An interactive journey through the retail industry
The Retail Experience at NRF’s Retail Advocates Summit
Thursday, July 25, 2024 | 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. | The Conrad, Washington, D.C.
Sponsored by:
Not your typical D.C. fly-in. It’s an experience.
Experience the power of retail through The Retail Experience, an interactive, educational showcase designed to take policymakers on a journey through the retail industry. Immersive exhibits demonstrate retail’s role in driving the economy, providing jobs, and impacting lives and communities across the country.
Six immersive exhibits demonstrate retail’s role in driving the economy, providing jobs, and impacting lives and communities across the country.
- Retail Powers the Economy
Supporting more than one in four American jobs and contributing $5.3 trillion to the annual GDP, retail is the nation’s largest private- sector employer. This interactive exhibit explains how retail powers the economy. - Retail Powers Careers
Retail is a great place to start and grow careers. See how the NRF Foundation provides access to the education and opportunities needed for successful retail careers, helping people build better lives and stronger communities. - Retail Powers Communities
Retail is at the heart of communities across America. Connect with company representatives of leading retail companies to hear how they support, connect and power communities. - Small Business Powers Communities
More than 98% of retailers are small businesses. Visit nearly 50 Main Street retailers from 26 states in our town square to hear how they empower and support their communities. - Technology Powers Retail
Technology pushes the retail industry forward. Learn from companies driving the retail industry’s technological innovations in this section. - Heroes/Champions of Main Street
NRF is proud to honor more than 200 lawmakers with our Heroes of Main Street and Champions of Main Street awards. Award winners are selected for their legislative leadership and actions to support the U.S. retail industry.
Retail's Policy Priorities
- Addressing Organized Retail Crime
The Issue: Organized retail crime negatively impacts retail workers, customers and communities. These crimes not only have a financial impact on retailers, but also create safety concerns for store employees and customers.
Retail’s Solution: Congress must pass the bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (S. 140/ H.R. 895), which would increase federal coordination with state and local law enforcement to fight retail crime. - Reforming the Broken Payments System
The Issue: Retailers face rapidly increasing credit card swipe fees — the highest in the industrialized world. That’s because the U.S. payments system lacks competition and is dominated by just two payments networks, Visa and Mastercard, which control 80% of the market. These non-negotiable fees raise costs for retailers and lead to higher prices for consumers.
Retail’s Solution: Increase competition in the credit card market by passing the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act (S. 1838/H.R. 3881). These reforms would save American merchants and consumers an estimated $16.4 billion per year - Pursuing a China Trade Strategy that Protects American Consumers
The Issue: Tariffs are inflationary. Tariffs are taxes that every American consumer pays on a wide variety of everyday products. Tariffs have failed to change China’s unfair practices.
Retail’s Solution: Instead of more taxes on American consumers, we need incentives for U.S. companies to shift supply chains away from China. Our strategy includes working with our allies to confront China’s unfair trade practices. We must promote market access to expand global supply chains. We should renew expired trade preference programs like GSP and MTB to incentivize diversity in sourcing and moving supply chains closer to the U.S.
Engage with us
The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association. Every day, we stand up for the people, policies and ideas that help retail thrive. Connect with us at govtrelations@nrf.com.