Detect and Connect: How Vusion & Qualcomm Enable Real-Time Personalization in Physical Retail | NRF

In this Omni Talk Retail episode, recorded live from NRF 2026 in the Vusion podcast studio, Mark Propes from Vusion and Art Miller from Qualcomm reveal how their partnership is enabling "detect and connect" capabilities that transform physical retail into personalized experiences, and why retailers still testing need to operationalize now before the gap becomes permanent.

From edge computing that processes 4K video locally instead of streaming to the cloud, to closed-loop attribution tracking customer intent in real-time physical space, Mark and Art break down the multimodal signal taxonomy (RFID, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, vision) powering connected stores. They share insights on why scanning barcodes continuously creates data-poor environments, how agentic AI creates new doorways into physical stores, and the precision needed for sub-30 minute delivery promises.

If you've wondered what detect and connect actually means beyond buzzwords, this conversation delivers the technical foundation and business applications.

🔑 Topics covered:

-Detect and connect: the foundation of connected stores explained

-Edge computing vs. cloud: why streaming 4K video to cloud makes no sense

-Distributed compute: processing where decisions need to be made

-Multimodal signal taxonomy: RFID, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, vision working together

-Closed-loop attribution in physical retail for the first time

-SKU-level visibility with CVAI cameras attached to shelf edge

-Real-time customer intent tracking and personalized engagement

-"Physical online experience" - tracking dwell time like web pages

-Agentic AI as new doorway into physical stores

-Operationalize vs. test: the permanent gap warning returns

-Sub-30 minute delivery precision requirements

-Soft payment implementation without dedicated card readers

-Standards-based implementations for reliability and scalability

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#connectedstore #edgecomputing #vusion #qualcomm #retailtech #omnitalk #detectandconnect #retailinnovation #edgeai #physicalretail #retailtechnology #retailpodcast

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