NRF BIG Show 2010: 160,000 Square Feet Of Optimism
We're bundling up for next week's NRF BIG Show in New York, and we're hoping to see you there. Integrated Solutions For Retailers and Retail Solutions Online will be in booths 465 and 2618. Stop by either booth early on your journey through the exhibit hall and pick up our guide to this year's must-see show exhibitors. Meanwhile, visit our BIG Show Resource Center at www.retailsolutionsonline.com/solution/nrf for continuing coverage.
This year in particular, we're looking forward to the revelry of the aptly named BIG Show. As an industry, we need a rallying point to build on a tough (but better than expected) close to the holiday season, and there's no better time and venue than January in the Big Apple.
Though the curtain has yet to fall, a few naysayers and pessimists from the vendor community are already questioning attendance figures and bracing for lots of tire kicking but few buying cues. I know plenty of those pessimists, but I know more optimists, more folks who know that if they're going to make something happen this year, they need to leverage the catalyst that next week's event creates.
More importantly, I know plenty of optimistic (perhaps guarded, but optimistic) retail execs who are going to the event and looking forward to working the aisles. Two tough years have worn away at the duck-and-cover mentality that caused retail CIOs to avoid the exhibition hall at all costs during the thick-budgeted years. Many of the retail C-levels I've talked to are frank about their needs and their budgets, and emboldened by the new pragmatism of retail tech and operations spending. Note to the vendor community: the flash might draw them in, but with the exception of a finite few there's not much stomach out there for flair. Our audience is looking for solutions that enable measurable operational efficiency first, and those that help them keep and grow their customer bases second.
Stay tuned to www.retailsolutionsonline.com before, during, and after the show for news and analysis. Channel-specific coverage of the event will also be available at our sister –site, www.bsminfo.com.
See you at Javits!