Getting Back to Business

The first thought that crossed my mind when I arrived at the NRF’s annual Big Show this week: When was the last time you had to fight through a crowd to get inside a tradeshow floor? But that was my experience as I hit the show floor Monday.

And the fortuitous signs didn’t stop there. There were reported record-breaking crowds at this year’s show, checking out the latest technology in the Expo area. Participants in the NRF Design Studio, the home for exhibiting design firms and retail suppliers, also said attendance was strong, with a particularly large contingent from Brazil. So much so, that during the Retail Design Institute’s International Store Design Awards program on Monday night, master of ceremonies Andrew McQuilkin asked George Homer of Gh & Associates (São Paulo) to deliver his presentation in Portuguese. Homer ended with an invitation for all of us to visit Brazil, and based on the country’s healthy economy and emerging middle class, it sounds like a trip worth booking.

While attendance showed many are eager to get back to business, signs also indicate they’re looking for ideas and solutions that can be implemented now, not later when times are better.

One source of inspiration was the Innovation Station, which replaced the annual Store of the Future exhibit. While in the past, technologies in a themed environment showed how we might be shopping in the distant future, this year’s focus was on using today’s products to address today’s retail issues. Produced in partnership with Creative Realities, (Fairfield, N.J.), retailers were first asked to identify the biggest challenges they’re facing. That information was then organized into four themes – connect; loyalty; bottom line and experience; and mobile – with products from the show floor offered as problem-solvers.

The exhibit consisted mainly of screens – either showing interviews with top retailers or some of the technological solutions – but plenty of conversations were happening around flat screen monitors and you could still imagine some of these ideas hitting the sales floor. For example, IBM, in partnership with Cisco, demonstrated how a retailer could create a downloadable app that goes beyond coupons and promotional offerings to providing shoppers who enter a store with a map on their mobile device to locate a desired product. Need help while you’re in the store? Hit the “push for assistance” button on your phone to be connected to an in-store expert or mobile help line. That was just one example of how retailers can look outside the box to reconnect with shoppers.

For more on the NRF show and images and insights on the winners of the Retail Design Institute’s International Store Design Awards, check out VMSD’s March issue.