Backstroke Recognized in Forrester’s NRF Big Show Innovators Showcase 2026 Report
Recognized by Forrester and NRF, Backstroke is shaping the future of ecommerce communications with agentic AI that automates email and SMS campaigns at scale.
When the National Retail Federation (NRF) assembled its Innovators Showcase 2026 cohort, it invited only 50 emerging technology companies selected by the NRF Innovation Advisory Committee (IAC). The companies they chose are reshaping retail through AI and other breakthrough technologies.
We’re thrilled to share that Backstroke was highlighted in Forrester's new report NRF Big Show Innovators Showcase 2026: Retail Tech To Watch. The report notes that, at a time when retailers are focusing on profitability, the winning technologies will be those like Backstroke, which:
reduce costs
drive efficiency
improve customer experiences
The NRF report categorizes innovators into themes such as AI agents, physical‑space analytics and supply‑chain solutions, and it evaluates each company on problem relevance, significance, product–market fit and scalability. Backstroke made the cut, because we’re solving a real bottleneck for marketing teams: email and SMS campaign creation.
Why Backstroke Stands Out to Forrester & The NRF
Forrester points out that email campaign creation remains largely manual and ripe for optimization. In this era of the AI inbox, their email production is:
A long process: 53% of brands take more than two weeks to produce a single marketing email. Only 23% can do it in a few days or less.
With massive time sinks that can be automated: The biggest time sinks are graphics/design, coding/development and reviews/approvals, not strategy. These are classic signs of manual production that's outdated.
And can quickly end up in the Promotion Tab: Being stuck in the Promotions tab instead of the Primary tab can reduce open rates by about 30%. This magnifies the cost of slow, manual workflows that can’t quickly iterate on design, timing and segmentation.
According to the report, Backstroke’s L5 Agentic Engine addresses this production bottleneck by “transforming creative briefs and performance signals into fully generated email and SMS campaigns.” By tapping into our proprietary retail dataset collected from more than 12,000 brands, our system predicts high‑performing content and handles copy, layout and segmentation autonomously.
The result is on‑brand campaigns delivered in minutes rather than days. This was a game‑changer for rapidly evolving e‑commerce businesses, as brands like Cozy Earth and Thirdlove are already seeing results from this approach.
The report also underscores that 2026 will be a profitability‑first year for retail. Innovative technologies that win will be those that reduce costs, drive efficiency and improve customer experiences. Our generative email and SMS platform does exactly that by eliminating the repetitive work of campaign creation and letting marketers focus on strategy.
The bottom line? Backstroke allows retailers and direct‑to‑consumer brands to adapt quickly to changing customer behaviors without ballooning costs.
We’re Building the Future of Retail Communications
Backstroke’s inclusion in this prestigious cohort underscores our belief that agentic AI is not just a buzzword, but a practical tool for retailers. From our proprietary L5 Agentic Engine to our commitment to continuous innovation, we’re enabling retail and DTC brands to build better customer relationships at scale. As Forrester notes, the rise of agentic commerce is transforming how retailers execute workflows and act on data. We’re proud to be leading that evolution.
We extend our gratitude to the NRF and Forrester for this recognition and, most importantly, to our customers who partner with us on this journey. We invite you to explore how Backstroke can help your brand stay ahead of the curve in 2026 and beyond.
