Tens of thousands of retail professionals will converge at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show at the Javits Convention Center in New York City this Sunday through Wednesday, January 17-20. The seminar agenda focuses more on operations, merchandising, marketing, and especially customer service than it does on loss prevention, but it’s an opportunity for LP professionals to see what the trends and predications are for the future of retail.
A look at the agenda finds a lot of topics around big data, omni-channel, analytics, data security, and other hot topics in retail. A few that may provide some insights for the LP attendee include the following:
• “Think Like a Bad Guy: What’s at Stake for Your Organization?” An executive from Hewlett-Packard will discuss issues around cyber threats targeting retailers.
• “In-Store Analytics: How to Organize Internally for Maximum Impact.” This panel discussion with executives from VF Corporation, Sunglass Hut, and RetailNext will look at integrating in-store data to benefit the entire enterprise.
• “It’s Not ‘Big,’ It’s Complex (An Outsider’s Perspective on Retail Data).” A former director of strategy in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Intelligence will speak about the benefits of embracing complex data.
• “What’s Next? Retail 2025 – Research from IBM.” Everyone is interested in what thought leaders, especially from major corporations, see as the trends that will drive retail in the future.
Apart from the seminars, the expo hall will feature hundreds of retail suppliers, both small and gigantic, exhibiting wide-ranging products and services that may impact loss prevention. A number of exhibitors will be familiar to loss prevention professionals, including Axis Communications, Checkpoint, ClickIt, FireKing Security, The Retail Equation, Tyco, and Verisk Retail, as well as others who supply retail security and asset protection solutions that may be new to LP.
One loss prevention director who regularly attends the Big Show explained that he uses the opportunity to walk the expo hall with peers inside his company from operations, finance, and other areas as a means to discuss integrated technology applications, an opportunity that he doesn’t get at normal LP industry events.
Another benefit of visiting the expo hall at the Big Show is that the exhibitors often bring additional personnel from their company who may not normally attend an LP-specific event. This can give LP professionals the opportunity to talk directly to product development, engineering, and C-suite executives from their current or future solutions providers.
To preview the agenda or see who is exhibiting, visit bigshow16.nrf.com.
