Juanita Neville-Te Rito

87% of New Zealand businesses are already using AI, but most are still stuck between experimentation and execution. In this launch piece, RX Group and thecolab.ai unpack why so many AI initiatives fail to scale and introduce rxcolab.ai, a specialist ANZ retail AI venture focused on practical implementation, operational capability, and measurable commercial outcomes.

Retailers are racing toward agentic commerce with the best of intentions. They're cleaning their product data, optimising for AI discovery, signing up to platform partnerships. Every decision makes sense in isolation. Together, they form a trap. The platforms driving this are deeply unprofitable. The fee model is already live in the US. A Board Director told me recently that "AI can do all this stuff for free." I said...Ask OpenAI about their $14 billion loss this year.

NRF APAC is where the region’s smartest retail conversations happen. RX Group’s curated ANZ delegation turns conference attendance into a true executive learning experience, combining global insight, VIP access, retail study tours and practical takeaways you can bring straight back to your business.