Launched in late 2007, Retail Customer Experience is a web portal devoted to helping retailers differentiate on experience, rather than simply on price. It is founded on the understanding that retail today is fundamentally different from any other time in its history, and staying competitive requires a new, holistic understanding of customers and how they want to shop. The website focuses on a number of areas that touch the customer experience:

• Customer service, the crucial layer of effort that creates an emotional bond and drives not only repeat business but word-of-mouth recommendation and grass-roots marketing
• Multi-channel, the increasingly important role of the retailer in multiple aspects of the shopper's life . an experience that not only touches him in-store but online, on the phone and through the mail
• Psychology, the retailer's awareness of the mindset of the customer . beyond what he wants and is willing to pay for, an understanding of what he feels about the relationship
• Store design, the tangible impact the physical retail space has on the shopper and on his desire to return
• Technology, the myriad devices and disciplines that impact the customer experience at every stage along the way

About Us

WaterMark Group, the original owner of ATMmagazine.com, was founded in 1995 by Alan Fryrear as a business forms and graphic design distributor. In 1996, Fryrear hired Tom Harper to head up the company's new ATM supply division and build a national product catalog. In 1997 Harper, senior vice president for Watermark Group, co-founded the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA). The association's first conference, "Winning With Off-premise ATMs," was held in Orlando, Fla. in February 2000. The ATMIA has since grown to add international chapters and will host five conferences in four countries in 2002. Fryrear and Harper created ATMmagazine.com in May of '98. The site quickly grew as members of the ATM industry flocked to the new medium catering to their needs. It soon became the leading online trade publication and attracted many advertisers and readers from around the world. In mid-July of 2000 Harper and other ATMIA board members created the ATM Advertising Council, which has received support from such organizations as NCR, Diebold, Triton and PNC Bank. This group will act as ATMIA's voice in the expanding ATM advertising sector, providing guidance and standards as needed. In November 1999, WaterMark Group was named a winner in the Inc. magazine "Best of the Small-business Web" contest. Soon after, Fryrear and Haper began planning a larger company focused on providing industry news and information through targeted Web sites. To help launch this new company, Dick Good was hired as chief executive officer. Good led a private offering that prepared NetWorld for growth into new industries. Under Good's guidance, NetWorld has since added Web sites focused on kiosks, pizza and church, while expanding the company's staff to more than 20.

The Management Team

Founded on Feb. 1, 2000, NetWorld Alliance immediately assumed ownership and operations of ATMmagazine.com. On Sept. 15, 2000, the company introduced ATMmarketplace.com as the industry's newest information and e-commerce resource. NetWorld purchased kiosks.org in October 2000, and launched KIOSKmarketplace.com in January 2001. It organized the kiosks.org Association in 2001, hosting an organizational meeting in April. In November 2001, NetWorld launched PizzaMarketplace.com. In March 2002, NetWorld formed Church Central LLC with the Rainer Group, a church consulting organization, and launched ChurchCentral.com in May 2002. NetWorld's officers include Alan Fryrear, chairman; Dick Good, chief executive officer; Tom Harper, president and publisher; and Bob Fincher, executive vice president for sales and marketing; and Paul Barron, executive vice president and publisher of Fast Casual magazine and FastCasual.com.