And it begins! NRF 2023 is here and what better way to kick off the retail year than a showcase of some of the most exciting talent and voices in the industry. The opportunity to meet some of our favorite people face to face is enough to get TeamTru excited – as you might be able to tell from the picture below.
If you’re looking for a place to talk all things retail Booth #860 is the place to be. Come grab a slice of the sun and we’ll even look after your coat for you while you check out the sights and sounds.
VIP AWARDS
As ever the proceedings kicked off with the VIP AWARDS. Put together by true industry titan Vicki Cantrell, the awards celebrate the relationship between vendors and retailers, showcasing technical innovation at its best.
TruRating was honored to be nominated for the fourth year in a row in the category of Best Business Intelligence and Analytics Platform. We relinquished our title this year but after three years of winning it’s only fair to share some of the glory.
A big shout out to our fellow nominees Peak, OnQ and Impact Analytics for flying the flag for better insights for ALL retailers. Shaking up the industry is what we’re all about, it’s exciting to see such a lively field of innovation.
RETAIL ROI SUPER SATURDAY
From the glitz and the glamour of Gotham Hall, we were excited to attend the RETAIL ROI Super Saturday event. While it’s always a pleasure to catch up with retail friends (shout out to Greg Buzek, Cathy Hotka and Gautham Vadakkepatt) the chance to catch cutting edge views of what’s really happening in retail was the icing on the cake.
With the impacts of inflation still top of mind, understanding the practical challengers for consumers across the channels provided a pragmatic reset for the year ahead. As our own research has shown, understanding and managing the key challenges of the physical and online channels is key to providing a ‘harmonious retail’ experience (we’re listening Steve Dennis!).
As consumers continue to feel the pinch, ensuring you put your best foot forward at every step will be mission critical to ensuring customers choose you when the spending belt is tightened. It may seem obvious, but hitting on the basics continues to be key to long-term loyalty.
Our friends at RETHINK Retail (hi Julia and Paula!) brought another frontline truth to light with the insight that at least 50% of retail workers are thinking about quitting. Over and over our data has shown the importance of retail staff to the overall customer experience. If you’re serious about doing right by your customers, investing in your staff is more important than ever.
NRF DAY #1
While the highlights were too big to capture in full, we’d be remiss to not give a quick swing through some of the day’s moments for those not lucky enough to make it to NYC for the event itself.
Mattel President Richard Dickson joined Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein to offer home truths about the shape of retail to come. In a sentiment straight out of the TruRating playbook, Dickson made a clear statement about the importance of “knowing your customer and delivering exceptional products and experiences” as key drivers of long term loyalty. While Shopify’s outstanding success in driving online innovation is widely known, Finkelstein’s comment that “The future of retail is going to be retail EVERYWHERE” drove home the fact that a binary view of ‘channels’ is no longer a viable play for future thinking retailers.
The ever excellent Jason Goldberg caught another side of the retail picture in 2023 citing Saks Fifth Avenue’s Paige Thomas views on the potentially challenging start to the year for retail. “Conservative and agile” is a message that will resonate for many following a historical peak in inflation and a more cautious consumer mindset. Finding creative ways to offset inventory overstock, without simply resorting to a race to the bottom pricing approach, is likely to be a key hurdle for retailers, across all verticals in the kick off to 2023.
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If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading, we’ll be checking in over the next couple of days with best of show insights – follow us on Twitter for live action updates and if you haven’t already, why not book a slot to come and say hi to the team in person? We’d love to see you.
For those there, have a fantastic show, to the rest, we’ll do our best to make it feel like you’re not missing out.
Want more? Check out our report on how inflation is impacting consumer behaviors here.
Consumer Insights Report: The INFLATION EDITION
#NRF2023 #NRFBIGSHOW
