about
The NextGen Retail Challenge is a first-of-its-kind, industry-led initiative launched by RLC Global Forum, in collaboration with the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University (PNU) and Monsha’at, the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, to support the long-term development of Saudi Arabia’s retail sector as a strategic national economic system.
In line with Vision 2030 workforce and economic diversification priorities, the NextGen Retail Challenge helps future leaders better understand, perceive, and prepare for careers in modern retail.
Its mission is to inspire and equip the next generation of Saudi changemakers with the skills, experience, and access they need to create meaningful solutions for the retail and digital economy.
in partnership with
BUILT WITH
the challenges
Low-cost global platforms like Shein and Temu are winning Saudi consumers with aggressive pricing and fast logistics, while local retailers face higher operational costs. Your challenge is to design solutions that help local players compete more effectively, whether through better conversion tools, trust signals, pricing insights, or smarter customer engagement.
Retail staff often struggle with fragmented digital tools and complex tasks. This challenge asks you to create simple, guided workflows that help store teams improve clienteling, manage online orders, and raise key performance metrics. The goal: make frontline work easier, faster, and more data-driven.
Retailers often make slow decisions because their data lives in separate systems. Your task is to build a solution that brings demand, inventory, and media insights into one place, helping teams reduce stockouts, optimize promotions, and improve forecasting. The aim is faster, smarter decision-making across channels.
E-commerce profitability is hurt by failed deliveries, long routes, and high return rates. This challenge invites you to design tools that recommend better delivery options, optimize routes, and manage returns more efficiently. The outcome should improve customer experience while reducing costs for retailers.
Saudi Arabia’s QSR market is crowded and highly competitive, with operators facing rising costs, discount pressure, and inconsistent footfall. Your mission is to build solutions that improve unit economics—such as smarter staffing, dynamic pricing, delivery optimization, or “digital twin” models that simulate store performance.
1Competing with
cross-border platforms
Low-cost global platforms like Shein and Temu are winning Saudi consumers with aggressive pricing and fast logistics, while local retailers face higher operational costs. Your challenge is to design solutions that help local players compete more effectively, whether through better conversion tools, trust signals, pricing insights, or smarter customer engagement.
2Boosting store performance
with smart tools
Retail staff often struggle with fragmented digital tools and complex tasks. This challenge asks you to create simple, guided workflows that help store teams improve clienteling, manage online orders, and raise key performance metrics. The goal: make frontline work easier, faster, and more data-driven.
3One view of retail: Bringing
all retail data together
Retailers often make slow decisions because their data lives in separate systems. Your task is to build a solution that brings demand, inventory, and media insights into one place, helping teams reduce stockouts, optimize promotions, and improve forecasting. The aim is faster, smarter decision-making across channels.
4Smarter last-mile delivery
& returns
E-commerce profitability is hurt by failed deliveries, long routes, and high return rates. This challenge invites you to design tools that recommend better delivery options, optimize routes, and manage returns more efficiently. The outcome should improve customer experience while reducing costs for retailers.
5Fixing the economics of
QSR & fast casual
Saudi Arabia’s QSR market is crowded and highly competitive, with operators facing rising costs, discount pressure, and inconsistent footfall. Your mission is to build solutions that improve unit economics—such as smarter staffing, dynamic pricing, delivery optimization, or “digital twin” models that simulate store performance.
How it works
Through a multi-day program combining workshops, retail tours, design thinking, and mentorship, students work in teams to develop early-stage prototypes of their ideas based on real challenges facing Saudi Arabia’s retail market.
Submissions for the challenge will be open from 15–31 December, 2025. During this period, students can work on their projects, test them, and submit their final entries for evaluation.
Finalists will then present their solutions live at the 2026 RLC Global Forum on February 4, gaining national and global visibility.
The prizes
The top three teams will be awarded cash prizes along with recognition from industry leaders and access to mentorship and future development opportunities.
