Agenda

There is no better way to kick off Engage 2026 than with drinks in the sky above Music City. Join us for our opening reception at White Limozeen, the iconic, candy-colored Dolly Parton-inspired rooftop bar and restaurant perched atop our very own Graduate Hotel, with sweeping 360-degree views of the Nashville skyline. This is your chance to shake off the travel, reconnect with familiar faces, mix with fellow retailers from across the industry, and spend some quality time with the Aptos experts behind the solutions you rely on every day, all over cocktails and spread of hand-crafted bites. Come for the views, stay for the connections. Engage 2026 starts here.

Kick off Engage 2026 with Aptos General Manager Jeremy Grunzweig as he sets the tone for the days ahead. Jeremy will share his perspective on the retail landscape, highlight what Aptos has been delivering for its customers, and offer a candid look at where we are headed together. It is the perfect starting point for two days of learning, connecting, and discovering new ways to get the most from your Aptos investment.

Artificial intelligence is no longer on the horizon for retail. It is here, and it is already changing what is possible. Join Aptos CTO Tushar Sachdev and Head of Architecture John Carney for an inside look at how Aptos is embracing the agentic AI era right now, both in how we operate and in how we build. Tushar and John will share how Aptos thinks about AI in two strategic lanes: building AI capabilities directly into the product is table stakes, but true competitive advantage lies in AI interoperability, empowering retailers to build custom agents, automate cross-system workflows, and orchestrate AI across their entire retail enterprise. If you want to know what AI looks like inside an enterprise retail platform, and what it can do for yours, this is the session to be in.

No matter which Aptos solutions power your business, this session is for you. Aptos Vice Presidents of Product Management Nikki Baird and Ian Auerbach walk through the latest innovations and investments being made across the full Aptos portfolio, from Aptos ONE, order management and Aptos Store to merchandising, CRM, AOM and enterprise analytics. Come ready to take notes and leave with fresh ideas for getting even more out of your Aptos solutions.

Three topics. Real pain points. No fluff. In this fast-paced session, we tackle three of the most pressing challenges on the Unified Commerce journey. Come ready to engage.

Pre-Authorizations and Omni-Order Fulfillment
We map the full lifecycle of pre-orders and omni-channel transactions, from pre-authorization through capture and fulfillment, exploring where the process breaks down and what a better experience looks like.

Tax Complexity in an Omnichannel World
Calculating and collecting tax across a fluid, multi-channel environment is one of unified commerce's most stubborn realities. We'll dig into the challenges and what retailers can do about them.

The Future of Flash Sales
We close with a look at the evolving Flash Sales landscape: where Aptos customers access Flash today, how Flash Sales are changing, and what that means for where Flash Sales data will need to live tomorrow.

This session pulls back the curtain on how Aptos is building the data foundation for AI. We'll walk through our overall data strategy, including data sharing and analytics, then hear the leading operational data platform for AI is tackling AI data readiness and what that means for edge computing. We'll close with a look at the Aptos roadmap for Model Context Protocol (MCP), a key standard that enables AI Agents to connect with the data and tools they need across the retail enterprise.

This session zooms in on the store experience and the innovations driving results on the floor. We'll open with a look at how Aptos customers are creatively applying mobility to improve store performance, then shift to the two hardware pillars that make mobility possible: evolving in-store payment options and device flexibility. Along the way, we'll explore the operational, technology, and store provisioning impacts retailers need to plan for.

Applicable to all Aptos solutions, this session takes a broad look at how Aptos is evolving the technology experience for our customers. We'll open with an overview of our Technology Partner Enablement Program and what it means for the future of Aptos integrations and extensibility. Next, we'll introduce a new service offering designed to ease upgrade burdens: QA test automation. We'll close with a high-level look at how Aptos is strengthening its security stance across the board, from proactive threat detection and compliance to platform hardening and data protection, as the cybersecurity attack surface facing retailers continues to grow and evolve.

We are thrilled to welcome Greg Buzek, founder and president of IHL Group, one of the retail industry's most respected research and advisory firms. With decades of experience studying retail technology trends across the globe, Greg brings an unmatched perspective on where the industry has been and where it is headed. In this session, Greg will share his latest thinking on how AI is reshaping retail, what it means for your business, and how leading retailers are positioning themselves to win. Whether you are on the frontlines of store operations or setting the strategic direction for your organization, this is a session you won't want to miss.

There is no better way to close out Day 1 than by hearing directly from the retailers living it every day. This candid panel brings together Aptos customers from across the retail landscape to share their experiences, challenges, and wins on the topics that matter most right now. Expect honest conversation, real-world insight, and plenty of takeaways you can bring back to your own organization.

Aptos General Manager Jeremy Grunzweig brings Day 1 to a close, drawing together the key themes and takeaways from the day's sessions and previewing what's ahead on Day 2.

Trade your badge for your boots and join us for a night out in Music City. We are heading to Odie's Bar, the Midtown Nashville hotspot brought to life by 8-time ACM and CMA Award-winning country band Old Dominion, for an unforgettable evening of Nashville hospitality. Enjoy great food, classic lawn games, and a 50-foot bar with plenty of room to unwind. Try your hand at line dancing, get a customized branded cowboy hat courtesy of Boot Barn, and soak in the kind of relaxed, genuine connections that only happen away from the conference room. This is your chance to let loose, swap stories with fellow retailers, and make memories that last well beyond Engage 2026. Y'all don't want to miss this one.

Aptos is proud to partner with the Retail Orphan Initiative (RetailROI) to give back to the Nashville community. In this hands-on session, we will put Aptos Store Inventory Management and Fulfillment Application (SIMFA) to work for a cause that matters, fulfilling backpack orders for foster kids in need. Get a first-hand look at the power of SIMFA in action while you roll up your sleeves, work alongside your peers, and help us break the record for most backpacks completed in an hour. Come for the experience, stay for the impact.

Retail without borders brings complexity without end. This session tackles the evolving localization landscape, starting with what it takes to manage payments across disparate regions and the unique challenges that come with operating in multiple markets. We then go deeper into the rise and rapid evolution of fiscalization and e-Invoicing, two areas that are reshaping compliance requirements for retailers around the world.

The way people interact with software is changing fast. In this session, Aptos takes a look at how AI is reshaping user experience, from prompt-driven interfaces and chat-based interactions to the performance and usage metrics that tell us what is actually working. Come hear how Aptos is rethinking software interaction for the retailers and associates of tomorrow, across all of the solutions.

Agentic commerce is raising the bar on inventory data, demanding more of it, faster and more accurately than ever before. This session examines the current state of inventory data feeds and where they need to go, the future of the cart in an AI-driven retail world, and the role Aptos looks to play across product data, inventory availability, and price and promotion. If agentic commerce is on your radar, this is a session you will not want to miss.

Building great AI-powered software requires more than great ideas. In this session, Aptos pulls back the curtain on how we are integrating AI into our own development and deployment processes. We will walk through the infrastructure and tooling decisions we have made, and share how we are approaching the challenges that matter most to enterprise retailers: cost controls, security, and intellectual property protection. This is a don't miss session no matter which Aptos solution you leverage.

Hear a compelling perspective from an industry thought leader on the challenges facing retail today and the opportunities that lie ahead. The perfect send-off to carry your inspiration and ideas back to your organization.

Aptos General Manager Jeremy Grunzweig returns to bring Engage 2026 to a close, recapping the key themes and lessons learned across two days of sessions, conversations, and connections. A fitting send-off before we gather one last time over lunch.