Expanding Retail Channels at CCRES
The 2011 Cross-Channel Executive Summit (CCRES) event brought more than 100 retailers, analysts and technology vendors together to the Four Seasons Troon North Resort on September 28-30 for three days of high-level networking and information gathering. Highlights from the summit include:
An opening keynote speech by Mike Relich, CIO for Guess, a multi-brand, multi-channel tier-one retail operation that is doing some advanced things with Facebook and social media data.
Melissa Chin, chief information security officer for VF Corp., who explained that while it was not possible to completely lock down the mobile channel for m-commerce, new security tools to help are evolving rapidly.Nikki Baird, managing partner for RSR Research, did double duty as both the moderator of an eye-opening panel featuring Gen Y students and alumni from the University of Arizona, and as the chief research analyst exploring findings from the 2011 RIS/RSR Cross Channel Tech Trends Study.
Todd Michaud, vice president of IT for Focus Brands, who explored best practices in using social media for personalized marketing.
And four retailers were honored with 2011 RIS Fusion Awards for executing high-performance initiatives that successfully fused IT and business strategies: Chico’s FAS and Starbucks in the Cross-Channel Innovation category (tied), Urban Outfitters for Cross-Channel Customer Experience and Von Maur for Cross-Channel SMB.One interesting element this year was an invitation-only, closed-door pre-event session attended by 20 retailers who gathered to discuss the need for
retail solutions providers to become more customer-centric to their retail clients and partner with them to adapt to fast-moving omni-channel shifts. The session’s goal was to create a Digital Directives Manifesto. There’s more information at www.digitaldirectives.org Scenes from CCRES 2011: From top: Kenneth Silay (left), director, store technology, accepts the 2011 RIS Cross-Channel Innovation Fusion Award for Chico’s FAS from RIS Group Editor-in-Chief Joe Skorupa; Lisa Ferguson, senior functional analyst, accepts Starbucks Coffee’s Innovation Fusion Award from RIS Publisher Dave Weinand; Demo Lymberopoulos, executive director of operations, Anthropologie, accepts the Customer Experience Fusion Award for sister company Urban Outfitters; and Wayne Varilek, director of IT at Von Maur, accepts the SMB Fusion Award. At bottom, Millennials’ shopping secrets were revealed during the Cross-Generational Consumer Panel, with a focus group that included students from the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing at the University of Arizona and University of Arizona alumni.
