RetailClub AI Festival is an annual three-day event focused on the intersection of retail and artificial intelligence. The 2026 edition runs September 22-24 in Huntington Beach, California, set across an all-outdoor beachside boardwalk with three stages, 150+ speakers, and 250+ sponsors per the organizer.
The festival was founded by Caroline Farley, Krystina Gustafson, Anil D. Aggarwal, and Simran Rekhi Aggarwal — the team behind Shoptalk and Groceryshop. According to the organizer, 80% of speakers are C-level executives, and programming is organized around five core themes: agentic commerce and AI-powered customer experience; technology, data and infrastructure for an AI-native future; organizational readiness and professional development; AI-driven value creation across retail; and AI's impact on economy, work, and society.
The format combines main-stage content with structured 1:1 meeting programs ("Breakthru Meetings"), 45-minute roundtable discussions ("Breakthru Talks"), curated small-group activities ("Breakthru Experiences"), invite-only networking dinners, and 50+ experiential activations across the boardwalk site.
See full speaker listhttps://retailclub.com/
See full sponsor listhttps://retailclub.com/
Brands attend to hear from peer executives on production AI use cases across merchandising, marketing, and operations, and to use the structured 1:1 meeting program to evaluate specific vendor solutions against current AI roadmaps.
Sponsors use the event to reach a concentrated audience of retail and brand decision-makers (80% C-level speaker mix per organizer) and to run pre-scheduled meetings with target accounts rather than relying on booth foot traffic.
For the most current information on dates, speakers, sponsors, and registration, visit the official site.
Visit organizer site →This is a third-party summary published by Beanstalk Events. For official information, dates, and registration, please visit the organizer’s site linked above.