The National Retail Federation (NRF) and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business have launched the NRF Business of Retail Initiative, a $6m programme to fund research, teaching and industry engagement in retail studies, including artificial intelligence in retail, frictionless commerce and logistics.

The gift endows a first-of-its-kind NRF Chair in Retail Studies, creates an annual NRF Summit, two MBA fellowships and research grants aimed at real-world retail problems.

The partnership was announced in Washington on 6 October 2025, with Georgetown confirming the gift last week.

What the new retail initiative will fund

NRF’s $6m endowment will support a named chair in retail studies, fund two NRF MBA Fellows and underwrite competitive grants and an annual summit designed to share research with retailers and policymakers.

Georgetown says the initiative will sit alongside existing centres focused on sustainability and the future of work, linking students and faculty to retail employers.

Research focus: ai, personalisation and frictionless commerce

Programme materials highlight priority topics such as personalisation, customisation, logistics, frictionless commerce and applications of artificial intelligence — areas retailers are investing in to improve margins and customer experience.

The initiative also references “agentic shopping,” a term used for autonomous software agents that shop or compare offers on a consumer’s behalf, signalling a test bed for emerging retail tech.

Who will lead the programme

Georgetown has appointed Kelly Lee, assistant teaching professor of marketing, as programme director, and Luc Wathieu, professor of marketing, as research director.

A new NRF Chair in Retail Studies will be recruited under the endowment. University pages list Lee and Wathieu as centre leadership for the Business of Retail site.

Looking ahead

The partnership formalises a research pipeline from campus to shopfloor at a moment when retailers are testing AI tools and frictionless checkout to cut costs and reduce queue times.

The endowed chair and summit could shape academic priorities and industry standards, though details on the first projects and industry partners will determine near-term impact.

 Specific programme timelines may evolve as Georgetown recruits the endowed chair and schedules the first summit.