The Retail Experience at the 2022 Retail Advocates Summit is open to NRF members. Register today to share your story and make an impact.
The NRF Retail Advocates Summit has traditionally brought hundreds of retailers to Capitol Hill to walk the halls of Congress and meet face-to-face with lawmakers. In the wake of the pandemic and increased security measures that prevent this level of access, NRF has reimagined this year’s Retail Advocates Summit, taking place July 27-28, in Washington, D.C.
With the theme of “Our Industry. Our Impact. Our Story,” this year’s event gives retailers the opportunity to directly connect with policymakers, tells retail’s story and celebrates contributions to advocacy.
NRF has created an original program called The Retail Experience that brings together leading retail brands, cutting-edge retail technology innovators and Main Street small businesses to demonstrate the depth and breadth of the retail industry to policymakers and congressional staff through immersive exhibitions.
An interactive journey through the retail industry
The Retail Experience features six exhibits that demonstrate retail’s role in driving the economy, providing jobs and impacting lives and communities across the country.
Our Impact
As the nation’s largest private-sector employer, retail contributes $3.9 trillion to the annual GDP and supports one in four American jobs. Wherever the industry goes, the nation follows. Our Impact will feature interactive maps showing lawmakers how retail powers the economy in the states and districts they represent and why they should consider how policies impact retailers and our workers when considering policy proposals.
Our Opportunities
Presented by the NRF Foundation, this exhibit invites congressional members to learn more about the career paths that power the retail industry and see how the RISE Up training and credentialing program provides foundational employability skills and opportunities for a career in retail and beyond. Guests can also test their retail skills by taking the NRF Foundation’s Cashier Calculator Challenge.
Our Innovations
Retail is an industry of innovation, constantly changing to meet the demands of customers. Our Innovations will feature product demonstrations from four innovative companies — Afresh, PopCom, Shelf Engine and Spacee — that have created technology solutions to drive retail’s tech transformation.
Our Retail Community
Retailers are key partners and make big impacts in the communities they serve. We’re bringing together some of the largest and most well-known retailers to share unique aspects of their brand stories at The Retail Experience. Members of Congress will have the opportunity to visit interactive tabletop displays and connect with leaders from Affirm, Amazon, the Alibaba Group, Best Buy Health, Inspire Brands, Lowe’s, Macy’s, Publix, the Qurate Retail Group, Salesforce, Target and Walmart.
America’s Retail Champions Main Street Product Display
Small businesses make up 98 percent of retailers and are the backbone of the retail industry. This exhibit sponsored by Affirm will feature a mini-Main Street and product display from 34 small retailers selected to attend the Retail Advocates Summit through NRF’s America’s Retail Champions program, which recognizes small businesses’ contributions to advocacy and their communities.
Our Champions
Our Champions features presentations of NRF’s Hero of Main Street and Champions of Main Street awards to more than 200 lawmakers for their continued support for the U.S. retail industry through legislative actions and leadership. Retailers will have the opportunity to directly meet with policymakers at this exhibit, thank them for their support and share issues of importance to them.
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