Retail Scene: Retail Executive Summit Redux

Industry leaders brainstorm in the desert at third annual RIS event

RIS News hosted its third annual Retail Executive Summit March 28-31 at The Boulders Resort outside Scottsdale, Arizona. Achieving 100 percent attendee showing from registered retailers, the event brought c-level brainstorming to one of the most serene and exotic desert locales in the Southwest.

Attendees represented over 65 major North American retail companies, as well as sponsors, industry research analysts and Wall Street analysts. The event was packed with networking opportunities across the usual spectrum of activities, from topic table lunches to session breaks, a moonlight dinner and exceptional golf on the The Boulders course.

Summit attendees, many returning from previous years, came to hear the thought leaders both from within their industry and beyond. Industry analysts Kate Delhagen, vice president, retail research, Forrester Research, Jim Crawford, vice president at Retail Forward and Lyle Ginsburg, partner at Accenture provided their insights on cross-channel marketing, new realities in retail and RFID respectively. Delhagen was joined by an outstanding panel of multi-channel retailers representing Recreational Equipment Inc., The Bombay Company, eBags and CVS.com.

The Summit has been such a success in its first three years that we are now expanding to a second Summit event in the Fall. This year's will take place September 28 — October 1 at the Turnberry Isle Resort in South Florida. For information on attending, you may contact Tracy Tynan at [email protected]; 973-252-0100 x319, or visit www.risnews.com.

We have editorial coverage of the March Summit throughout this issue.