Earlier this month, Ecommerce Europe returned to New York City for two key moments in the global retail calendar: the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Federation of International Retail Associations (FIRA), of which we are a member, and the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show.
Our delegation – President Gero Furchheim, Secretary General Luca Cassetti and Legal & Policy Advisor Anna Lachambre – joined retail and e-commerce associations from around the world to exchange views on the future of retail, payments and digital regulation.
FIRA 2026: Shared Challenges, global priorities
The first FIRA meeting of 2026 delivered a clear message: despite different market realities, retailers across the globe face remarkably similar challenges.
One of the highlights was an insightful payments outlook presented by the NRF, which underlined how US retailers face rising payment costs and the strong market position of international card schemes, challenges that closely mirror the situation in the EU. This reinforced the importance of Ecommerce Europe’s continued advocacy for greater competition and fairness in retail payments, a fight that is clearly global.
During the exchange of priorities among FIRA members, Ecommerce Europe highlighted three core advocacy areas:
- A level playing field between EU based and non-EU based players selling into the European market, presented by Gero Furchheim;
- The cost of payments and impact of emerging payment solutions such as the future Digital Euro on the EU retail payment landscape, outlined by Anna Lachambre;
- The upcoming Digital Fairness Act, and the potential risks it may pose for the sector, shared by Luca Cassetti.
Beyond the formal discussions, the meeting also provided an opportunity to reconnect with Ecommerce Europe’s national association members who travelled to New York, a reminder of the strength of the European retail community, even across the Atlantic.
NRF Big Show 2026: Artificial Intelligence takes centre stage
From Sunday to Tuesday, our delegation attended the NRF Big Show 2026, where one theme clearly dominated the agenda: Artificial Intelligence.
AI was not presented as a distant prospect, but as the next major transformation in retail, following the mobile commerce revolution. The most notable development discussed this year was the rise of agentic AI, AI systems capable of acting autonomously by setting goals, making decisions and executing actions across multiple steps without continuous human intervention.
A standout session by Jason Goldberg from Publicis Commerce explored how agentic commerce is already reshaping retail operations and consumer behaviour. In the US alone, the past quarter has seen the roll-out of agentic commerce solutions by players such as ChatGPT, Walmart, Target, Google (through its Universal Commerce Protocol launched during the Show), Copilot and Perplexity, enabling AI-driven interactions to translate directly into transactions.
This evolution raises important questions for Europe: how – and how quickly – will these solutions be deployed in the EU? And how can policymakers ensure that regulation supports innovation while safeguarding consumers and fair competition?
Looking ahead
Our time in New York City reinforced a key takeaway: the challenges facing retail are increasingly global, whether in relation to payments, unfair competition, digital fairness or the deployment of AI. At the same time, innovation is advancing at a pace that requires close and continuous dialogue between industry and policymakers.
Ecommerce Europe will continue to engage actively in these discussions, both in Europe and internationally, to help ensure that the digital transformation of retail remains competitive, fair and innovation-friendly.