At NRF 2026, Jesta I.S. hosted a fireside chat focused on one of the most talked-about topics in retail today: AI — and how to move beyond hype to real business impact.

Hosted by Arvind Gupta, President of Jesta I.S., and featuring Gene Bornac, SVP Management Consulting – Retail at Spinnaker SCA, the conversation explored the rapid shift from generative AI to agentic AI, and what retailers must have in place to successfully adopt it.

Rather than chasing buzzwords, the discussion centered on the fundamentals — trusted, unified data, clear business objectives, and a human-led, AI-assisted approach to retail operations. The speakers emphasized that AI can only deliver meaningful insights and action when retailers first put their data foundation in order and align AI initiatives to measurable outcomes.

Key topics discussed include:

• The rise of agentic AI and why most retailers are still early in adoption
• Why unified enterprise data is essential for AI success
• The importance of defining clear AI use cases and ROI
• Human-led, AI-assisted retail as the path forward
• How cloud platforms enable AI at scale

Watch the full fireside chat to hear an experienced, practical perspective on how retailers can build a sustainable AI roadmap and prepare for the future of retail, today and into the future.