smart Refrigerator, which includes a scanner to add items to a shopping list.

Adding more items into my basket, Business Insider reports that AI is changing how we shop. The story shares how retail giants such as Walmart and Target are integrating technology to improve shopping experiences. In other related developments, Retail Touchpoints explains the advent of smaller and smarter LLM models (SLMs) that can give retailers an edge. I’ve reported on these powerful SLM trends here regularly.

The news got me thinking about the nature of in-store shopping, which seems stuck in the 20^th Century and has not changed much despite the AI onslaught. Perhaps that’s not too surprising, given the thin margins and conservative nature of the grocery segment.

Why Are We Still Shopping Like It’s 1999?

What if you could upgrade the experience by connecting the online and offline worlds in your store journey? What if AI could help navigate the store, find replacements for out-of-stock items, and get promotions geared to your budget and shopping list?

AI can help drive these kinds of intelligent, customized experiences; which is starting to happen. From recognizing products to tailoring promotions per person, it is also unlocking a new category of retail media, which is all the new buzz in the grocery industry. Basically, it’s acting as any other social media would, where an algorithm decides what to serve you based on your past interactions, just this time it would recommend which frozen meal you might like.

These ideas dovetail with my recent conversations with Sampo Parkkinen, CEO of AI beauty personalization company Revieve (where I am a board member), and Gadi Graus, CEO of smart shopping cart vendor A2Z Cust2Mate (NASDAQ: AZ), recently.

They inspired me to dive deeper into an ad segment that is becoming more important yet doesn’t get much recognition, namely retail media. This is about advertising on a retailer’s digital and physical properties, such as their website, app, or in-store displays, allowing brands to reach consumers at or near the point of purchase.

Retail media has grown significantly since COVID, along with the surges of e-commerce and digital business of all kinds. In fact, it is the fastest growing sector of online advertising, set to reach $174.9 billion in the U.S. alone this year, according to the latest forecast from research firm WARC.

In addition to the pandemic, other growth drivers include access to first-party data, and the ability to link advertising to sales. That last bit, about influencing consumers at the point of purchase, highlights one segment that has been conspicuously late to the retail media party: physical stores. While buying online has become increasingly easier, in stores consumers are shopping like it’s 1999, to steal a line from Prince,

To dive deeper, let’s explore the history and state of retail media, and innovations that can help it open this next frontier—and how big companies can partner with the emerging innovative players to actually make it all happen.

Critical But Largely Unknown World Of Retail Media

Although retailers have sold advertising for decades, the term retail media emerged around the early 2010s as Amazon, Walmart, and Target realized the strategic power of first-party shopper data.

But these are not Super Bowl ads, and some might find the idea to be mysterious—so let’s unpack it. The most popular are those that run on-site, on retailers’ ecommerce websites, e.g. sponsored Amazon search result listings. There’s also off-site retail media (i.e., advertising that leverages retailer first-party data, but runs outside their own properties — on the open web, social, or CTV, i.e. connected TV).

There are options for delivering ads in-store, e.g. with digital signage and via store apps, but these provide limited abilities to target and influence consumers as they browse store aisles. Another gap is the inability to measure results precisely and immediately. This is why in-store retail media captures a very small portion of the retail media ad spend today.

That is not for lack of trying. As outlined in this Marketing Brew story, many major retailers are launching or joining retail ad media networks, including Kroger’s, Target and Walmart. They don’t break out numbers for the in-store portion, though – if the potential is apparent, tapping its promise seems elusive.

In speaking about Walmart Connect, their retail media business, CEO Doug McMillon said: “The unique proposition that we have is that we can link a digital ad back to a physical store purchase down the road.” (Italics added for emphasis).

The fact remains, just when shoppers have come to expect the convenience and UX of digital, they are left in a kind of time warp in stores.

Holy Grail Of Retail Media (Not Your Dad’s Shopping Cart)

It’s a marketer’s dream; to be able ride shotgun on the shopper’s journey, in a vehicle that can capture attention for the entire 45-minute-average shopping trip. All the better if said vehicle provides other benefits (faster checkout, better security), data to inform store planning, and that connects the physical and online worlds.

I am talking, of course, about smart shopping carts, a topic I wrote about last year – although at that point there was more hype than reality about the retail media side.

This is changing with the latest smart shopping carts, as they evolve beyond shopper convenience vehicles to influence the in-store spend.

I spoke with Gadi for an update, after seeing recent news about Cust2Mate’s progress, including large orders and landmark retail media agreements with major brands (e.g., Lego and Toys ‘R’ Us). These deals followed a $55M order for 5,000 smart shopping carts from Yochananof, one of Israel’s largest supermarket chains.

What I learned was fascinating. While earlier generations of smart carts were more of a novelty, like some mythical beast occasionally spotted “in the wild,” the latest ones are designed to scale, as they are retrofits (via a tablet-like detachable smart panel and some other bells and whistles) that can turn fleets of these steel warhorses into chariots of commerce.

Steel Warhorses Turned Chariots Of AI Commerce.

Cust2Mate’s evolution from “hardware with screens” to a full retail-media and data platform feels like a major inflection point. Of course, they are not the only smart cart game in town. Others include Caper Carts, owned by Instacart and Dash Carts from Amazon. But there is plenty of room, as it is still an early market; plus, the others require stores to invest in the entire cart vs. cart conversion kits, which may slow adoption, just when the market looks poised to open the floodgates of in-store, in-the-moment retail media.

Their business model is now more like a SaaS company than a hardware vendor; the detachable smart panels and modular components are sold as a subscription. It’s a Smart-Cart-as-a-Service that delivers innovation at the shopper’s edge, including contextual advertising, auto-updated shopping lists and product location guidance. Retailers can net more conversions from personalized offers and media revenue from on-cart promotions. Those ad options are simply not available via traditional end cap or in-app ads.

The Future of Personalization Partnerships

Gadi said: “Grocery retail is one of the few environments where shoppers from different economic backgrounds receive the same, one-size-fits-all experience. In 2026 that simply doesn’t make sense. Mass personalization—giving every shopper something genuinely relevant to them—is a tremendous value proposition.

Our carts enable exactly that. The entire experience becomes personal and dynamic—enabling relevant recommendations, helpful guidance, and promotions. And the retail media opportunity is enormous. We’re creating a new category—media that accompanies the shopper throughout the journey, expanding the retail media pie right at the moment decisions are made, delivering value to the shopper and meaningful revenue to the retailer.”

Tech providers are learning to reduce capex and risk for retailers, as we are developing more aligned partnership models that pay off in things like richer data, larger basket sizes and ad revenue generated—even in smart carts. It is a new profit center for grocers and CPGs that sets the stage for deeper AI personalization, better partnerships, and expanded retail media offerings that are in sync with trends happening in other areas of e-commerce.

Super Sapir, another prominent Israeli supermarket chain, also sees the potential. They agreed to purchase 3,000 smart carts, in a deal that gives A2Z Cust2Mate the exclusive right to commercialize digital services via the smart carts platform, including advertising and media services, and data collection and analysis. That’s smart partnering.

Oren Sapir, CEO of Sapir Group Israel: “As one of the largest food retail groups in Israel, the Sapir Group has committed itself to leading not only in price but also at the forefront of global innovation. The group holds a portfolio of leading food retail chains, and our commitment is to deliver the highest value to the customer, both in price and in service. The technological revolution we are currently leading, through a deal with A2Z Cust2Mate, worth tens of millions of dollars, for the deployment of thousands of smart carts, brings the future directly onto the sales floor. Our vision is clear: to maintain price leadership, excel in user experience, and redefine the standard of food retail in the 21st century.” Tens of millions, now that’s partnering.

Bringing this back to Revieve, as mentioned at the top — their AI platforms help consumers personalize shopping. A leader in the health, beauty and wellness sector, their technology is now being deployed and licensed across broader product categories now through partnerships with retailers, brands, ecommerce, marketplaces, hardware, and SaaS providers to guide their customers’ consumer shopping journeys—maybe even to a smart cart near you.

As I leave the flurry of CES developments and partner announcements behind in Vegas and head to NYC, I wonder what Reese’s® partnership moments will develop at NRF. If you have a newsworthy one, hit me up at the show.