Conference «retailX Ho Chi Minh 2026»

   Artificial intelligence has stopped being a slide topic in retail and turned into a working tool: it suggests the price, builds the basket and keeps the shopper attached between the app and the shop floor. Vietnam's retail leaders spend one working day in central Ho Chi Minh City unpacking how companies that already rebuilt around it actually operate, with stage sessions alternating with closed one-to-one meetings.

   The organiser frames this edition as «AI for Retail Excellence». The day opens with the keynote «A Viet-New Era: Adapting to Vietnam's Hyper-AInformed Shoppers» on how brands adapt to a customer who walks in with an opinion already assembled by algorithms. It is followed by «Defeating Platform Dominance with Agentic AI Personalization» — agentic AI, data ownership and keeping a direct line to the customer instead of handing it over to the marketplaces.

   The central discussion is «Retail Leadership: Innovating Experiences for Phygital Customer Journey», about the dissolving border between online and the shop floor. It is moderated by Harvendra Singh of Samsung Electronics, with Rahul Shinde (Coca-Cola Beverages Vietnam), Thuy Vo (L'Oréal) and Lucas Le (Triumph Group) on the panel.

   What the programme is built from:

• — a keynote on the Vietnamese shopper who arrives pre-briefed by algorithms
• — a session on agentic AI and the fight for a direct customer relationship
• — a cross-industry leadership panel on the single online-offline journey
• — a partner presentation on turning one-off online touches into loyalty
• — one-to-one meetings, networking coffee breaks between blocks and a shared lunch

   The room is built for people who own a function end to end: directors and vice presidents of e-commerce, digital marketing, omnichannel, customer engagement and loyalty, growth and mobile commerce. If you are the one asked to make online and the shop floor add up to a single revenue line, you will find case studies and short targeted meetings here rather than trend overviews.

   The organiser is Singapore-based rockbird media, which describes itself as having run executive roundtables across Southeast Asia since 2016. In 2026 the retailX series also travels to Manila, Bangkok and Singapore, while the Vietnamese edition is hosted by Sheraton Saigon Grand Opera Hotel on Đồng Khởi, in the historic core of the city.

   Attendance is paid and the fee depends on which side of the table you sit at. A standard end-user pass for retailers and brands costs 375 USD, the VIP pass is 495 USD, and vendors, solution providers and consultants have a separate 999 USD fee. The standard pass covers all conference segments, a buffet lunch with canapés, access to the closed business matchmaking and the content takeaway; the VIP pass adds priority when booking one-to-one meetings and access to a private hosted lunch where one is held. Registrations are approved by the organiser, and refunds are available up to seven days before the event.

   The programme and all announcements are published in English. Questions about attendance go to [email protected]. If your next retail year runs into data, AI and customer retention, this single day will save you months of your own trial and error.