Next ’25 recap: Retail

Google Cloud Next '25 descended on Las Vegas from April 9-11, and for the retail and consumer goods sectors, the message was loud and clear: Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is reshaping every facet of the industry. From hyper-personalized customer journeys and intelligent search to optimized operations and secure edge computing, the sessions and demos showcased the work we’re putting in to ensure we deliver the AI, data platforms, infrastructure, and partner ecosystem needed to drive meaningful transformation and tangible business value for every retailer.

In case you missed it, here are some of our favorite retail highlights from the event:

Revolutionizing customer experience with AI

A dominant theme was leveraging AI to create engaging and personalized shopping experiences that drive revenue and loyalty.

• Extracting industry value from agentic AI: This insightful session explored the burgeoning impact of AI agents and its potential to improve workflows across all sectors. Attendees gained a deeper understanding of the transformative power of agentic technologies and a glimpse into the future landscape they are shaping. The session equipped business leaders with crucial knowledge and strategic insights to effectively navigate this emerging "agentic frontier" and leverage the significant opportunities it presents.

• Search and discovery reimagined: Sessions like “Search that sells: AI search and conversation for commerce” featuring Nordstrom and Fanatics, and “Scaling multimodal hybrid search for massive datasets” with Mercado Libre, highlighted how Google Cloud AI innovations, including Vertex AI Search for commerce and Vector Search 2.0, are powering search experiences that understand intent, handle multimodality, and deliver relevant results at scale. Partner Grid Dynamics also explored semantic search, personalized results, and "view in my room" visualizations in "AI-Enabled Experiences: Transforming the Retail Customer Journey."

• Personalization at scale: The breakout session "Optimize revenue and personalize shopping experiences with AI"  brought together leaders from Best Buy and Lowe's to discuss deploying AI for personalized recommendations and interactions. Walmart's story in "Moving from vision to value: Retail stories that scale" emphasized unifying customer data on Google Cloud to deliver personalized engagement across touchpoints.

• Conversational AI and support: The session "Transforming retail with AI-powered customer engagement" focused on gen AI virtual agents for self-service, inquiries, and turning interactions into sales opportunities. Even sessions from other sectors, such as United Airlines' journey in "Taking Gemini to the skies to redefine customer support" (with Quantum Metric), shared applicable insights for retail, demonstrating how pairing real-time insights with AI-powered conversational servicing enhances satisfaction and agent empowerment.

Optimizing operations from cloud to edge

AI isn't just customer-facing — it's streamlining operations, enhancing efficiency, and empowering employees.

• Intelligent operations and supply chain: Cognizant's talk "Optimizing retail with generative AI: enhancing order management and satisfaction" detailed a gen AI order management system solution, featuring an intelligent assistant that can predict purchase order delays and recommend actions to help tackle the crucial "Must-Arrive-By-Date" challenge.

• Edge computing power: The critical role of edge computing was explored in "AI, cloud, and edge: Unlocking innovation for retail and manufacturing," featuring Genuine Parts Company, Intenseye, and German Edge Cloud. They discussed delivering store analytics, enabling faster transactions, and empowering staff via edge hardware and AI. Securing these environments was also addressed in "GDC-connected: Enabling default security for the retail edge," which focused on Google Distributed Cloud.

• Workforce empowerment: The session "Gen AI adoption: Real-world customer stories with Ocado Retail and Rentokil Initial" provided insights into how these companies are transforming workflows and boosting productivity using Gemini in Google Workspace.

Data foundations and infrastructure

Underpinning these AI advancements is a robust, scalable, and intelligent data infrastructure.

• Building the data platform: Partner SoftServe outlined how it built a unified data platform with BigQuery to liberate its data and enable AI adoption in "Accelerate Retail AI Journey: from Data Platform to business value."

• Observability: While more technically focused, "Master OpenTelemetry: Scale and streamline observability pipelines," featuring partner BindPlane, discussed unifying observability with services in Google Cloud Observability — an essential capability for maintaining reliability in complex hybrid and edge retail environments.

Experiencing the future: Retail demos and innovation

On top of the breakout sessions, attendees got to experience and test these concepts firsthand in the Google Cloud Showcase:

• Next in retail: Shopping guided by Gemini using natural voice commands and personalized on-screen recommendations.

• Transform retail with edge AI analytics: Boosting efficiency with AI at the edge for smart inventory, faster transactions, and personalized experiences via Google Distributed Cloud.

• Transform retail with AlloyDB: Demonstrating how AlloyDB, AlloyDB AI, and Vector Search power next-gen retail applications.

• Create the connected store with edge-to-cloud solutions: Showcasing seamless store operations powered by edge-to-cloud infrastructure, multi-modal AI, and AgentSpace (featuring L'Oreal).

• Retail innovation station: Highlighting partnerships with Google Cloud Consulting to build next-gen customer experiences, personalize interactions, and optimize omnichannel strategies.

The road ahead

Google Cloud Next '25 painted a vibrant picture of a retail industry rapidly embracing AI. From enhancing customer discovery and personalization with sophisticated search and gen AI agents to streamlining order management, securing the edge, and empowering employees, the path forward is data-driven and AI-powered. Leading retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, Lowe's, General Mills, Puma, Ocado Retail, and Mercado Libre demonstrated how partnering with Google Cloud provides the comprehensive toolkit needed to not just adapt – but thrive — in this dynamic new era of retail.