See you at NRF Europe: What we are finally ready to show

For the past few weeks, we've been writing here about a single question.

It comes down to one sentence everyone has already heard in a store, and that no one really takes seriously: "it depends on who's working today."

We've covered it from two angles. First, the know-how that drives fresh performance and walks out the door with the people who carry it. Second, the gap — measured by research — between the shelf as described in the systems and the shelf as it actually is, a gap that's widest for perishable products.

Two articles, one tension. What holds a fresh department together is written down nowhere, and no one has ever helped teams carry that weight.

We're not ready yet to say what we've done about it. We're ready to say when and where.

The Event

NRF 2026: Retail's Big Show Europe. Tuesday, September 15 through Thursday, September 17, 2026, at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.

We'll be there at the Zebra booth.

That's where we'll show, for the first time, what we've built with fresh teams. Not a presentation. Not a promise. The real thing, in front of people who know exactly what an aisle looks like early in the morning.

Why This Show, and Not Another

NRF Europe chose "The Next Now" as its theme this year. It's a fitting phrase, because it captures exactly the disconnect we've been writing about for two articles now.

Much of the industry is talking about what comes next. The event's five headline topics make that clear: agentic AI and customer service, demand forecasting and personalization, community and influence, licensing and new business models, and retail media. These are real topics, backed by more than 500 exhibitors.

But in a fresh department, "next" isn't some distant horizon. It's this morning. A crate that won't make it through the day, a decision that has to be made before 10 a.m., someone new on the team. Fresh's "now" happens right there, at the exact point where a hand meets the shelf.

That's what interests us about this event. Not the promise of the next decade, but what can change in an aisle, next week.

There's a simpler reason, and it's enough on its own.

A show like this brings together, for three days, people who spend the rest of the year in their stores. Operations directors, fresh department managers, regional managers — people who instantly recognize an aisle at 6 a.m. when you describe it to them, and who can tell you in thirty seconds whether an idea will hold up on a Monday morning or not. That's the jury we want.

The Invitation

Two ways to join us.

You're coming to NRF Europe. Book a 20-minute slot at our booth. We prefer appointments scheduled in advance, because we want to take the time to show things properly rather than shout over the noise of a trade show floor. The number of slots is limited by the format itself, not by manufactured scarcity: three days, one booth, one team.

If you're responsible for operations, fresh departments, or a network of stores, this is the slot for you. You'll see what we've built before it goes public, and you'll tell us what you think of it. That conversation matters to us just as much as what we have to show.

You're not coming. Sign up to be among the first to know. You'll receive everything we show at the booth, the day we make it public, without having to follow our posts to catch it.

Countdown

A few days remain.

Until then, we'll keep talking about the subject rather than about ourselves, because the subject is what matters, and it existed long before we did: fresh know-how, the difficulty of passing it on, and the cost of not having it.

Then, on the morning of September 15, we'll stop circling the topic.

See you in Paris.

NRF 2026: Retail's Big Show Europe, September 15–17, 2026, Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. Smartway will be at the Zebra booth.

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