Tag: National Retail Federation

National Retail Federation CEO: This Is A Great Time For Innovation

This is a great time for innovation,” says National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay. “There’s been a great increase in efficiency in the supply chain. Those gains are not going to be given back. Customers are going to continue to expect certain kinds of delivery and fulfillment opportunities that have been rolled out by retailers this year. They won’t give that up. They are going to want the convenience and they are going to expect to be able to maintain that in the future.”

Matthew Shay, President and CEO of the National Retail Federation, says that the pandemic has made this a great time for innovation by retailers:

This Is A Great Time For Innovation.

Just look back a decade ago and the companies that were created in the midst of the great recession in 2008, 2009, and 2010. We saw a lot of new IPOs. This is a great time for innovation. Some of the predictions this year, for example, about the number of stores that would close or bankruptcies that we would see just haven’t materialized. Part of that is because consumers have been relatively healthy and part of that is because on a net basis we’ve seen new businesses opening to offset the closing. There’s an enormous amount of innovation taking place.

On the issue of returns, there’s a big company located right here in Washington, D.C., Optoro, a big partner for many retailers helping them process returns efficiently. I’ve talked to senior executives at UPS today about shipping issues and there is a lot of innovation taking place. They are working very diligently and have a great delivery record so far. We are looking forward to getting all those gifts to American families. The biggest gift of all, of course, will be some additional pandemic relief.

A Lot Of This Is Going To Be A Permanent Change

The issue is how much of this consumer behavior has changed permanently and fundamentally? How much of us as Americans go back to our old behaviors? That’s going to play itself out. Certainly, a lot of this is going to be a permanent change. People will do more as we saw across all demographic groups, regardless of age, this entire year doing much more online. Some of that will remain sticky.

There’s been a great increase in efficiency in the supply chain. Those gains are not going to be given back. Customers are going to continue to expect certain kinds of delivery and fulfillment opportunities that have been rolled out by retailers this year. They won’t give that up. They are going to want the convenience and they are going to expect to be able to maintain that in the future.

With those kinds of innovations and that kind of resilience in the system against the backdrop of a year next year that could be extremely bullish if we get the vaccine rolled out, as we all believe it will be. I talked to a senior executive of one of the major pharmaceutical companies last week and they said early April or the end of May everyone that wants it will get it. We could be set up for a really big comeback for consumers next year.

National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay: This Is A Great Time For Innovation

July 11, 2022
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to Open NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show

In a press release issued today, the National Retail Federation (NRF) announced that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote at the federation’s 109th annual convention.

Microsoft has supported the NRF’s annual convention for over 20 years, leveraging their IoT, cloud, data, AI, modern workplace and mixed reality solutions to help retailers digitally transform and embrace intelligent retail.

“At NRF 2020, we’re bringing together the brightest and most influential leaders from around the world who have a clear vision for the retail industry’s future,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Satya Nadella will kick us off with an inspiring session on how Microsoft’s success is built around a purpose-led culture and business model.”

Other notable speakers include:

Mastercard President and CEO Ajay Banga

Hudson’s Bay Company CEO Helena Foulkes

Sam’s Club President and CEO John Furner

Crate and Barrel CEO Neela Montgomery

Nordstrom Co-President Erik Nordstrom

Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2015-2019) Paul Ryan

Additional details for sessions and speakers at NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show can be accessed here.

Complimentary registration is available to editorial members of the news media and discounted registration is available to accredited retail analysts. For more information, visit the NRF 2020: Retail’s Big Show media registration page.

About NRF
The National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, passionately advocates for the people, brands, policies and ideas that help retail thrive. From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., NRF empowers the industry that powers the economy. Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP and supporting one in four U.S. jobs — 42 million working Americans. For over a century, NRF has been a voice for every retailer and every retail job, educating, inspiring and communicating the powerful impact retail has on local communities and global economies.

February 2, 2020
Google Takes Page From Microsoft’s Playbook, Targets Retail Cloud Market

Google has used the National Retail Federation’s annual conference as a platform to unveil its latest efforts to gain retail cloud customers.

Amazon may be the dominant cloud player, but Microsoft and Google are both working to chip away at that lead. One area, in particular, that Amazon is vulnerable is in the retail market. Many retailers are reluctant to rely on the cloud giant, with whom they often compete with for online sales. Microsoft has made headlines lately with a focus on the retail market, emphasizing partnership with retail customers, rather than competing with them.

Google appears to be taking the same approach, improving their retail-oriented features in the hopes of continuing to be an appealing alternative to Amazon. According to a post on the company’s blog, Google has expanded its Retail Acceleration Program (RAP).

“That’s why we’re excited to expand our Retail Acceleration Program (RAP) to a broader set of customers in 2020. RAP is a services offering that helps retailers optimize their websites, build a unified view of customer data, and drive increased foot traffic. Today, we’re also expanding the availability of Customer Reliability Engineering, a white-glove service that helps retailers plan and execute flawlessly during their peak shopping seasons. Customers such as Kohl’s, Wayfair, and Shopify have already turned to Google Cloud to help them stay worry-free during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”

Google is also using its position to help retailers provided a unified experience for customers.

“Retail customers are becoming more and more “channel-less” in their shopping. It’s imperative, then, to provide a consistent experience for customers as they move between channels in their shopping journeys. Our Google Cloud API Management for Retail solution, powered by Apigee, allows retailers to easily integrate the systems that power different sales channels, providing a more unified shopping experience for customers.

“Retailers struggle with the real estate that bulky computer servers take up in their stock rooms, and also face challenges in centrally managing all of their server applications. Today, we’re piloting Google Cloud Anthos for Retail, which helps retailers streamline and modernize their store operations. Rolling out more broadly in 2020, Anthos for Retail enables retailers to consistently deploy, configure, and manage applications across their fleet of stores at scale—without sacrificing performance or reliability.”

With Google a distant third among U.S. cloud providers, behind Amazon and Microsoft, it will be interesting to see if the company’s retail efforts yield results.

February 2, 2020
Microsoft Gaining Ground As Retail Cloud Alternative To Amazon

According to a report by Bloomberg, Microsoft is increasingly positioning itself as the cloud vendor of choice for retailers seeking to avoid Amazon, as well as more generalized software vendors.

The software giant has been rolling out a number of cloud tools and services designed specifically for the retail market. Microsoft has had tremendous success in this market, as many retailers want to avoid relying on software made by their primary competitor, Amazon.

“A key part of our offering is that we partner and we don’t compete,” Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President, Global Retail & Consumer Goods, told Bloomberg.

One such feature that has come from that partnership is one that allows Teams users to use their phones as walkie-talkies for in-store communication. Microsoft is quick to point out, however, that features such as this one have value far beyond the retail environment.

The end result of this focus has been some large, high-profile defections from competing products to Microsoft. Ikea, for example, has already moved 70,000 employees from Slack to Teams and “plans to have the rest of its 165,000-person workforce on Office 365 cloud software and Teams by the end of spring.”

As Bloomberg points out, Microsoft’s stature in this market is turning heads. CEO Satya Nadella is scheduled to speak at the National Retail Federation’s annual show next week, “underscoring how significant the industry is to Amazon’s biggest cloud competitors.”

January 11, 2020
Kroger CEO: How We Compete for Software Engineers with Facebook

Kroger and all retailers are fast becoming tech companies and thus have the difficult task of competing with companies like Facebook for top tech talent. According to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, one of their secrets to recruiting software engineers is the promise of more responsibility quicker than anywhere else.

Rodney McMullen, Kroger Chairman and CEO, reveals how Kroger competes with Facebook and the tech world for software engineers at NRF 2019, Retails Big Show:

How Kroger Competes for Tech Talent

In terms of the number of employees, I think you will have the same number but the skillsets will be a lot different. If you look at digital, for example, we have 500 people in our digital team. Within 2-3 years we will have a thousand. With software engineers, it is a completely different type of talent. Yes, we compete with (Facebook). It’s kind of fascinating.

It’s important for people to eat. It’s important for people to eat things they like. If you come to Kroger you are able to help people get exactly what they want when they want it. You get immediate feedback on something that is incredibly important. If the customer likes it you see it immediately. If they don’t like it you see it immediately. So you get great feedback.

More Responsibility Quicker Than Anywhere Else

I always tell people when we are recruiting them, I guarantee you that you will have more responsibility quicker than anywhere else. We have 25-year-old and 30-year-old people running $100 million and $200 million businesses.

On a couple of tests that we have going on right now, we have two interns that actually did the software work to get it in place. When their internship finished they went back to college and kept working with us to finish the project they worked on. It’s one of those things that you get a tremendous amount of responsibility incredibly fast.

The Future of Retail

I think the store will be multi-purpose. I think about one of our bigger stores. It wouldn’t surprise me if you had a small warehouse in the back of that store. You will use the same footprint, but half of it may be a physical store that is an experience space, half of it will be more warehouse efficiency space.

January 15, 2019
eBay Enterprise Hits New Sales Milestone

eBay announced that eBay Enterprise clients have hit the $1 billion sales milestone. This is across over 6,500 stores, 42 brands, and three continents.

eBay merged Magento with eBay Enterprise just over a year ago. They’re showcasing their solutions at the National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City this week.

eBay Enterprise counts Ace Hardware, Shoe Carnival, Destination XL, and Designer SHoe Warehouse among clients who have successfully deployed its store fulfillment solutions.

The company says, “Store fulfillment is also a growing trend outside of the U.S. For example, international retailers Tiger of Sweden and Peak Performance among others have increased the number of stores enabled with Ship-from Store by 47 percent and order volume increased by 108 percent over 2013 volumes.”

eBay Enterprise offers a cloud-based “ship-from store” feature that includes full inventory visibility, and allows retailers to offer physical store inventory alongside warehouse inventory.

“Store fulfillment solutions like Ship-from Store and In-Store Pickup give online consumers access to inventory across stores, distribution centers, and even suppliers to deliver goods at the best possible speed and cost while preserving the best possible margin for brands and retailers – boosting sales, enhancing the consumer experience and improving customer retention rates,” said eBay Enterprise President Craig Hayman. “Adopting omnichannel strategies like this will be critical for retailers in 2015.”

eBay says clients saw significant benefits from its Store Fulfillment solutions throughout the holiday season with year-over-year order volume via ship-from store and in-store pickup up 34% and sales up 54% from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday in the U.S.

Image via eBay

January 13, 2015
Back-To-School Shopping Spending To Increase In 2014

According to the National Retail Federation, back-to-school spending is expected to reach $26.5 billion in 2014 for grades K-12, with the strongest trends in growth coming in the electronics and school supplies categories.

The consumer survey results, received on July 1 by the National Retail Foundation from Prosper Insights & Analytics, show that planned spending is up in every category, even with the increase in consumers shopping online and the increase in the number of families who will wait until the last two weeks before school starts in order to take advantage of back-to-school deals.

Families are expected to spend $670 on average this back-to-school season, up five percent from last year. $212 of that $670 is projected to be spent on electronics, such as mobile devices and laptops, which is up from $199 in 2013. $101 is projected to be spent on school supplies—such as notebooks, pens and pencils—which is up from $91 in 2013.

But according to a study completed by Ebates.com, a coupon and cash-back website, parents and their under-18 students don’t always see eye-to-eye on what constitutes the most important purchase.

For teens, the must-have purchases in the technology category include headphones (mentioned by 52 percent), a smartphone (43 percent), a laptop (36 percent), apps (26 percent), and a tablet (24 percent).

For parents, the must-have purchases in the same category for their children were the same five items but in a different order: Laptop (33 percent), headphones (29 percent), tablet (29 percent), smartphone (20 percent), and apps (17 percent).

Ebates.com notes, “When it comes to their most important priorities for back-to-school shopping, 87 percent of parents and 68 percent of teens agree that traditional classroom items such as notebooks, folders, pens and pencils and school clothes are at the top of the list. While other back-to-school staples like book bags or backpacks are also considered critical items by both parents and teens, the Ebates.com survey discovered that 1 in 10 parents (14 percent) include surprising must-haves like immunizations and new haircuts on their checklist.”

The National Retail Federation notes that teenagers in today’s age wield major influence over what items they’ll ultimately end up with when going back to school. Teenagers plan to spend $913 million of their own money on back-to-school purchases this year and more than 1-in-10 parents with high school students say that all of their back-to-school purchases are influenced by their children.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

August 10, 2014