After logging miles at the Javits Center for NRF, one word was impossible to forget: AI. It cropped up repeatedly and and often dominated panel discussions across the three-day New York City event.
Fashion retailers were eager to tout their own tech, including Ask Ralph, an AI-powered virtual shopping assistant created by Ralph Lauren in partnership with Microsoft. Curious users can download the Ralph Lauren app and pose their burning styling questions, which the assistant promises to answer in real time.
“Nobody needs a tie, nobody needs a flannel shirt, nobody needs another pair of jeans—inspiring customers is a challenge,” David Lauren, chief branding and innovation officer at Ralph Lauren, said during a joint panel with Microsoft. “We love the clothes and we want them to love it, but showing a customer how to put it together is part of what makes Ralph Lauren unique.”
He added that AI also helps the brand evaluate real-time inventory and surface items tailored to a shopper’s specific occasion.
Lauren’s sentiments were shared by co-panelist Shelley Bransten, corporate VP of worldwide industry solutions at Microsoft. Drawing comparisons to e-commerce, she explained the tech offered a “glimpse” into the future.
“If you just look at what all of your customers did over this last holiday period, $2 billion of AI influenced sales, it's a huge number,” Bransten said. “[A] 700% increase in AI-driven searches and inquiries. Most interesting—and this is true for Ask Ralph—is, how are people using these conversational agents? It’s all the brilliant basics of retail: it’s research, it’s recommendations, and deals.”
The long game: And Ralph Lauren was certainly not alone in leveraging the ostensible powers of AI or envisioning its future in it.
In a separate session, British sports retailer JD Sports’s CEO Régis Schultz spoke of its recent launch of a global partnership with digital platform Commercetools that will enable one-click purchases on AI platforms, including Copilot, Gemini, and ChatGPT.
“It’s all about being part of the journey to test, to learn, and to build a partnership with those technology providers to make sure that we understand what’s happening and to understand we are part of the story,” Schultz said on stage. “The biggest risk for retailers is at one point of time, you say you are not relevant. So how do you stay relevant? How do you make sure that you add value?”
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Staying relevant to shoppers and ahead of competitors is why retailers are pouring billions into AI. But how effective is the technology for the people actually using it?
When asked by True Religion CMO Kristen D’Arcy, a panel of “sharp, thoughtful Gen Z consumers” and consultants—at least one of whom is a high school student—said they had mostly used AI as a jumping off point or to assist their product discovery process.
“Where I think AI comes in is we’re using it to benefit ourselves,” said Clay Lute, a panelist who worked as a global merchant for men's denim. “I’m using AI like a ChatGPT. I’ll find a product, and then I’ll ask, ChatGPT, ‘Can I sign up for an email and get 10% off? Does somebody else sell the same thing cheaper?’ We’re using the tools tactically to match the scheduled outcome.”
AI doubt it: Some panelists said they relied more on community and real people’s opinions than AI, especially before making a purchase. That means Reddit threads, Substacks, or even celebrity recommendations.Others agreed, while casting doubt on AI’s ability to provide the right recommendations or even the right deals.
“I definitely struggle with AI product recommendations because they fail to capture the nuance of Gen Z,” Lute said, adding that Gen Z was incredibly “individualistic,” which AI isn’t great at understanding at the moment. Using the example of Ralph Lauren’s virtual styling assistant Ask Ralph, he detailed how when asked for recommendations for outfits for a wedding and the assistant suggested a peacoat.
“I don’t know about any of you—I’m not wearing a peacoat to a wedding,” he said. “So with that, we can struggle with where AI is now versus the problems given to it. So we’re looking at a bit of mistrust.”
That skepticism was echoed in a recent PartnerCentric study, which found that only 56% of Gen Zers plan to use AI-assisted shopping in 2026. Meanwhile, when questioned about the “least biased” shopping sources, 41% of Gen Z chose Reddit over AI recommendations (24%).
Ultimately, as retailers race to integrate AI into every step of the shopping journey, the bigger challenge may be proving the technology adds value beyond convenience.