NRCE 2026 Retail Transformation: Insights from the Philippines
Argon & Co recently sponsored and participated in NRCE 2026 in the Philippines, one of the region’s leading retail and consumer industry events. The conference brought together senior leaders from across retail, FMCG, supply chain, and technology. It provided a strong platform for discussion around the changing demands facing the sector, from margin pressure and supply chain disruption to digital transformation, AI, and the future of store and customer operations.
For Argon & Co, NRCE offered an important opportunity to connect with clients and industry peers, share perspectives on operations transformation, and explore how retailers and consumer businesses across the Philippines and the wider North and Southeast Asian region are responding to a more volatile and competitive environment.
Argon & Co in Action
Greg O’Shea, Partner, Asia at Argon & Co, presented on how the retail community in Asia is adopting and using AI and what the future holds in a fast-changing environment. The discussion explored how organisations can incorporate AI in practical ways while keeping pace with constant model updates and changes.
Argon & Co team members Mayura Khamsanoh from Asia and Philip Welch from Australia also took part in a fireside chat with Donald Felbaum of RELEX Solutions. The discussion focused on the current environment of advanced planning systems and the areas retailers and service providers need to identify and overcome to ensure successful adoption through a robust and engaged implementation programme.
Engaging with the market
Throughout the event, our team engaged with attendees on some of the most pressing themes facing the retail industry. Conversations reflected a strong focus on operational resilience, end-to-end supply chain visibility, demand planning, procurement effectiveness, and the need to improve execution while managing cost pressure.
Given the geographical spread of the Philippines, Network Design and distribution were also recurring themes.
A regular topic was the challenge of balancing customer expectations with profitability. Many organisations are being asked to improve availability, service, and speed, while at the same time dealing with inflationary pressures, tighter margins, and increasing complexity across their supply chains.
These discussions reinforced the growing need for practical transformation that links strategy to delivery.
NRCE 2026 Retail Transformation in Action
NRCE 2026 highlighted the increasing importance of digital and data-led decision-making across the retail value chain. Discussions focused on how organisations can move beyond standalone technology investments and embed better planning, forecasting, and decision support into day-to-day operations.
This is closely aligned with Argon & Co’s core focus on operations transformation, particularly across supply chain, manufacturing, and procurement. It also connects strongly with the capabilities of Neos, our systems selection and implementation business, and Iris, our Data and AI capability, which helps clients design practical AI-enabled solutions to improve business performance.
Rather than technology for its own sake, the strongest discussions centred on how businesses can use data, systems, and AI in targeted ways to solve real operational problems and deliver measurable outcomes.
Key themes from the event
- Resilience remains a priority
Businesses continue to focus on building supply chains that are more agile, visible, and responsive in the face of disruption. - AI is moving toward practical application
Interest is growing in how AI can support forecasting, decision-making, and productivity in everyday operations. - Execution matters as much as strategy
Many organisations understand what needs to change, but are still looking for the right operating models, governance, and capabilities to make transformation stick. - Partnerships are increasingly important
Transformation often requires external support, whether in capability building, implementation, or specialist technology expertise.
Looking ahead
The discussions at NRCE 2026 reinforced that successful retail transformation requires organisations to improve performance while navigating greater uncertainty, complexity, and cost pressure.
For Argon & Co, the event was a valuable opportunity to contribute to these conversations and demonstrate how practical operations transformation can help organisations strengthen performance, resilience, and long-term competitiveness.
We would like to thank everyone who connected with us during the event and look forward to continuing those conversations in the months ahead. To learn more about how Argon & Co supports retail and consumer businesses with practical transformation, supply chain improvement, digital enablement, and performance improvement, explore our retail and e-commerce industry offerings.
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