Digital Commerce Trends: NRF Buzzword Bingo 2024

This IDC Market Perspective offers a detailed analysis of the language used in the public displays of booth vendors at the National Retailers Federation conference held from January 13 to 16, 2024, in New York City. This analysis will provide insight into the common trends and themes among the marketing of vendors of digital commerce technology, including truly differentiated concepts and terminology that have conflicting or ambiguous meaning to buyers."Digital commerce software vendors must continuously adapt their language to echo industry trends, capturing the zeitgeist while effectively conveying their unique value proposition. Unfortunately, this can create opaque and coded language about the value of the technology," suggests Heather Hershey, research director of Worldwide Digital Commerce, IDC. "Technology product marketers need to strike a sophisticated balance between technical depth and accessible communication. In addition, an imbalance between clear communication and visionary marketing narratives can lead to buyer cynicism and alienation."