The global guide to wellness and innovation
Of all the trends the retail sector has experienced, the current consumer shift toward health and wellness is perhaps the most fundamental. Traditional supermarkets, grocers, and pharmacies are fast-evolving into broader health and wellness environments, with an increasing number of retail executives prioritizing digital health.
That said, digital health is a rapidly expanding field that requires constant monitoring and understanding, making conferences more important than ever to retailers. What’s more, with technologies like AI and digital engagement platforms now ready for enterprise-scale adoption, 2026 is going to be a particularly crucial year. In this article, we’ll provide a month-by-month guide to the top global retailer conferences in 2026 where retailers can explore these technologies.
Key takeaways
- Supermarkets, grocery retailers, and pharmacies should prioritize events that showcase digital health and wellness integration into loyalty programs—the key to modern customer retention.
- The retail conference circuit, which traditionally focused on tech or groceries, now features dedicated tracks on customer health, nutrition, and personalized experiences.
- Our month-by-month itinerary of the key global conferences, including vast trade shows (NRF, EuroShop), specialized forums (FIP, Natural Products Expo), and high-level summits (HLTH, World Retail Congress).
- Digital wellness engagement is the future of retail loyalty. Platforms like dacadoo, which deliver health-driven customer programs, are key to improving the customer experience and monetizing health insights within the retail ecosystem.
2026: Month-by-month conference breakdown
Let’s dive straight into the key conferences that retailers and pharmacy companies should attend in 2026.
| Month | Event Name | Location | Relevance to Retail & Wellness |
| January 11-13 | NRF 2026 – Retail’s Big Show | NYC, USA | The premier global event for retail technology and strategy. Essential for identifying technology partners and digital platforms that can integrate wellness into loyalty programs. |
| January 6–9 | CES 2026 – Consumer Electronics Show | Las Vegas, USA | While CES is remarkably broad in its technological scope, health & wellness is one of its key verticals (alongside AI, mobility, smart home, etc.). CES is central for sourcing the next generation of wearable tech, smart health devices, and digital health monitoring tools. |
| February 22–26 | EuroShop | Düsseldorf, Germany | The world’s largest retail trade fair (running every three years), Euroshop provides essential insights into physical store design, in-store technology, and omnichannel integration strategies needed to support new wellness services. |
| March 3–6 | Natural Products Expo West | Anaheim, USA | The largest natural, organic, and healthy products event. Vital for grocery and pharmacy buyers seeking cutting-edge trends in food-as-medicine, supplements, and wellness CPGs—a core driver of retail health revenue. |
| March 28–29 | Pharmacy Profit Summit | Dallas, Texas, USA | Focuses on optimizing pharmacy operations and boosting profitability. Offers practical guidance on business models and cash-based services that can support the expansion of pharmacies into broader wellness and community-health offerings. |
| April 27–29 | World Retail Congress | Berlin, Germany | Attracts global CEOs and leaders to discuss macro trends and strategy. High-level insight into how global chains are structuring their loyalty and customer experience strategies around digital health and personalization. |
| June 15–18 | HLTH Europe | Amsterdam, Netherlands | A vital forum for strategy and innovation leaders to explore partnerships around digital health, data interoperability, and health system transformation. It offers great potential for collaboration between health‑tech firms and healthcare providers. |
| June 17-18 | Retail Innovation & Transformation Assembly | Austin, Texas | Another installment of the Assembly series focused on actionable retail strategy and digital transformation. A valuable opportunity for senior retail leaders to explore innovative technologies, customer engagement tools, and operational approaches that can improve loyalty and drive retention. |
| June 3-5 | Pharmacy Growth Collaborative | Carlsbad, CA | Focuses on developing new revenue streams, value-based care models, and strategic growth opportunities in pharmacy. Provides insights for pharmacy leaders on expanding beyond traditional dispensing toward integrated patient-care roles to improve outcomes and retention. |
| August 30 to September 2 | FIP World Congress of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences | Montreal, Canada | One of the world’s premier international pharmacy meetings. A key resource for exploring the evolving professional role of pharmacists in patient care, community health, and integrated wellness, as well as the implications for pharmacy practice in both clinical and retail settings. |
| September 22–24 | Groceryshop (Global) | Las Vegas, USA | A leading event for grocery and CPG innovation and technology. Valuable for exploring digital transformation in e-commerce, meal planning, and personalized nutrition, including opportunities for integrating wellness-focused solutions. |
| September 6 – 9 | World Congress of Public Health | Cape Town, South Africa | A major international forum on global public health policy, research, and systems. Important for strategy leaders to understand how public health trends, equity, and system-level challenges may influence community health spaces — including the potential role that retail‑based wellness programs could play in public health outcomes. |
| November 10-13 | Global Wellness Summit | Phuket, Thailand | A high-level gathering focused on the $4.4 trillion global wellness economy. Essential for strategy leaders to understand macro trends, consumer aspirations, and how to position retail brands within the broader global wellness movement. |
| November 15–18 | HLTH 2026 (USA) | Las Vegas, USA | The flagship global event for health innovation and digital health solutions. Ideal for identifying technology and business partners like dacadoo that work in personalized health, behavioral science, and digital wellness. |
| November 9 – 12 | Web Summit | Lisbon, Portugal | One of the world’s largest technology conferences. Provides exposure to emerging technologies, AI, and innovation trends that can inform digital transformation, personalization strategies, and improved customer experiences. |
| December TBA | Global Wellness Economy Trends Forum | TBA (Global) | Helpful for strategy leaders to gain data-driven insights into macro wellness trends and to validate which digital wellness capabilities (e.g., engagement tools, prevention‑oriented models) may move from emerging ideas to business‑as‑usual. |
Why health & wellness are dominating retail conferences
The heavy focus on health and wellness across this calendar isn’t accidental—it’s a direct response to a number of market realities:
Shopper behaviors are shifting: The pandemic accelerated a fundamental consumer realization—health is the most valuable currency. Consumers are now actively seeking retailers that support a healthy lifestyle, rewarding them with loyalty and spending.
Grocers are adding wellness services: Supermarkets are moving beyond selling groceries to offering services such as personalized nutrition advice and health classes. This requires sophisticated platforms—like dacadoo’s Digital Health Engagement Platform (DHEP)—that make wellness programs appealing and engaging.
Pharmacies are evolving: Pharmacies are transitioning from transactional points of sale to accessible community health hubs. Their future growth hinges on offering preventative care, medication adherence programs, and wellness coaching—all enhanced through digital health journeys.
How retailers can use these conferences strategically
To get the very best out of these conferences, retail leaders should focus on three key areas:
1. Identify loyalty + health opportunities: Look for sessions and exhibitors that connect digital engagement directly with customer retention strategies. How can a digital health platform smoothly transition a customer from searching for a healthy recipe online to buying groceries in-store?
2. Build wellness-driven customer journeys: Use the events to explore partners that provide configurable solutions (such as dacadoo’s Digital Health Engagement API), allowing you to integrate wellness features directly into your existing app or loyalty program infrastructure.
3. Benchmark global innovation: Evaluate how leading competitors are using digital tools to personalize advice, coach behavioral changes, and offer incentives.
The path forward
2026 isn’t going to be just another year for retailers—it’s going to mark the date when scalable digital health and engagement technologies combine meaningfully with customer preferences. While conference attendance is going to be a near-necessity for any retailer looking to stay competitive in this new arena, there is a quicker way forward.
dacadoo’s Digital Health Engagement Platform (DHEP) allows retailers and pharmacies to leapfrog the competition by immediately integrating a proven, science-backed wellness and engagement platform directly into their existing customer loyalty programs. In addition to this, our Grocery Basket Score (GBS™) allows you to automatically transform transaction data into actionable nutritional insights, offering customers a simplified, science-based score for every shop. Partnering with dacadoo gives you access now to the technology needed to increase customer engagement and retention—the kind of technology that conferences will be discussing for years to come.
Get in touch with dacadoo and find out how our DHEP can help your retail business thrive.
