Huawei and Global Ecosystem Partners Launch the Smart Retail Pioneer Program to Redefine Retail with AI

[Shanghai, China, September 17, 2026] During HUAWEI CONNECT 2026, Huawei held a Smart Retail Forum themed "Redefining Retail with AI, Driving Omnichannel Smart Experience." This session brought together over 150 leading retail customers, industry experts, and ecosystem partners from around the world to discuss how AI is being put to work in retail and to share digital innovations from global markets. At the event, Huawei, together with the China Chain Store & Franchise Association (CCFA), Yum China, Meiyijia, and Vusion, launched the Smart Retail Pioneer Program, which aims to accelerate the global retail industry's transition to an omnichannel smart experience.

Huawei and global ecosystem partners launch the Smart Retail Pioneer Program to redefine retail with AI.

Zhang Yichi, President of Huawei's Retail BU, said in his opening remarks that global retail is moving from single-point intelligence in stores to a new AI-driven model built on full-link coverage and cognitive supply chains, which is now the core direction for high-quality industry growth. Drawing on its AI, cloud, network, and IoT technology foundation, Huawei continually provides high-quality digital infrastructure for retail enterprises, helping the industry overcome transformation bottlenecks and upgrade its value chain.

During the session, industry experts and leading enterprise representatives shared their cutting-edge practices. Sean Sun, Head of CCFA's All-Retail AI Spark Conference, noted that the Chinese retail market is highly competitive, with consumer demands evolving rapidly and new channels and scenarios emerging one after another. In this context, AI is not a post-hoc add-on but a solution that directly addresses business pain points, deeply integrates with services, and grows through real-world applications. It is such business-driven demands that have fostered the outstanding adaptability of retail AI in China.

Dai Di, CIO of Meiyijia Holdings, and Jack, Vice President of Quwan Group, shared how they used OpenHarmony to bring store-wide intelligence to their retail operations. By leveraging Huawei's OpenHarmony, Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, and intelligent O&M capabilities, they upgraded chain store terminals and improved collaboration across the logistics supply chain, significantly improving the operational efficiency of large-scale store networks.

Sun Lei, Senior IT Director of Yum China, described how the company worked with Huawei on its intelligent transformation. Drawing on the OpenHarmony ecosystem, Yum China has implemented use cases such as in-car meal ordering and drive-through, going beyond conventional store boundaries to create a new retail experience that integrates people, vehicles, and stores.

Guillaume PORTIER, Executive Vice President of Partnerships and Alliances at Vusion, highlighted the AI-Native Store vision. By combining Huawei’s retail network infrastructure with Vusion’s technologies, physical stores can be digitalized through electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). This transforms conventional shelves into a connected infrastructure that generates real-time IoT signals, enabling greater store efficiency and enhanced shopper experiences.

Emma, Director of the Solution Sales Dept at Huawei's Retail BU, introduced the company's overall smart retail solution. Built on an integrated cloud-network-data-AI-security foundation, the solution reshapes retail operations around consumers, products, and spaces. By enabling intelligent connectivity, customer flow analysis, and digital store management, it helps retailers unify online and offline channels, achieve refined operations, and reduce costs, all while improving efficiency.

The Smart Retail Pioneer Program, launched at the event, marks a significant milestone in Huawei's collaboration with global ecosystem partners to advance digital and intelligent transformation in retail. Leveraging Huawei's technical capabilities and transformation experience in the Chinese market, the program focuses on four core areas: marketing, services, O&M, and supply chains. It aims to empower global retail enterprises to complete a generational upgrade in digital and intelligent capabilities. Moving forward, Huawei will continue to increase R&D investment and work with system integrators, software providers, and robotics partners. Together, they aim to build a simplified, secure, and efficient smart retail ecosystem.

About the Huawei Smart Retail Forum

The Huawei Smart Retail Forum provides a key platform for global retail players to discuss digital and intelligent transformation. Through this platform, Huawei aims to open up its core technical capabilities in cloud, AI, network, and IoT, collaborating with global industry partners to explore the implementation of cutting-edge technologies and develop standardized, replicable smart retail solutions. This will guide the industry toward a future of AI-driven retail with omnichannel integration.