NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A record turnout at last week's NACStech conference in Nashville, Tenn., bodes well for an industry facing increasing competition from techno-savvy retailers like Wal-Mart.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based mass merchant laid down the gauntlet several years ago by initiating a host of technological advances designed to create efficiencies in its own supply chain. Now, several years after the dot-com bubble burst and sent chills down the spines of retailers delving into technology, those same retailers have re-emerged, having tested the [image-nocss] waters or launched backoffice and scanning efforts.
The retailer turnout [at NACStech] is the highest it's ever been, said Greg Gilkerson, president of Professional Datasolutions Inc. (PDI), Temple, Texas. Retailers have embraced technology like they never have.
Officials with the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), sponsors of the annual event, said the 1,400 attendees represent a record high both in overall attendance and in attendance by retailers.
Retailers such as Tony Harris, vice president of IT services for Thornton's Inc., Louisville, Ky., said his company has derived a lot from market-basket analysis pulled from store sales data. These benefits included the ability for executives to create their own reports versus having to wait on a custom-designed request, the real-time analysis and most surprisingly, the end-user acceptance.
The growing acceptance of technology by everyone from employees to consumers is something retailers must watch for the future, according to Teri Richman, senior vice president of research and public affairs for NACS. In a session on self-service technologies, she noted studies pointing to the growing consumer interest in self service. We introduced self checkout with pay at the pump, she said, noting a personal belief that the c-store industry needs to develop its own version as retailers like grocery stores and big-box merchants offer the service with more prevalence.
Richman said developments that include websites, digital photo kiosks, music download options, financial services devices are all elements of this self-service craze. In her concluding remarks, she gave the group several predictions: Checkout options will continue to be the most popular self-service option deployed by retailers; mobile technology will replace kiosks as the preferred way for shoppers to get information and interact with retailers; and the ability to introduce one-to-one marketing will be an important byproduct of self-service technologies.
On the trade show floor, retailers who want to deploy wide-area networks (WANs) found new options. Many suppliers have teamed up with network providers to offer a turnkey approach. In one case, digital camera and loss-prevention provider Michael Upp, vice president of marketing for Westec Interactive Inc., Irvine, Calif., shared a booth with managed network supplier Amanda Cecconi, vice president of marketing for Cybera, Nashville, Tenn. The partnership tied missing pieces together for retailers.
Today, lower-cost WANs have allowed people to envision expanded uses of things like digital data. For Upp, the vision lies in using digital images to go beyond security and into the realm of consumer behavior and market-basket analysis.
Similar networking and device-based suppliers present at NACStech included CBE Inc., Montgomery, Ala., and Fusionpoint Technology Solutions, Macon, Ga.
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