The show floor at last week's National Retail Federation event was bigger and more diverse than ever before, but two themes recurred with almost startling regularity: retailers need to create memorable experiences, and they need to be more environmentally conscious.
There were 18,500 attendees and 600 exhibitors at the immodestly dubbed "Retail's Big Show," both significantly up from last year.
Scott Krugman, spokesman for NRF, said retailers are feeling the need to innovate every aspect of their businesses. Nowhere is that need more visible than in the increased emphasis on the customer experience, a pair of words that could be found in one form or another on just about every booth at the show.
"We're moving from technology solutions to more of an emphasis on creativity, more imagination," he said. "In a lot of cases, the technology is just being used to make that imagination a reality."
Two more words you couldn't miss on the show floor: "environment" and "green." And according to Krugman, this isn't just a passing fancy, and it isn't just businesses paying lip service to a very big, very important concept.
"This isn't a trend, this is reality," he said. "You're seeing vendors embrace green initiatives. It's creating a cultural change within their companies. You can't just change your light bulbs - they're well beyond that."
Big names, big ideas
The front entrance of the exhibit hall was a sort of battle of the titans, with big names Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, NCR, Fujitsu and many others vying for attention.
The Microsoft environment was home to several interesting solutions, including a giant-format "no-touchscreen" from Solaris Labs — just point at the screen to interact with it. Mobile marketing firm Store Xperience was also in the Microsoft house, demonstrating its eponymous mobile marketing application. Shoppers use their cell phones to take pictures of a 2-D barcode on a product; that opens up a line of communication between retailer and customer, which can then be used to push special offers, marketing messages and cross-sells.
One of the most (literally) head-turning technologies was the IBM TotalStore. Customers visit a store's Web site while at home, and use a simple drag-and-drop CAD-like interface to design a new room - in this case, a home theater was the demo. Shoppers input the exact dimensions of the space they have, then use a palette of options (screens, furniture, decorations) to design the room. That information is saved to the store's database, and when the shopper visits the store, he is handed a set of VR goggles, which allow him to "step inside" the room he has designed.
Rather hard to find, but worth seeking out, was the Portomedia display at the IBM pavilion. The company's Movie Point kiosk holds 500 different movies in digital form. Shoppers use the kiosk to select and pay for a movie, then insert a tiny "Movie Key" USB drive. The movie is transferred to the drive in less than a minute, and "expires" automatically at the end of the rental period. The movie can be viewed on any USB-enabled computer, or on a standard television via a proprietary dock.
At the Fujitsu pavilion, a truly remarkable technology was on display, and the very thing that makes it so remarkable also made it inherently easy to overlook. Partner company Nivis demonstrated its electronic-ink-based signs, small black-and-white price displays that truly look like paper signs. The technology comes from Bridgestone, and uses mesh networking to disseminate information from one sign to another.
Here's the remarkable bit: these signs are "stateless," meaning that once they display an image, they no longer require power to maintain that image. The result is a scalable network of digital pricing displays, all remotely managed, with a battery life of about five years.
The "store of the future"
Nestled rear-and-center in the mammoth event hall was "X08: Beyond the Walls of Retail," a store-of-the-future collection of technologies and tools that was spread out over six rooms.
Highlights included Freedom Shopping, whose turnkey RFID system shortens the checkout process to a matter of seconds and interfaces with all existing POS systems; Slifter, a lean Java app that allows customers to interact with retailers via mobile phone; Fit Just Right, a Web-based system that lets customers create a size profile online, then access that profile while standing in the dressing room; and Euro Touch Interactive's Z-Dome, a giant concave screen that uses rear projection to create the sense of physical immersion.
Microsoft was also on hand in X08, demonstrating its Surface tabletop computer. The Surface certainly grabs attention, and was seldom without a crowd. Demonstrations included assisted selling (place a product on the table, and marketing content swirls around it) and loyalty (drop a loyalty card anywhere on the table, and a customized menu of choices appears next to it).
Also at NRF 08
Quietly nestled upstairs was the NRF DESiGN STUDiO, a collection of exhibits that emphasized the aesthetics of store and experience design. World-class designers and image consultants such as Miller Zell and Graj+Gustavsen were on hand, as were lighting manufacturers and architects.
Modiv Media and Motorola announced that Stop & Shop grocery store customers are the first to use the Modiv Shopper, a portable shopping assistant powered by Motorola's MC17 mobile computer. The handheld device, branded "easySHOP" by Stop & Shop, gives consumers the option for "scan-and-bag" service and provides targeted savings to Stop & Shop customers. Customers also receive tailored promotions based on their individual shopping history, redemption history, in-store location tracking and just-scanned items in aisles. The Modiv Shopper has been deployed in about 100 Stop & Shop stores.
NCR made a big impression with its FastLane Self-Return. The device allows shoppers to return goods for a refund on their own by first scanning the items and entering relevant product information. Next, the item is inspected by a store associate who can approve the return. A reimbursement is then issued in the manner the item was originally purchased - debit, credit, cash or gift card.
Wincor Nixdorf, a supplier of total IT solutions for the retail and banking industries, introduced its TP.net software solution to the United States. The software helps retailers meet operational challenges with a single product suite that provides seamless connectivity for multi-store management, customer loyalty, intelligent rules-based pricing and promotions, and advanced checkout concepts.
Wincor is currently discussing trials of its TP.net solution with multiple leading U.S. retailers, said Frank Rant, a Wincor regional sales director.
"We wanted to bring this software over to the U.S. as a proven product," Rant said.
Patrick Avery contributed to this story.
