Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Last week during the National Retail Federation’s NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show, over 1,000 vendors and service providers gave attendees a look at the future of retail, sharing innovative products and game-changing processes and procedures. A number of exhibitors also used NRF 2026 as a platform to announce new initiatives, products and services. Here are the top releases independent retailers should pay attention to.
Zebra Technologies Partners With Lowe’s to Streamline Paint Orders
Zebra Technologies Corporation shared how its partnership with Lowe’s will benefit customers looking to purchase custom mixed paint from stores. For customers, ordering paint was a manual process that relied heavily on handwritten notes and personal interpretation.
“Customers would approach the desk, call out their order and an associate would try to fulfill it on the spot,” says Will Saake, senior directory, technology—associate productivity, innovation & mobility at Lowe’s. “Associates were tasked with assisting customers at the counter while simultaneously monitoring online orders, yet the absence of real-time alerts meant new requests could easily go unnoticed.
With multiple touchpoints and no integrated system, coordination between the paint desk and fulfillment team required constant communication and manual updates, adding extra steps and slowing the overall workflow.
These factors also increased the risk of simple errors: a single misread note or misunderstood color code could result in an incorrect paint color, wasted paint and lost time. By reimagining the paint journey from end to end, Lowe’s set out to build a next-gen paint experience.
Zebra Technologies provided the expertise required. Working together, the teams designed a connected, easy-to-manage system built on Zebra KC50 kiosks, TC53 mobile computers, DS8108 Scanners and ZD411 desktop printers. Zebra quickly built and refined prototypes that Lowe’s could test in-store and collect real-world feedback to refine the design before expanding to more of its stores.
Now, when a customer approaches the paint desk, they’re greeted by an interactive touchscreen that walks them through a short series of questions to select the right paint. Behind the counter, a second, associate-facing KC50 receives the order instantly, integrated directly with the tinter and displaying all the details needed to prepare the mix accurately and efficiently.
Once the order is ready, the system automatically sends a text message to the customer. Instead of waiting at the desk to take new requests, associates receive updates directly on their TC53 handheld devices. This helps them manage other responsibilities around the department, giving them confidence that they’ll be alerted when new paint orders arrive. The result is a smoother, more relaxed experience for everyone: customers can use the waiting time to browse other aisles or pick up supplies for their next project, while associates work efficiently and stay connected to the paint desk in real time.
“It really simplifies the experience for both our customers and our associates,” Saake says. “We focus on the customer by focusing on the associate, giving them the tools they need to minimize time spent on repetitive tasks so they can spend more time with the customer. Zebra’s technology helps us do exactly that.”
SOLUM Reveals Retail in Sync at NRF 2026, a New Vision for Smarter Store Operations
At NRF 2026, SOLUM America, an electronic shelf label (ESL) solution provided, demonstrated how U.S. retailers can achieve “Retail in Sync” through reliable, customizable infrastructure, hands-on deployment expertise and an open approach to partner integrations.
“The ESL conversation has moved past specs and features,” says Tim McCracken, chief revenue officer, SOLUM America, Inc. “Retailers want to know if a deployment will actually work in their stores, if it can adapt to real conditions and if their partner will stay with them throughout the rollout. Our model is built around those realities, from in-house engineering to teams that stay closely involved at every stage.”
SOLUM unveiled an enhanced lineup of large-format e-paper displays, ranging from 25.3 inches to 32 inches, with a scalable configuration available on the new 32-inch model. Designed for high-visibility use cases, the displays feature new animation transitions that deliver a more refined viewing experience.
The SOLUM Solution Platform (SSP), brings hardware, data and partner tools together in one place to solve the challenges retailers face most.
Real-time location signals help store teams move through the aisles more easily, especially when picking online orders. Newton Eye, which uses simple shelf-level image capture to spot low stock or empty spaces, works alongside load cells and RFID to show what is actually on the shelf before issues become problems. With better visibility and smoother routines, stores make fewer mistakes and get more done in less time.
Retailers get a clearer picture of how in-store media performs when they can see what shoppers notice and what leads to a purchase. BLE heatmapping now shows where customers naturally spend time and how traffic flows through the store, and Vision AI highlights how they engage with displays and products. SSP connects these signals with purchase behavior, giving retailers clearer, more actionable insight into what is driving performance in their stores.
SOLUM’s platform integrates easily with leading retail technology partners—including Simbe Robotics, Competera and Upshop—giving retailers the flexibility to build the tech stack that fits their needs rather than a single vendor’s roadmap.
TruRating Launches TruCoaching: Turning Frontline Behaviors Into Daily, Measurable Performance Gains
TruRating launched TruCoaching, a capability within the TruRating performance intelligence platform that transforms massive volumes of realtime customer sentiment into weekly, AI-driven store-specific coaching guidance—giving retailers a practical, actionable path to stronger frontline performance.
TruCoaching is powered by TruRating’s patented point-of-payment technology, which captures feedback from an average of 88% of in-store customers and pairs it with integrated transaction data. This uniquely representative dataset reveals behavioral trends at the store, shift and even hourly level, enabling TruRating’s AI system to generate precise weekly coaching recommendations tied directly to the behaviors proven to lift ATV, conversion and loyalty.
“Retailers aren’t short on dashboards—they’re short on direction,” says Georgina Nelson, CEO & founder of TruRating. “I’ve spoken to so many store managers who are handed data but left guessing what to do with it. TruCoaching changes that. It connects how customers actually feel to clear, daily actions for teams to hit their KPI’s and drive revenue for their stores. No fluff, no jargon—just practical support to help stores get a little better every day.”
TruCoaching leverages a uniquely representative volume of in-store customer feedback, combined with real transaction behavior, to identify which frontline actions drive the biggest revenue impacts—and where each store is falling short. This depth and consistency of data enable the system to deliver weekly, emotionally intelligent coaching summaries.
Because TruRating captures fresh customer sentiment and real transaction outcomes every day, retailers can count on weekly insights that are accurate, timely and truly reflective of both the customer experience and its financial impact. TruCoaching helps retailers eliminate costly execution gaps, like inconsistent greetings, low engagement, weak product knowledge or missed add-on opportunities.
x-hoppers Launches Mobile App, Extending Retail Communication Beyond the Headset
Paradox Conversational Applicant Tracking System Now Available Through Workday
Paradox Conversational ATS is now available through Workday. Built for organizations that hire at scale, the solution replaces logins, long forms and manual steps with a simple, conversational experience, helping organizations hire frontline workers faster and with far less effort.
Paradox Conversational ATS removes that friction by allowing candidates to search for jobs, apply, interview and onboard through short text-based conversations, often completing the entire process in just a few days.
“Frontline hiring breaks down when the process is slow, complex and doesn’t meet workers on their own terms,” says Aashna Kircher, group general manager for the office of the CHRO, Workday. “Paradox Conversational ATS removes that friction by helping to streamline up to 90% of hiring tasks and letting candidates apply in minutes via their phone, helping customers hire faster and collectively save millions of hours of manual work each year.”
Paradox Conversational ATS is already helping retail organizations including 7-Eleven, Inc., Ace Hardware and Valvoline hire faster while improving the candidate experience. Paradox Conversational ATS experience allows candidates to apply through a two-minute chat or text and the conversational AI helps handle screening and scheduling directly with candidates. Paradox customers are currently seeing an average time-to-hire of three and a half days, and once a candidate is hired, offers and onboarding documents are automatically delivered by text, resulting in a 95% candidate satisfaction rating in 2025.
Simbe Unveils Tally 4.0: The Next Generation of Autonomous Retail Robot Powering Store Intelligence via Physical AI
Simbe launched Tally 4.0, the most advanced generation of its shelf-scanning robot and the flagship data capture method of its Store Intelligence™ platform. Built on a decade of partnership with the world’s leading retailers and cutting edge technology organizations, Tally 4.0 introduces major advancements in runtime, vision, sensing and edge AI, turning every shelf into a real-time source of ground truth.
With up to 12 hours of runtime, new ultra-high-resolution and specialty cameras, expanded 3D and 360° coverage and the full-stack NVIDIA AI infrastructure platform, Tally 4.0 captures more of the store, more often, and delivers insights into what’s in stock, how it’s priced and where it’s placed faster than ever before. Tally retains the same beloved, shopper-friendly form factor—reinforcing Simbe’s commitment to thoughtful, human-centered innovation.
“Tally 4.0 represents what ten years of collaboration with the world’s best retailers makes possible,” says Jeff Gee, Simbe co-founder and chief design officer. “While the robot is faster, sharper and more capable, its design has stood the test of time. Tally 4.0 stays true to the principle that has guided us since day one: technology should serve people.”
With Tally 4.0, Simbe delivers the foundational data layer for the physical store, connecting shelf conditions to the decisions that shape initial use cases including on-shelf availability, price and promotion accuracy and item location precision—while further elevating store team and shoppers’ experiences with more mature applications for planogram compliance, forecasting, replenishment, omnichannel fulfillment and merchandising.
“The future of retail depends on closing the gap between digital decision-making and physical execution,” says Brad Bogolea, co-founder and CEO of Simbe. “With Tally 4 we’re delivering the next foundation of shelf-level data infrastructure that connects the two, giving retailers a trusted source of ground truth to power AI-driven operations at enterprise scale.”
Akeneo Accelerates Commerce Velocity as Agentic AI Transforms Digital Engagement
Akeneo unveiled its Winter Release, a suite of high-velocity capabilities engineered to solve the most pressing challenge in modern commerce: execution at the speed of AI.
As Agentic Commerce, where autonomous AI agents discover, evaluate and soon purchase products on behalf of consumers, becomes a reality, the traditional lag between product enrichment and market activation has shifted from a bottleneck to a business risk. Akeneo’s latest innovations bridge this gap, transforming product data from a static asset into a live executable force and a trusted revenue engine.
“The new era of commerce is defined by AI-mediated interactions that move faster than human teams can manually track,” says Romain Fouache, CEO of Akeneo. “Velocity isn’t about rushing with AI; it’s about the institutional confidence to execute at the pace the market now demands. We are embedding AI and automation into the bedrock of our platform, so teams move from decision to action instantly. In 2026, our mission is clear: ensure our customers’ products are always actionable to be found and bought, while giving brands the centralized authority to govern and orchestrate how their product identity and best interest are represented across their entire digital presence, whether agent-driven or human-led.”
This release cements Akeneo’s evolution from a system of record into an AI-powered execution platform. Throughout 2025, Akeneo focused on stripping away the friction between product data, content creation, activation and the feedback loop. As 2026 begins, the platform stands as the central nervous system for businesses that refuse to be left behind by the automation of the buyer’s journey.
“We are witnessing the most significant transformation in the history of commerce, the transition from consumers browsing shelves to AI agents orchestrating outcomes,” Fouache says. “In this new economy, your product data is no longer just a description; it is your brand’s frontline salesperson. If that data isn’t structured, trusted and instantly accessible to AI models, your brand effectively ceases to exist in the autonomous buying funnel. Mastering the intersection of AI and product intelligence isn’t a technical upgrade; it is the only way to remain relevant in a world where machines are driving the buying decisions.”
