Jeff Roster, a retail technology analyst with Gartner, talked about the technology forces driving retail — social media, mobile, Big Data and the cloud — at RetailROI’s Super Saturday event in New York preceding the NRF Conference.
The NRF Conference, held each January in New York, attracted 27,600 attendees this year, up from 25,500 in 2012.
At its booth, Motorola demonstrated a POS-based imaging scanner that can scan 2D bar codes and mobile coupons.
Motorola also demonstrated its Concierge touchscreen kiosk that can call up promotions and videos, as well as send information to a shopper’s smartphone.
Also at the Motorola booth, Scopix showed how its video analytics system can identify inventory gaps and send alerts to employees to fill them before they become ongoing out-of-stocks.
Richard Mader, former executive director of the Association of Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), and now a part-time consultant, discussed Big Data at the ARTS booth with SN.
Nirup Krishnamurthy, chief information officer for A&P, gave a presentation at NRF on how he is revamping the chain’s IT systems in support of its turnaround.
Speaking at an NRF panel discussion on challenges associated with payment systems: from left, Natan Tabak, senior vice president, Wakefern Food Corp.; Steve Rempel, group vice president of application development, Safeway; and Dean Sheaffer, senior vice president, financial services, Boscov’s Department Stores.
Jason Benish, vice president of pricing and strategic initiatives for Roundy’s Supermarkets, described at an NRF presentation how the chain is using price optimization.
At its NRF booth, Datalogic displayed its next-generation scanning system that moves products through scanning at least three times as fast as a conventional system.
Speaking at NRF on how Metro works with Dunnhumby Canada on a highly effective loyalty program, from left: Marc Giroux, chief marketing and communications officer, Metro; and Marc Fischli, choef operating officer, international markets, Dunnhumby Canada.