Integrated technology is on display throughout the exhibition halls at the National Retail Federation’s BIG Show in New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center January 15–17. On-shelf availability, product visibility, customer experience, associate management, and, yes, asset protection—all are included in solutions provided by hundreds of companies both large and small.
ClickIt’s Jim Paul is talking to retail attendees from operations, IT, marketing, and loss prevention about their patented Virtual Line Up video application that identifies shoppers as well as offenders without privacy issues so retailers can measure frequency and duration of visits, monitor movements and suspicious activity, differentiate between associates and guests, and receive alerts for potential problems.
Research scientist and entrepreneur Manuel Davy, founder and president of Vekia, is one of ten French technology startups invited to the BIG Show. Vekia’s software uses machine learning to analyze data from divergent sources inside the retail enterprise–as well as outside sources such as social media–to optimize the retail supply chain with more precise sales forecast, inventory management, and store replenishment inform,ation.
Zebra Technologies announces their SmartSense™ for Retail asset visibility solution that combines RFID, video, and an innovative micro-location capability to identify and track the location and movement of merchandise, shoppers, and employees in a retail store in real-time. The technology is meant to help retailers achieve optimal stocking levels, detect and identify misplaced merchandise or assets, pinpoint theft, and enhance store promotions and product placement activities.
Seen Walking the Floor
Despite the tens of thousands of attendees at the BIG Show, a few familiar faces show up along the way:
- King Rogers at the Axis booth making sure his nephew, Hedgie Bartol, is behaving.
- Stuart Levine of The Zellman Group chatting with Tom Rittman at the Retail Equation booth.
- Bloomingdale’s Chad McIntosh visiting a few vendors before sitting on a panel with Axonify.
- Kevin Lynch chatting up visitors at the Tyco booth.
- Chilean Jorge Nazer, founder of Grupo ALTO, with CEO Jorge Encina and US Country Manager Cristian Lopez checking out North American retail.