Northwest Arkansas will host the inaugural Retail Innovation Week Sept. 15–18, aiming to bring together leaders in retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), technology and investment.
The event will be produced in partnership with dunnhumby Ventures of London and Bentonville, Endeavor NWA of Bentonville, Fieldbook Studio of Bentonville, Plug and Play of Sunnyvale, California, and 8th & Walton of Bentonville.
The entire week is made up of three “summits” — the Embark Retail Summit, Consumer Impact Summit and the Retail Innovation Forum.
The Embark Retail Innovation Summit is the featured event of the week, focused on programming and connection among founders, executives and investors. It is produced by Fieldbook Studio, a venture studio focused on accelerating early-stage innovation across retail and consumer goods.
The Consumer Impact Summit aims to serve as a “rallying point” for businesses that prioritize sustainability, ethical practices and social impact, or businesses that need resources and connections to grow without losing sight of their missions. It will be hosted primarily by 8th & Walton, a retail consultant and one of the state’s only Certified B Corporations.
The Retail Innovation Forum will be hosted by dunnhumby, a corporate venture fund with a mandate to invest in early-stage retail technology startups. It will feature a product showcase as well as several panel dicussions.
Programming will be organized into focused tracks for retail brands and startups:
- New CPG Ideation & Validation — developing the right product at the right time
- CPG Go-To-Market Strategies — reaching the right consumers and retailers
- Omni-Commerce Realized — selling through the channels consumers prefer
Summit attendees will also receive tours of Walmart’s new campus, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Bentonville’s mountain biking trails.
“Our goal is to plant the flag that Bentonville is the world’s retail value chain capital — the place where the next wave of retail innovation and CPG startups should be born or formed,” Josh Staley, managing director of Fieldbook Studio, told Arkansas Business. “We’re focused on three things: discover new retail and CPG ideas or trends, sharpen go-to-market in an omnichannel retail world, and connect founders with executives and investors who can help them scale. This week is designed to move teams from inspiration to insight to action in days, not months.”
And even though this is the first event of its kind in the region, Staley said there will be more.
“Retail Innovation Week is a starting line, not a finish line,” he said.
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