I believe 2020 will be the year we begin to break up the silos. We have been functioning in siloed environments for too long in technology, process and the organization. It is time to take a more holistic approach, break down the silos and approach the problems with a unified commerce approach for people, process and technology.

What causes me the most agita is the political situation in Washington. We are passing through some of the most turbulent times since the Cuban Missile crisis and nobody seems to notice. I hope for all our sakes we wake up before it’s too late.

The most significant takeaway from the NRF 2020 Big Show was a sense of cautious optimism as we proceed into 2020. There was also a sense of reality, as retailers and consumer brands tackle the needs of the empowered and digital-first customers. The prevailing theme with the technology providers was to take it back to the basics and focus on the fundamentals of meeting the challenges of the retail industry.

Instead of leading with how artificial intelligence, cognitive, machine learning, Watson, and Einstein computing will change the world, there were practical use cases showcased by Salesforce, Intel, SAP, etc., which demonstrates how embedded these technologies are within the core retail merchandising, customer experience, and supply chain functions.

As retailers and brands look to drive top-line growth, all while reducing and optimizing their cost structures, they are depending on their consulting and technology partners to help solve real-world challenges.

Sometimes we get caught up in all the fancy stuff that is out there. Over the last year or so, we have always been talking about technology. But are we missing the most important trends?

What is the consumer looking for? Consumers will continue to have less time and more options in their life. The desire for convenience and simplicity will only get stronger. Those retailers who recognize this and adapt, either through technology or in other ways, will be the winners.

Thanks for sharing your insights, George. Glad to hear the overall tempo of the event was upbeat and that retailers – and suppliers/partners were not living in fear. Somewhat surprising that adjectives like “disruptive” were not voiced because for those retailers trying to operate with establishment (traditional) rules, the game is changing before our eyes. Let’s hope the optimism expressed at NRF translates to renewed energy and innovation across the retail sector.

It’s an election year, and in election years the party in power always does whatever it can to ensure a good time is had by all … at least until November. So I suspect there is a fairly pragmatic “old school” reason to be cautiously optimistic. That said, we do have an impeachment hanging in the air and half the country won’t like the verdict, no matter what it is. We also face the possibility of an extension of our apparently endless military engagement in the Middle East and our foreign policy with respect to Russia remains a joke. And add to that Tweet Knows What happening on the trade front. Any or all of those could easily combine to create a crisis in consumer/lender confidence. As the election draws near we will also have lots of talk about niggling issues like the deficit and the national debt which may impact people’s faith in the economy. And if the Democrats do succeed in ousting the President, they have almost all promised to put the brakes… Read more »

I am finally hopeful for retail — hopeful that we will finally begin to leverage the value of bricks.

It won’t be easy, though. Many retailers are in bad situations from a decade or so of using “fight Amazon” as a strategy. In fact, I heard surprising whispers from one of the retailers that had be praised heavily for the success in their anti-Amazon fight but thrived because of macro-forces, not their strategy.

Let’s build on that. Now that it’s clear how many problems there are with an all digital strategy, let’s get focused on building on bricks while smartly using digital to create a competitive advantage.

While many of us in the retail industry are seemingly preoccupied with global and domestic politics, the American consumer is not. Now that middle class wages are finally growing at a significant pace, unemployment levels are steady around 3.5 percent and taxes remain at the same or even lower levels for both retailers and their shoppers, the environment is right for retailers to smartly invest in both technology and their associates. More than the economy, the more vexing challenge for retailers centers on the “paradox of choice” they encounter at shows like NRF with so many dynamic technologies. Picking the right, sustainable solution, one which is designed to both better serve their shoppers and be accompanied by cogent business models, is a daunting task. Many retailers I talk to are simply hesitant to commit to a specific solution or direction, believing it could be antiquated in just a few years with something faster, cheaper and more comprehensive. What is clear is that these difficult decisions must be made if the retailer hopes to stay in… Read more »

What was inspiring to me at NRF this year was retail winners clearly recognize data as a strategic asset, are investing heavily in talent and tech, and embracing the responsibility of owning (creating) new IP, competencies and even new business models.

It was also evident that traditional retail leaders that are making big bets in their “digital transformation” and demonstrably breaking away from the competition, may well be leaving more data and analytic impaired laggards in the dust in 2020.

Nice to know this was a theme: “It was also encouraging to see technology vendors take a more practical approach to the challenges faced by their customers.” Hype has been rampant in recent years, but I expect many retailers are fatigued by ill conceived promises of transformative tech to address the huge challenges in the retail landscape over the past few years. Practical, measurable and timely steps are what most retailers need today, especially around how to best apply and scale AI and other advanced analytics. It’s truer today more so than ever: you can’t manage what you can’t measure and a business model in flux is not easy to work with. I expect to see a lot retailers take parallel paths to get their data houses in order, while at the same time moving on AI use case opportunities with an eye on learning and scaling. Also theme-wise, the whole cloud to on-prem IT strategy seems to be taking hold as it becomes clearer the advantages of a hybrid strategy. Not long ago we… Read more »