Tech for Retail 2025: the embodiment of retail digitalization

November 24th and 25th, Retail VR welcomes you to the 5ᵉ edition of Tech for Retail at Paris Porte de Versailles, stand B38, to discover how 3D is reinventing merchandising, collaboration and point-of-sale performance.

With its rich content, European scope and forward-looking vision, the show illustrates the dynamics of a business in the throes of reinvention.

+With over 15,000 retailers expected to attend, exclusive conferences and a strong focus ongenerative artificial intelligence, Tech for Retail 2025 promises to be the most successful yet. Tech for Retail is no longer an outsider, but a key player in its own right. 

With just a few weeks to go before the show, its founder Karen Serfaty did us the honor of sharing her vision of a show that, in five years, has become the must-attend event for those involved in the digital transformation of retail and e-commerce. 

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"We're a club of enthusiasts, and we want Tech for Retail to remain a place for exchange, ideas and inspiration. That's what we're all about." Karen Serfaty

Interview conducted on October 16, 2025 with Karen Serfaty, founder and CEO of Tech for Retail

An increasingly qualified and international visitor base

Karen, what can we expect from Tech for Retail in its fifth year? 

"Our ambition is to improve every year to maintain a position that satisfies our customers - our exhibitors. And to satisfy them, the only thing they're really interested in is having a high-quality visitor base: decision-makers who come to the show, French of course, but more and more Europeans."

"This international openness is asserting itself, with delegations from Italy, Germany, England and the Netherlands, for example, and from the LVMH group we'll also be welcoming large delegations from Italy. Globally speaking, luxury comes from just about everywhere.

High-level conferences: learn before you sell

Tech for Retail has quickly established itself as an industry benchmark. How did you achieve this? 

"I wanted a content-based show, focused on sharing experiences and expertise. For my part, I'm in charge of the plenary room - I'm the one who gets the train moving."
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This is where the show's most eagerly-awaited speakers take to the stage. "We're really looking for content, meaning that the personalities who come on stage, even our platinum exhibitors, can't sell their solution, but really come to contribute their expertise on a subject. It's a room where you have to provide data, create inspiration, look to the future, be strategic. That's what we ask of our speakers.

This year, Maurice Lévy How do you manage to attract such high-profile guests? "I felt very strongly about it. I think he has a fascinating life: he's someone who inspires me enormously."

Dense, accessible content

In addition to the plenary session, the show will feature seven themed rooms and continuous conferencesall available for free replayHow do you manage these logistics?

"It's a matter of habit! And we also have over 70 guided tours scheduled, at the request of major brands such as Nestlé or Chanel. The requests are very specific. Some brands are interested in the supply chain, others in marketing. The aim is for each tour to last an hour and be as effective as possible.

A 2025 edition under the banner of growth and AI

How many visitors do you expect this year, and what will be the main themes? 

"As of today, we have over 15,000 registrants of incredible quality. That's almost 30% more than last year, and the quality of the visitors is just insane."

Artificial intelligence takes center stage

"We're going to be talking about artificial intelligence in all its guises, but I hope my speakers understand that we need to talk about it with a certain humility. We've achieved some nice results, but there's still a world to discover."

Karen insists: "You have to find the right balance"
"There's a lot of money to invest, but you have to keep a sense of proportion. Retail is going through a difficult period. We need to find the right compromises between major investments and profitable choices, without putting the company at risk."

Providing clarity

How do you organize the show and the visitors? 

"It's not easy. We offer different themes around the guided tours. And beyond these guided tours, and this year, we have four prizes to encourage innovation: customer experience, GenAI, best innovation and best start-up. This makes it easier for visitors to watch the pitches, identify the winners, and get an idea of which companies are the best in their chosen fields". 

"We try to make things clearer, to show which companies are the best performers in each field, to encourage them and put them forward".

Giving meaning to digital transformation

Did you fall into the digital world as a child? 

"At my shows, including Tech for Retail, there's a strong entrepreneurial philosophy. The machine is a tool, but behind the digital transformation, there's an intellectual transformation. You can buy solutions, but employees have to be able to follow this transformation. They have to believe in the tools we install if they are to be effective."

"It's in this spirit that the show remains open and accessible to all. We bring something to the community: all this knowledge, all these conferences, it's our way of contributing."

The Retail VR team warmly thanks Karen Serfaty for sharing this inspiring moment with us. 

And what about Retail VR?

Stand B38, the place to be! 

We'll be at the heart of retail innovation on stand B38, with a team of four experts ready to welcome visitors to a fully immersive 15 m² space. The aim: to bring the digitalization of the point of sale to life through demonstrations and case studies. 

discover cutting-edge innovations : 

• our newimmersive shopper research module, dedicated to understanding and measuring the quality of the customer journey.
• image recognition to facilitate the linear survey and tackle the realogram. 
• planogram optimization 

A conference not to be missed! Retail VR and Intermarché

On Tuesday November 25, we welcome Loïc Le Du, Intermarché concept manager, to share an inspiring feedback:
"How Intermarché accelerated the roll-out of its store concept thanks to an immersive virtual showroom".. This session will reveal how immersive 3D modeling canindustrialize concept roll-outs, while improving the consistency, speed and efficiency of merchandising decisions. A concrete illustration of how 3D is becoming a strategic lever for retailers.

A collective and innovative dynamic

In keeping with the spirit of the show, Retail VR is also taking part in the Start-up Innovation Award, with an entry focusing on the use of 3D as a merchandising decision aid and immersive training tool.

Speak at the show! 

Finally, we're lucky enough to be invited to take part in Adrien Bernard's Adrien Bernard's (AB Merchandising) podcast "Pour toutes ces bonnes raisons" (For all the right reasons) for a special episode: "Simulating your store concept in 3D: from vision to impact on the ground".

Join us on stand B38 on November 24 and 25.