Shoptalk Spring

Shoptalk Spring (often referred to simply as Shoptalk) is the largest annual gathering of the global retail and e-commerce industry, produced by Hyve Group. Each year it brings together 10,000+ retail executives, brand leaders, marketplace operators, payment providers, technology vendors, and investors over four days in Las Vegas. The agenda is operationally specific — keynotes, structured networking, product demonstrations, and the year's most concentrated retail-tech expo.

Shoptalk Spring is the US edition; the European edition (Shoptalk Europe / Shoptalk Barcelona) and the fall-format Shoptalk Fall are separate events with overlapping content but distinct audiences. The Spring edition draws the largest US retail-leadership cohort of the year. It sits alongside NRF: Retail's Big Show, Shoptalk Fall and Shoptalk Europe as calendar anchors for the same audiences.

What happens at Shoptalk Spring

• Conference programme — multiple parallel stages covering the year's dominant retail themes. Sessions are designed for senior commercial decision-makers, not founders pitching investors.
• Meetup — Shoptalk's structured 1:1 networking programme. Algorithmic matching of attendees with suppliers, vendors, and partner brands. For many retail executives this is the single most efficient business-development day of the year.
• Expo floor — retail technology vendors, payments providers, fulfilment and logistics platforms, AI tooling, retail media networks, and the broader retail-tech ecosystem. Spring is also where many vendors launch their year's major product updates.
• The New Market track — Shoptalk's dedicated marketing-in-retail content stream covering retail media, brand-direct commerce, and modern attribution.

Who attends

Chief Executive Officers, Chief Digital Officers, Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Customer Officers, Heads of E-commerce, Heads of Stores, and Heads of Customer Experience at major US and global retailers (Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Macy's, Nordstrom, Kroger, Home Depot, Lowe's). Marketplace operators (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Mercari). Direct-to-consumer brand leadership. Payments and BNPL providers (Affirm, Klarna, Afterpay, PayPal, Stripe, Adyen). Retail media network leadership from major retailers and platforms. Retail technology vendors across point-of-sale, inventory, fulfilment, returns, identity, and personalisation. Investors and strategics covering the retail-tech category. Fintech operators focused on retail-payments intersections.

Shoptalk Spring is not a tech-conference-with-retail-content event. It is a retail-industry conference where technology is the recurring subject — meaning the room is dominated by commercial buyers, not engineers.

Dominant themes at Shoptalk Spring

• AI in retail — operational AI for personalisation, generative AI in customer service, AI-assisted merchandising, and the ROI debate around enterprise AI deployments.
• Retail media networks — the rapid growth of retailer-owned advertising platforms, attribution standards, and the brand-side investment shift toward retail media.
• Marketplaces and platform economics — third-party seller dynamics, marketplace take rates, Amazon vs Walmart Marketplace vs Shopify ecosystem.
• Embedded payments and BNPL — checkout conversion, BNPL adoption trends, embedded finance for SMB retail, alternative payments at point-of-sale.
• Unified commerce and omnichannel — store-as-fulfilment, BOPIS / curbside, headless and composable commerce architectures.
• Returns and reverse logistics — the post-pandemic returns crisis, fraud in returns, return-as-a-service economics.
• Supply chain and fulfilment — automation, nearshoring, micro-fulfilment, last-mile delivery economics.
• Social commerce and creator-led retail — TikTok Shop, live shopping, creator partnerships, social-to-purchase attribution.
• Sustainability and circular retail — resale platforms, packaging-free fulfilment, regulatory pressure on disclosure.
• Loyalty and customer data — first-party data strategies under post-cookie measurement, loyalty programme economics.

Planning to attend

Mandalay Bay Convention Center is at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip; Shoptalk's room block typically includes Mandalay Bay itself plus adjacent strip hotels. The convention centre is large — plan for 10–15 minute walks between session halls and the Meetup space. Las Vegas Airport (LAS / Harry Reid International) is a 10–15 minute taxi or rideshare from Mandalay Bay. Many attendees book pre- or post-event meetings in nearby strip hotels — Meetup matches start 2–3 weeks before the conference and the calendar fills quickly. Restaurant reservations across the south Strip book out 4–6 weeks in advance during Shoptalk Spring.

Use the expense calculator below to estimate the total cost of attending — registration, flights, hotels, meals, and ground transport — based on your origin city.