Retail TouchPoints’ Aug. 25 AI Webinar: Who’s Talking and What’s on the Agenda

Retail TouchPoints will host a live webinar on Aug. 25 at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET aimed at a practical question now facing retail leadership: which AI tools are actually producing measurable returns, and which are still experimental. The event is framed as a shift from learning what AI can do to measuring what it achieves, with Holiday 2026 treated as the forcing mechanism.

Neelima Sharma, senior vice president of omnichannel and ecommerce technology at Lowe’s, and Aaron Cheris, partner and global head of retail at Bain & Company, are listed as speakers; Retail TouchPoints editor in chief Kate Robertson will moderate. The promotional materials also bill executives from Academy Sports + Outdoors and PwC as participants, though the published speaker list in the announcement focuses on Sharma and Cheris.

The agenda covers AI-powered search and discovery, personalization and customer service at scale, tools for store associates and frontline teams, forecasting and inventory efficiency, ROI measurement, and governance, risk and customer trust. The session closes with a forward look at what retailers expect from AI during the 2026 holiday season.

Why Holiday 2026 Is the First Real ROI Test for Retail AI

What the speaker lineup signals

The combination of a large home-improvement retailer, a specialty sporting goods chain, a consulting partner and an advisory firm suggests the conversation is aimed at deployment and governance rather than demo-stage innovation. Lowe’s brings the complexity of omnichannel and store operations; Academy Sports represents a narrower assortment where search and inventory precision are easier to measure against revenue. Bain and PwC are positioned to provide the benchmarking and trust lens.

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The holiday-specific stakes in the agenda

AI search and discovery and demand forecasting are season-critical because December volume amplifies both gains and errors. A discovery tool that lifts conversion by a few basis points in July can move meaningful revenue in November and December, but faulty inventory predictions also create more markdowns when traffic peaks. The inclusion of governance and customer trust is notable: retailers are now being asked not just whether AI works, but whether it can be deployed without exposing customer data or creating misleading recommendations in a high-visibility selling period.

This remains an agenda, not a set of research findings. No ROI figures or case outcomes are provided in the announcement, so the value for attendees will depend on how specific the panelists are about results from their own holiday programs.

What Retailers and Tech Providers Should Prepare Before Aug. 25

Retailers preparing for Holiday 2026 can use the six agenda areas as a readiness checklist before the webinar: search and discovery, personalization, associate tools, forecasting, ROI measurement, and governance.

  • Ask AI vendors for holiday-specific performance examples from 2025, not pilot-stage outputs, and bring those benchmarks to the Aug. 25 discussion.
  • Map each agenda area against your current stack to identify where you have no clear owner or metric before committing additional 2026 budget.
  • If you want to attend, register through Retail TouchPoints ahead of the Aug. 25, 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET start time; the announcement frames the session for retailers validating an AI roadmap and tech providers tracking demand.