First blog of the year, so here goes.
I had the pleasure of attending the National Retail Federation 100 year Anniversary trade show in New York City last week. It was a real eye opener in the fact that it was the best attended in years. I think the fact that the FMI show has vaporized has forced Retailers to pick a show and NRF is the last one standing.
A couple of trends really jumped out at me. First, the plethora of mobility solutions was evident. Many of the big players, SAP, Oracle, JDA, put a mobility spin on many aspects of their solutions. Much of it was me-too, but still it was distinctly present.
The second trend was around digital signage, it was everywhere. There were several hardware solutions, but more importantly there was software to manage instore and external signage options. I believe this is a significant trend in that retailers continue to look for ways to influence shoppers in-store and increase the self service options. Not sure shoppers are buying in, but most digital signage is paid for by ad dollars, so more in your face advertising.
