Category: Events/Tradeshows

Shop.org Retail’s Digital Summit: Seen and Heard From The Shop Floor

Posted on | by Mariana Fischbach

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Last week, the Ketner Group team arrived in Dallas at Shop.org Retail’s Digital Summit to talk shop with top ecommerce innovators, retailers and influencers about what lies ahead for the remainder of 2016 and the start of 2017.

As anyone in the business can tell you, the summit is viewed as the kick-start to the holiday season, the opening ceremony if you will, to the busiest, yet most profitable time of year for retailers. During the months following the summit, retailers will look to put all of their technology implementations into play and verify which of their implementations are tough enough to withstand the holiday grind.

Seen on the shop floor
Ketner Group’s clients were in full force at this year’s summit showcasing their latest offerings and news:

Convey showcased how their technology helps retailers transform the most frustrating part of a customer’s experience, delivery, into one that delights at every turn. Through predictive, adaptive and proactive data analysis, Convey helps retailers unify the carrier ecosystem, identify problems before they happen, and facilitate changes on-the-ground, in real time. Convey also discussed upcoming integrations to their platform as well as shipping and delivery trends that will impact the 2016 holiday season.

DynamicAction released its Retail Index – Fall 2016 which found that as retailers head into the critical holiday shopping season, they continue to rely too heavily on their promotional calendars, with an 85% increase globally in the percent of orders using a promotion YoY (Jan.-Sept. 2016 vs. 2015). Other key findings from the report indicated additional challenges for this holiday season, as retailers continue to struggle to acquire new customers and convert first-time buyers into repeat shoppers. On a more positive note, retailers are beginning to make changes to increase operational efficiencies and shore up profit margins. While product profits are basically flat YoY, they’re up 6% for the quarter, compared to 2015.

Edgecase showcased how the company is helping retailers and brands like Lancome, Sur La Table and Crate and Barrel improve their online product visibility.

Kibo, the complete omnichannel commerce platform, announced the acquisition of Baynote, a cloud-based personalization platform. With this acquisition, Kibo will continue to strengthen its commerce solutions with industry-leading personalization technology that quickly enables retailers and brands to provide individual buying experiences.

Mirakl highlighted how the Mirakl Marketplace Platform makes it easy for operators to onboard vast numbers of vendors in a single platform to drastically increase their product selection, competitive prices and a superior shopping experience.

Heard on the shop floor
While innovative technology applications were the center of attention on the expo floor, these shiny new applications also opened the door to deeper conversations of best practices to remember while integrating a new technology.

From personalization technology, intelligent fulfillment, data analytics and in-store technology, one thing remains true: the overall experience should be at the forefront of the implementation. For example, key lessons heard around the expo floor for deploying a technology solution included:

  • Taking a research-based, vertically integrated approach to implementing technology within your product and services strategy.
  • In terms of disruptive technology, remember the function is just as important as the form – the look and feel of that technology must flow seamlessly and solve a pain point.
  • Being open-minded to new technology. For example, technologies like virtual reality will allow retailers to reimagine the way they should work on their next project.
  • Understanding new ideas and methods through data analysis.
  • Remembering that technology is just an enabler to achieve a greater result. It takes a deep understanding of your brand and customer to make all touch points flow seamlessly.
  • Keeping in mind the importance of great people and culture within your organization.

The conclusion of Shop.org Retail’s Digital Summit signals the opening bell for the start of the 2016 holiday sales season for retailers. With several technology solutions ready to make retailers’ processes flow seamlessly, retailers will be ready to deliver the goods to their consumers.

Retail Season is Here and Shop.org is Around the Corner

Posted on | by Adrienne Newcomb
Image via http://retailsdigitalsummit.nrf.com/

Retail season has arrived. From now until spring, our calendars are filled with the hottest events and busiest days in retail. We jumped into the fray last month with back to school campaigns and returned from Labor Day to kick things into high gear with Shop.org prep. This year, Shop.org is Sept. 26-28 in Dallas, only a three-hour drive up I-35, and our team is excited to check out the show along with a number of events taking place throughout the show. Here’s our roundup of can’t miss Shop.org happenings:

Retail Innovation Lounge Dallas
Ketner Group is thrilled to serve as a media sponsor for Retail Innovation Lounge Dallas, taking place Sept. 26-28 at The Dallas Entrepreneur Center, a short shuttle ride away from Shop.org. The event will bring together leading retail executives and retail technology innovators for three days of keynotes, panels and networking.

Ketner Group Clients at Shop.org
In addition, a number of Ketner Group clients will be attending and exhibiting at Shop.org. You’ll find Convey, DynamicAction, Edgecase, Kibo and Mirakl on the expo floor. For more information on their exact location, check out the Shop.org exhibitor list, here, and if you’re interested in meeting with one of our clients, let us know.

Can’t Miss Keynotes and Sessions
There are number of exciting keynotes and sessions planned for Shop.org. We’re especially looking forward to the keynotes, “JC Penney and Transforming the Customer Experience – An Insider’s Look” and “Digital Retail’s Fast Track: Virtually There With AR/VR” featuring speakers from Sephora and Google.

We’d love to see you in Dallas this month. Please reach out if you’re interested in grabbing coffee to catch up or talk about your company’s PR strategy.

Don’t Forget to Vote for Your Favorite SXSW Panels!

Posted on | by Catherine Seeds

OK kids, this is a BIG week! It’s the last week to vote for your favorite SXSW 2017 panels. In case you missed the memo or just need a friendly reminder, this Friday, September 2 is the last day for public voting and commenting for the panels you’d like to see as part of the 2017 programming.

If you are having trouble deciding which panels to vote for, let your friends at Ketner Group help you out! This year, our clients at DynamicAction and Convey have thrown their hat in the ring to speak on some incredible retail and brand-focused panels. And because we love retail tech so much, we’ve also listed several additional panels from our friends at RetailMeNot, Bazaarvoice and eyeQ. Check out our recommendations below:

The Fight for Fit in Retail

In this session, four female thought leaders will discuss how the concept of “fit” has evolved from the early days of ready-to-wear clothing to custom clothes-on-demand. From clothing to cosmetics, we’ll explore how retailers need to keep up with changing styles, sizes and gender identities, the changing role of sales associates and how technology (magic mirrors, virtual reality, mobile apps, body imaging) is changing the way shoppers find the perfect fit – forever!

How to Protect Customers from Delivery Disaster

Rising customer expectations are forcing retailers to build complex carrier networks with disparate experiences and capabilities. How can retailers use data to unify the experience, reduce cart abandonment and boost post-purchase satisfaction? What is necessary to answer customers needs for real-time updates? In this panel, eCommerce leaders will discuss how they are overcoming modern delivery challenges to wow customers.

Understanding Privacy in the Land of Oversharing

In this world of consumer oversharing, the line between public and private content is blurry, leaving brands to navigate a murky gray area of what kinds of consumer-generated content can be repurposed for a brand’s needs. How do the boundaries of the law differ from the ethical guidelines set by industry groups, and what can brands do to protect themselves and the consumers they hold so dear?

Data is the New Black: The Consumer “It” Factor

Brands are living in the age of the consumer, but with smarter insights the age of the savvy marketer is bursting onto the scene. So, how can you harness the power of consumer behavior and data in a way that is discrete, empowering and not….creepy? To remain relevant in the cut-throat world of retail, brands must start to leverage consumer behavior data at scale, and optimize the information overload in new and interesting ways.

Privacy in an Era of Shopper-Aware Machines

Retailers and brands are adopting new technologies to better compete with e-commerce. From responsive signage, to beacons and sensors, store environments are becoming embedded with shopper-aware technologies in response to customers’ demands for easier, more fun, and more engaging shopping experiences. But if these devices are aware of – and responding to – shoppers, does that create new privacy concerns? In this survey of emerging technologies panelists will discuss the privacy implications for shoppers, brands and retailers.

Final 2017 programming will be announced the week of October 17. Click here to check out already announced key note and featured speakers!

Getting a Seat at the Cool Kids’ Table: SXSW PanelPicker Tips and Tricks

Posted on | by Catherine Seeds

It’s hard to believe, but the programming preparation for SXSW Interactive 2017 is already underway. As many of us in the industry already know, the PanelPicker submission process kicked off last week and closes on July 22. Which means if you are working to submit a panel, duo, trio or solo session for next year’s line-up, you have exactly 15 days to finalize your panelists and hit the send button.

Courtesy of Ketner Group
Courtesy of Ketner Group

Getting selected to be a part of SXSW’s much coveted Interactive program is no easy task. The competition is fierce and it gets tougher every year when going up against highly sought-after tech speakers in the areas of robotics, virtual reality and machine learning, not to mention President Obama and J.J. Abrams.

Over the past two years, the Ketner Group team has led the charge in getting a few of our clients’ panels selected as SXSW speakers via the PanelPicker process, and in doing so, have learned a few tips and tricks.

For those of you who may not know, the PanelPicker process goes something like this:
It is a “three-step online process” that allows the SXSW community to have a voice in programming. The first step encourages the community to enter proposals for daytime conference programming for all SXSW events; the second step allows the community to browse all of these ideas, leave comments and vote for those they think are the best fit. The third step, not open to the public, is the input of the SXSW staff and advisory boards, which helps ensure that less well-known voices have as much of a chance as being selected to speak at SXSW as individuals with large online followings. The voting breakdown looks like this: Public Votes – 30%, SXSW Advisory Board – 40% and SXSW Staff – 30%.

While one can argue that luck and timing plays a huge part in getting picked for the “cool kids” table at SXSW, there is something to be said for paying close attention to the things that the advisory board and the SXSW staff recommend when putting forth a session to be voted on. According to SXSW, “Fully-proofed, narrowly-focused, forward-thinking ideas that emphasize creativity and innovation will have the best chance of successfully navigating SXSW community voting, staff analysis and Advisory Board feedback.”

Here are a just a few recommendations from the Ketner Group team on organizing a successful panel at SXSW:

  • It has been our experience that having at least one or two high profile speakers, whether by name or association with their company, coupled with an eye-catching topic that is new and different, is key. Our clients who have been selected for SXSW Interactive programming in recent years have used titles such as the “Future of Cool” and “Ghost Economy,” for their sessions, combined with speakers from Google, Zappos and Brooks Brothers.
  • Some of the coolest sessions that I’ve been to at SXSW have also included well-known media or industry analysts, such as this session from 2015 titled “Personalization for the People,” featuring Forrester’s lead ecommerce analyst and a reporter from CNBC, in addition to an executive from Sephora.
  • Take the time to review the sessions that were selected in previous years – SXSW loves featuring new speakers and new, never-seen before topics and data. As well, when recruiting for speakers, try to find candidates that have presented at other industry events – part of the submission process is to upload videos of the proposed speakers doing what they do best, speak! SXSW is looking to fill their programming with engaging folks who will, for lack of better words, put butts in the seats.
  • Learn all you can from others who have been successful at SXSW, and don’t make the mistakes of others. SXSW is hosting best practices meet ups in multiple cities over the next few weeks – take advantage of these events to learn how to make your proposal stand out. As well, there are plenty of blogs and articles, like ours here, that will give you guidance on what works and what doesn’t. Check out this great article in the Austin American-Statesman that outlines four concepts that make a better panel for SXSW audiences.

If your panel does get selected for SXSW, that’s when the real work begins! Stay tuned for future blogs on how to best prepare your speakers for SXSW and how to successfully promote your panel leading up to the festival. In the meantime, if you need any guidance on submitting a panel for SXSW this year, feel free to contact me at [email protected] and our team would be glad to help!

Good luck!

 

PRSA Corner: Breaking Through the Noise and Reaching Your Target Audience

Posted on | by Ketner Group

ClpsEJ3UYAAqeNFWe recently attended and were the official sponsor of the June PRSA Austin Chapter Luncheon. The luncheon titled, “Media Relations: Insights from the Newsroom,” featured three journalist panelists who discussed how media has evolved over the years, the integration of skills and technology in media relations and how PR professionals can (and should) break through the noise to reach target audiences. Here are some highlights:

Tara Doolittle is the Viewpoints editor for the Austin American-Statesman and is in charge of the editorial pages and online commentary. She began as a rookie reporter in 1997 and has worked with the newspaper’s reporting teams covering education, city hall and lifestyle. As many journalists do, Tara receives over 400 emails a day, which means getting her attention is no easy task. Although she gives first priority to local pitches over others, she tells PR folks to send short pitches, know who you are pitching and focus on the journalist’s interests, and course, always be sensitive to deadlines. Other key take-aways from Tara:

  • For hard news and community engagement pitches, Tara recommends doing research on how other publications (in other areas) report certain trends and how those trends might play out locally. Look for ways to tell the local story. As well, Tara says PR professionals should “think broadly” because the Statesman is not just a print newspaper, but a multimedia content platform.
  • According to Tara, the digital space is the way to go, especially with social media and sharing. She recommends PR professionals think about this when it comes to pitches. Photos and videos are a great way to keep people on the website for longer periods of time – it’s a win-win for everyone!
  • Tara said the biggest struggle she faces as an editor for a daily local newspaper is serving three sets of readers because they all want different things: folks who don’t pay for online content; folks who do pay and read online content; and full subscribers.

Erin Quinn-Kong is the editor-in-chief of Austin Monthly and the editorial director of Austin Monthly, Austin HOME and austinmonthly.com. A Missouri native, she attended the University of Missouri School of Journalism and worked in New York City as an editor at Allure and Us Weekly before moving to Austin in 2008. Compared to the Statesman, Austin Monthly operates with a smaller staff who has to work very hard to keep up with daily and monthly deadlines. It’s a fast-paced environment (with a small staff), which definitely makes it hard for PR professionals to get the attention of the editorial team. Knowing that, Erin says it is critical for PR professionals to know why the story would work in her publication, and know who you’re pitching to and why. Other key take-aways from Erin:

  • Pitches come into play when they make a connection to something that relates to the local area, or that may have appeared “buzz worthy” on social media. That is the sweet spot on pitches!
  • Erin recommends asking them to coffee. As editors, she believes it is part of their job to know the PR people in town. Having the opportunity to be “face to face” with PR professionals is a much better way to connect than an email.
  • Her biggest challenges as the editor of Austin Monthly include creating boundaries between her job and life and the struggle of small budgets and staff combined with high expectations.

 Haley Cihock is Executive Producer for KXAN. With 15 years of experience in broadcast news, she writes, edits and manages a team of producers, anchors, editors and field reporters working on the noon newscasts across two channels. According to Haley, the best stories come from community engagement – listening to the buzz around town, hearing what local citizens are talking about – and then figuring out how to cover the story. She believes that Austin has an engaged audience and people in the city really want to talk. At KXAN, social media is a huge tool for listening for potential stories. Other key take-aways from Haley:

  • Make no mistake, there is limited “on air” time, so Haley recommends that PR professionals pass story ideas and news to the digital side to get more bang for the buck. Using multichannel media is a great way to disperse the message, and it is how stories evolve, especially when it is resonating with people. Haley also says the evolution of media means that things are moving faster and faster, things get lost, so PR folks should try more than one platform to tell their story.
  • As an on-air journalist, Haley has to think of the bigger picture, but often times receives “micro” pitches from PR professionals. Pitches have to be bigger than just one thing. It is important to think beyond your client or your one story – try to make connections that could turn into bigger feature stories.
  • Her biggest challenges as an on-air journalist is always trying to be the first with the story, but to also to get the story right and do it better than anyone else. Erin believes that, for TV journalists, the challenges haven’t changed much, but the ways of approaching them are changing. Her two biggest pieces of advice is to not send video to the newsroom (they have to shoot their own) and to not send gifts to on-air journalists.

Shoptalk 2016: It’s All An Experience

Posted on | by Mariana Fischbach

Shoptalk

Last week the Ketner Group team attended the inaugural Shoptalk conference at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The much-anticipated conference lived up to its promise, bringing top industry leaders together to discuss the technology disruption currently turning the industry on its head.

Shoptalk offered a three-day jam-packed agenda that in true Vegas fashion ran well into the late hours of the night, bringing with it great networking opportunities, organic thought leadership conversations and even a stellar performance by Wyclef Jean at the conference’s Industry Night.

This year’s sessions also brought a few resonating themes and posed several questions about where the industry will find itself in the next few years. It’s no surprise that the wave of technologies available to retailers today has them scrambling for a roadmap of the perfect combination needed to deliver the greatest customer experience possible.

Both vendors and retailers throughout the show agreed that the customer experience is paramount. No matter if your organization is omnichannel, strictly digital or only brick-and-mortar, at the end of the day shopping is not about channels, it’s an experience, and the technology that you implement throughout should create a memorable experience.

Here are the top interesting takeaways we gathered from industry leaders at this year’s Shoptalk:

  • Buying a product is an experience; all touch points must intersect in order to create this experience.
  • Retailers are now living in an all-channel universe; the Internet will not destroy physical stores, it will just grow to be a part of every transaction.
  • The customer has never been more in charge.
  • What is happening to retailers right now in terms of adopting in-store technology and becoming omnichannel should be considered an evolution vs. a revolution.
  • Technology will not dehumanize the physical store experience—it will enhance it.
  • The principles of retailing are still there, but retailers need to figure out the balance between old and new.
  • Be agile – everything that touches a retailer’s organization touches the consumer.
  • Retail complexity breeds a different opportunity, people will still need to understand what humans want and this will lead to new opportunities to bring together data, artificial intelligence and technology to meet the customer’s needs.
  • Think of artificial intelligence as amplified intelligence for retailing.

All in all, the conversations at Shoptalk demonstrate that while the industry is continuing to adopt technology and change, this is only the beginning. Can’t wait to see what innovative topics Shoptalk brings to the table in 2017!

The Wrong Kind of SXSW Party: Getting Noticed the Right Way at SXSW

Posted on | by Adrienne Newcomb

As we have all heard a thousand times, first impressions are critical. They can make or break you, and whether good or bad, a first impression often becomes a lasting one that is hard to run or hide from.

During the first Saturday of SXSW, my coworker and I found ourselves with some time to kill and wandered the street to explore a few unofficial SXSW activities. Along the way, we came across one event poster that stopped us dead in our tracks.

A photo of Bill Cosby with the caption, “Wanna Party?” was taped to a saran-wrapped telephone pole on the corner of 6th and Congress. We, along with other passersby, were appalled, but I graciously held the corner of the poster down so my colleague could send a quick Snapchat to his girlfriend so she could share in our dismay.

The poster got our attention, that’s for sure, but was it a successful PR and marketing strategy? Did I want to go to the party? Do I remember what next big startup was throwing that can’t-miss party? Certainly not. If anything, if I’d bothered to remember the name of the company, I’d probably intentionally avoid doing business with them or buying their product out of the fear of being roofied while interacting with them.

As anyone who has attended or followed SXSW over the past several years knows, it has become a hot spot to launch a start up or make a big announcement. But it can be hard to break through the noise and captivate tens of thousands of individuals crawling around a ten-block radius of downtown Austin. However, a number of companies and products managed to be heard and caught the attention of festivalgoers and media—in the right way.

Piñatagrams
Unlike the failed Bill Cosby campaign,Piñatagrams’ “Lost Piñata” flyers managed to get positive attention from many at SXSW and gained quite a few mentions on Twitter. Flyers for the missing piñata were found on every street corner with tear off contact info, and the tiny piñatas were spotted around town with their new owners. According to Piñatagrams website, for $19.99, the company offers an alternative to a boring old card, sending an unwrapped piñata filled with a personalized message and candy to the recipient.

The fate of Piñatagrams as a company, and the tiny piñatas when they arrive via U.S. Mail, has yet to be determined, but the startup successfully captured the attention of SXSW without offending the female attendees.

Photo courtesy of Piñatagrams
Photo courtesy of Piñatagrams

Mr. Robot
The buzz of this marketing scheme started well before SXSW proper and it certainly paid off. But then again, it’s hard to miss a 100-foot ferris wheel in the midst of dozens of high rises. The Mr. Robot Ferris wheel attracted the usual SXSW crowds but families flocked downtown to get a free view of the Austin skyline from atop the 10-story Coney Island-inspired ride.

The line were wrapped around the block but Mr. Robot and USA Network will have to wait and compare the pre- and post-SXSW Nielson ratings to truly measure the effectiveness of this immersive Mr. Robot experience.

Vivarin
By day five of SXSW Interactive, I, like most attendees, was dragging and needed to make it two more sessions and a networking event before I could call it quits. But have no fear, Vivarin was passing out “FOMO Relief.” Two hundred milligrams of pure caffeine will surely do the trick. Maybe not, but the sentiment is there.

Vivarin (nothing more than a fancy brand name of caffeine pills) definitely knows their audience, and their street team made sure to get their product in the right hands, AND at the right time. 

And Everyone Still Loves the Mophie Dogs
Mophie employed the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” methodology and brought back their 2015 SXSW campaign. The company once again partnered with the St. Bernard Rescue Foundation and festivalgoers took a break, charged their phone and petted a dog in need.

SXSW 2016 may be over, and you may have missed the boat on making a big splash, but it’s never too early to start planning for 2017. As you’re brainstorming the next big SXSW publicity campaign, ask yourself, “How can I make attendees remember my brand and my product for the right reasons?”

SXSW 2016: The Customer May Always Be Right, But What The Heck Do They Want?

Posted on | by Mariana Fischbach

SXSW Interactive 2016 blazed through Austin this past week in typical disruptive fashion, bringing the tech industry’s brightest minds into town for a five-day festival that was all business during the day and all party during the night.

No matter the application, the topic of how to engage customers was at the forefront of the most prominent conversations. From machine learning to data analytics to mobile, all technology pointed to one focal point – the customer and their engagement.

However, during all of the discussions one thing became apparent: while we now have technology that can help us track and study customers’ actions throughout the engagement cycle, we cannot yet decipher what prompted the customer to begin the engagement process with a particular brand.

Zappos Product Manager Kandis Yaokum best described it during the panel session titled “Future of Cool: Predicting What’s Next in Fashion”. Sitting alongside ThoughtWorks Senior Retail Consultant Rachel Brooks, Google Fashion Data Scientist Olivier Zimmer and Shoptelligence Founder Laura Khoury, Yaokum discussed how data analytics is helping fashion retailers predict what will be the industry’s next big trend. When Yaokum was asked “what kept her up at night?,” she answered that it was not knowing why a particular customer decided that a certain product was the “cool one” to buy and what stirred the initial curiosity to engage with a brand.

All the panel members described how data analytics is historical by nature, and can help deliver better insights into overall trends that can help predict the future. However, understanding what sparked a customer’s initial attention is still something that technology cannot yet decipher.

It seems we are at an inflection point, however; additional sessions all pointed to a better understanding of the customer and different ways we can look at the convergence of brand and technology to spark and measure customer’s attention. Key themes that emerged included:

It’s all about psychology: a brand’s engagement with a consumer should have personal and organic connection.

  • Marcela Sapone, founder of the New York based startup, Hello Alfred, discussed that how brands make you feel is all about perception, and brands can use this perception alongside technology as a metric to continue innovating and building a better product.

Going beyond the product – A physical store setting should be more about the overall experience and providing content customers can immerse themselves in.

  • STORY founder Rachel Shecthman discussed how the retail store should be utilized as a media channel to create an experience that immerses customers in the overall story and gives them something to do. We should think about physical stores as living labs and places of entertainment that are enabled by technology.

Democratizing access to luxury: luxury is now defined as a combination of access, experiences and usability.

  • Discussing wearables, Uri Minkoff and Decoded’s Liz Bacelar emphasized how luxury items should be both about usability and functionality and how the wearables of the future will be more about portraying emotion than tracking health data.

ALL customers are individuals.

  • Refinery29’s Phillipe von Borries discussed how all brands should look to people as individuals instead of grouping them into a block such as a generational age group. The power, he says, lies in niches – people who are defined by their overall passions and hobbies.

At the end of the day, the customer is the key driver, and brands that look to incorporate innovative technologies and tactics into their overall customer experience philosophy will continue to spark their attention.

Retail’s BIG Show: #NRF16 Client Recap, Part Two

Posted on | by Ketner Group

If there is any indication that this year’s NRF show was the most exciting yet, it’s that we need two whole blog posts to recap just how great it was. Our clients were among the best and brightest out on that show floor, demonstrating cutting-edge retail technology and hosting thought-provoking BIG !dea sessions. They were invaluable additions to the educational atmosphere of one of the industry’s longest-running events, but don’t just take our word for it, see for yourself:

Photo courtesy of Kathleen See
Photo courtesy of Kathleen See

Predictix

Continuing to stay “one step ahead of the competition,” as observed in PYMNTS, Predictix announced during the show that it has entered a strategic partnership with Infor to resell Predictix applications to its customers as a part of Infor CloudSuite Retail. This announcement, along with Predictix’s impressive 40% YOY SaaS growth, generated buzz for the predictive analytics company. Adding to the excitement, Aaron Surasky, Senior Director, Assortment Planning and Analysis for The Home Depot, led an NRF BIG !deas session where he discussed how retailers are working with Predictix to create differentiated, locally relevant assortments while operating multiple channels and stores to an audience of more than 200.

Check out some additional awesome coverage of Predictix from the show by Apparel, Retail TouchPoints, B2Becommerceworld and Just-Style.

Shopatron

The week was an exciting one for Shopatron as well, which announced that “it is now part of a unified omnichannel commerce solutions company called Kibo,” by merging with MarketLive and Fiverun according to RIS News . In a MultiChannel Merchant recap of the companies’ merge, Shopatron founder Ed Stevens (now COO of Kibo) and MarketLive founder Ken Burke “talk about how the responsive redesign and the enhanced back-end capabilities helped Modell’s {Sporting Goods] become an omnichannel success story this holiday season.”

Starmount

In the world of omnichannel, just-style was impressed with Starmount’s newly-unveiled Store Inventory application, which helps retailers maintain more accurate store inventory and allows store associates “to engage customers and process transactions.” Starmount used its time at NRF to demonstrate how this addition to its Customer Engagement Suite is an asset to retailers.

Thoughtworks

Included as a “Top 10 Takeaway” by RIS News, Thoughtworks took the opportunity at NF to highlight the new e-commerce engine it built for Mitchells‘ website. In addition to putting a spotlight on its latest project, Thoughtworks also connected with many retail industry professionals to learn from and share with the behind-the-scenes retail software experts.

Unata

In addition to meeting and networking with other members of the retail community, this year’s NRF for Unata also highlighted a major endeavor that is in-progress between the digital grocery solutions company and regional grocery chain, Lowes Foods. In a video interview with Retail Touchpoints, Michael Moore, CMO for Lowes Foods, spoke on how the partnership is “bringing to life a whole new customer experience” known as “retail-tainment” with the help of Unata.

Retail’s BIG Show: #NRF16 Client Recap, Part 1

Posted on | by Ketner Group

NRF’s 105th annual conference featured over 30,000 attendees, a plethora of thought leadership sessions from retail’s top leaders and a vast selection of innovative new technologies— too many to even count— however, in the midst of all the activity, our clients definitely shined through the crowd at Retail’s BIG Show bringing their own innovative stories into the mix.

Photo courtesy of Kathleen See
Photo courtesy of Kathleen See

360pi

According to RIS News, 360pi’s session, “Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: Learn from Amazon” hosted by VP of Marketing, Jenn Markey, was a session quick hitter with the company’s “Holiday’s Insights Executive Intelligence Report,” which covered various pricing strategies of the world’s biggest retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart. The report’s most interesting insight revealed that though Walmart is usually within 5% of Amazon’s Prices, the pricing disparity increased to 10% during the holiday season with Amazon’s exclusive membership-only shopping opportunities.

Advanced Pricing Logic

This year at NRF, Advanced Pricing Logic presented their easy-to-use analytics interface, PRICEXPERT, which combines the use of price optimization and competitive data. At their booth, APL got the chance to showcase their innovation that can enhance the way retailers and other businesses meet their financial goals. APL was also able to network with many retailers and top tier media alike.

Birdzi

With thousands of attendees from the retail industry, Birdzi utilized the conference to network with big names in the retail industry and the media. Birdzi had the chance to connect with fellow industry players and share how they’re transforming retail through their state-of-the art personalized shopper engagement platform.

CART

At NRF, CART presented how their website can help navigate the ever-changing industry of retail technology. With over 5,000 solutions, CART was able to show how their innovation can aid with searching and learning by connecting retailers to a variety of solutions and products. By demonstrating how their service works, CART was able to network with a variety of retailers and members of the press.

Displaydata

As the leading, global supplier of fully graphic, 3 color electronic shelf labels and in-store location management, Displaydata took NRF by storm by showing how their innovative system leads to better sales, profits and customer loyalty. By demonstrating their dynamic solution, showcasing their electronic shelf labels and offering interactive tours with real-time consumer interaction, Displaydata was able to boast their dynamic pricing tactics.

Adam Blair of Retail TouchPoints went on to highlight Displaydata’s capabilities in his NRF recap post.

Mirakl

This year at NRF Mirakl had the opportunity to meet with a vast amount of retailers and the press about their e-commerce marketplace platform and Best Buy Canada’s launch of its online marketplace. With constant networking all around the conference, Mirakl was very busy making their name known to the big players in the retail industry and earning their spot on Retail TouchPoint’s “What were The Hot Topics of #NRF16?” coverage round-up.

To be continued…