NRF 2025: What Is The Most Overused Buzzword That You’ve Heard Today?

On the NRF 2025 floor we asked the attendees of the conference which buzzword was most overused on the day

AI, frictionless, hyper personalization, embedded finance, open banking, real time, and platform topped the list.

However the real theme was outcomes, not words. Teams are using regulatory tailwinds, including digital record keeping mandates, to ship value without touching the core. In practice AI cuts fraud and speeds underwriting.

Frictionless reduces KYC drop offs. Embedded finance works only when servicing, collections, and risk are ready. Real time matters when funds availability changes behavior. A platform deserves the name when SLAs, event streams, and observability are in place.

The sharpest needs are for sole traders and landlords: clean categorization, rent roll reconciliation, HMRC prefill, tax set asides, instant payments, lending that respects uneven income. Incumbents win on distribution, data context, and governance. Focus on winnable journeys, apply open banking data and payment initiation, use VRP tax pots and modern income verification, add human in the loop and strong model governance, measure the deltas, and favor adjacent builds. If we must pick a word, AI wins. The real winners are the numbers.