Highlights from Insight at Engage 2023

Key takeaways on navigating change, embracing technology and optimizing pricing from our latest customer conference

Another year, another Insight! Last week, some of the top minds in retail and pricing gathered in Las Vegas to engage in the future of the industry at Aptos Engage and Insight at Engage 2023.

The conference gave us a close look into the biggest trends and challenges of retail today. Recent retailer successes and tech advancements set an optimistic tone at the event.

Each session shed light on how to overcome persistent disruption, change and uncertainty. In particular, innovations in artificial intelligence, science and strategy stood out as forces for solving pricing's most pressing obstacles.

In this blog post, we share with you highlights on pricing, technology and the state of retail from Insight at Engage 2023. You'll learn how retailers and Revionics are finding a clear path through change, and how technology can help you face the future with confidence.

Moving Beyond Disruption

Looking forward requires us to look back as well. One topic of conversation prevalent throughout the event was where retailers go now after so much disruption. Lori Zumwinkle, Senior Managing Director and North America Retail Industry Lead at Accenture highlighted four areas they've identified as emerging industry trends for 2023, including a radically shifting operating model and the expanding retail offer.

"When it comes to the shifting operating model, retailers are making choices and using technology to do the work differently," said Zumwinkle. "Ultimately all of these trends come down to using data to truly understand the customer at the local, personal level so you can meet consumer expectations."

Revionics Regional Director for North America, Jason Cahill also covered several ways retailers can use the Revionics platform to adapt their pricing strategies to better mitigate the impacts of disruption. Todd LaRose, Pricing Analyst at Army & Air Force Exchange Service, and Paola Azcona, Pricing Manager at Grupo RFP also joined Cahill on stage for a panel discussion on how retailers can protect price perception despite today's high inflation.

"Our staffing costs have greatly increased, and on top of that there is a shortage of medicine in the Mexican market, which has forced us to switch some suppliers or even purchase some medicines at higher prices," said Azcona. "We have to be cautious of passing these costs on to the customers, so to mitigate that we use Revionics to find margin opportunities and offset the impact."

Shopper and Retailer Journeys

From Unified Commerce to the customer pricing experience, shopper journeys and how retailers can influence those journeys was another big theme at Engage. In an opening keynote, global management consulting firm Bain & Company shared results from a recent retailer survey about Unified Commerce priorities, challenges and preparedness.

While still largely an emerging capability, results showed that retailers see a range of benefits from pursuing Unified Commerce. According to the survey, 68% of retailers expect Unified Commerce to have large impacts on customer experience.

"Leaders are moving from omnichannel to an integrated platform strategy for Unified Commerce," said Bala Parameshwaran, Partner at Bain & Company. "Organizations that take a holistic approach will be the winners."

And on the Insight stage, Senior Director Retail Innovation Matt Pavich put everyone in the shopper's shoes, taking a look at how different strategies implemented in the Revionics system actually translate into the shopper pricing journey and influence their buying decisions.

AI + Science

With ChatGPT and similar innovations capturing the attention of tech professionals today, AI was of course a hot topic at Engage. As a Revionics partner, Amy Eschliman, Managing Director of Retail for Google Cloud, took to the Insight stage to share how AI is transforming the shopper journey, as well as where AI and digital transformation can provide the most value across retail.

"Pace has never been more important than it is right now," said Eschliman. "While the fundamental steps of the customer journey haven't really changed, there's all kinds of changing technology and new ways to interact with the customer on those steps of the journey."

Of course, as innovators in the AI space ourselves, the Revionics team had no shortage of insights to share as well. Senior Principal Data Scientist, Alex Braylan, and Senior Director of Platform, Aakriti Bhargava, unveiled the new Revionics AI, designed with greater accuracy, scalability and extensibility to better meet the demands of retail today.

And that wasn't the only new release we showcased at Insight. VP of Product Management and Development, Josh Oettle and Principal Pre-Sales Solution Consultant, Jana Lynn also introduce Revionics' new Promotions Planning and Optimization solution. Built on the new Revionics AI platform, Promotions Planning and Optimization enables retailers to handle the increasing complexity of promotions today, and unlocks inventory-aware, personalized, omni-channel promotions for today's sophisticated shopper.

Connect with the Brightest Minds in Retail Pricing

As an enlightening and inspiring experience, Insight at Engage 2023 proved why it has quickly become one of the key conferences in retail pricing. And while you may have missed the chance to attend this year, you still can connect with the pricing leaders behind the event.

We welcome you to reach out to our session speakers through the Revionics Linkedin company page. And if you'd like to explore how you can apply these insights to your pricing decisions, you can schedule time to talk to our pricing experts here.