Hanshow Collaborates with Microsoft to Explore Store Digital Twin for the Future of Retail at NRF 2026

NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Hanshow, a global leader in electronic shelf labels (ESL) and digital store solutions, today announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft at NRF 2026, focused on exploring the future framework of Store Digital Twin in response to the accelerating demands of retail digital transformation. 

As retailers operate increasingly complex physical environments, they face growing challenges in gaining real-time visibility, improving operational efficiency, sales acceleration and new revenue channels, and aligning store execution with digital strategies. Addressing these challenges requires a new approach that connects physical store intelligence with cloud-based digital capabilities. 

Addressing Retail Digital Transformation Needs 

The collaboration between Hanshow and Microsoft is grounded in a shared understanding of the evolving needs of modern retail — including the demand for higher operational accuracy, improved cost efficiency, and scalable digital foundations across store networks. 

By exploring digital twin technologies for physical retail environments, the two companies aim to support retailers in building a more data-driven, transparent, and resilient store operating model. 

This approach also reflects Hanshow’s long-term vision of fostering a more ecosystem-friendly industry, where retailers, brands, and technology partners can work together to accelerate the real-world adoption of Store Digital Twin. 

“Retailers today are looking beyond isolated technologies and toward integrated digital solutions that can truly reflect what is happening inside their stores,” said Liangyan Li, Hanshow SVP and Head of Global Sales. “At Hanshow, we see store digital twin as a long-term direction for retail digitalization. Through this collaboration with Microsoft, we are exploring how store digitalization solutions and cloud-based digital twin technologies can work together to support smarter, more efficient retail operations over time.” 

Clear Roles: Store-Level Perception and Cloud-Based Digital Twins 

Within this collaboration: 

• Hanshow contributes its expertise in store-level digital solutions and real-time understanding, including Nebular Ultra ESL and the N5 AI Camera, and a broader ecosystem of in-store IoT touchpoints, enabling granular sensing of shelves, products, and customer behavior insights  

• Microsoft provides cloud-based digital twin technologies, data platforms, and analytics capabilities, powered by Microsoft Azure, to support scalable modeling, integration, and analysis of complex store environments. 

Together, Hanshow and Microsoft are exploring an integrated approach that connects store digitalization solutions with cloud-based digital twin capabilities, forming the foundation of a future digital twin store architecture. 

“AI has the potential to help retailers better understand and optimize complex physical environments,” said Sandy Gupta, VP of Microsoft, head of Global ISV Business. “By combining Microsoft’s cloud and digital twin capabilities with Hanshow’s deep expertise in retail store digitalization, we are exploring how cloud-based platforms can support new scenarios for insight, efficiency, and innovation in retail.” 

Shared Goals: Standardization, Efficiency, and Cost Optimization

The collaboration aims to jointly explore how digital twin technologies can: 

• Provide an open, scalable foundation for store digital twin
• Improve operational efficiency across store processes
• Enable more effective use of data to reduce costs and optimize store performance 

These goals reflect a long-term commitment to building sustainable and interoperable digital foundations for the retail industry. 

By sharing this collaboration at NRF 2026, Hanshow and Microsoft invite retailers, solution providers, and ecosystem partners to engage in an open dialogue around the future of digital twin stores and the role of collaborative innovation in retail digitalization. 

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SOURCE Hanshow