by Glynn Davis, Retail Systems, 20/01/20
Retail’s Big Show, organised by the NRF, rolled into New York City last week, showcasing the latest technologies in the sector.
by Glynn Davis, Retail Systems, 20/01/20
Retail’s Big Show, organised by the NRF, rolled into New York City last week, showcasing the latest technologies in the sector.
Now that the holiday shopping season has come and gone, it’s time for retailers to evaluate how well their technology held up in 2019 and what is needed to ensure a seamless experience in 2020. With major disruptions to the retail industry continuing to unfold, retailers will need to continue fighting for each and every visit to their physical and digital stores. To do so, they need to trust that their technology will work to keep things running smoothly and efficiently. The last thing retailers need is for their technology to let them down and risk jeopardizing their coveted customer relationships.
The Impact on Sales Is Real
New Ideas and Trends Revealed at Retail's Big Show
While the rumblings of the retail apocalypse have been growing louder this past year, retail was alive and well during NRF’s 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show this past week. This year’s conference was record-setting, with 40,000 attendees from 100 countries visiting New York to discuss the critical industry issues, technology innovations and workforce changes that will be impacting retail this year and beyond.
Partnership with CLEAR®, New Client Roster and New CRO To Support Continued Growth and Enhance Focus on Customer Service
KWI, the pioneer of real-time cloud technology for luxury and specialty retailers, today announced new and improved innovations to its robust Cloud POS platform, which are designed to help retailers better manage their businesses and create extraordinary customer experiences. These improvements will be showcased at the KWI booth (#5355) during the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show in New York City, January 12-14, 2020.
We’ve made it through the end of another year, another holiday retail season and another decade. 2019 may go down as the year the retail apocalypse came to fruition, with chains like Barney’s, Forever 21, Payless and American Apparel shutting down, contributing to the more than 9,300 stores expected to close by the end of 2019, according to Business Insider. Despite this, estimates for the holiday season are forecast at $143.7 billion, a 14.1 percent increase from last year, according to Adobe.
At KWI, our focus has always been on providing the best customer experience.
Through our strategic investments and partnerships, we continue to provide innovative solutions that enable retailers to manage their businesses effectively and efficiently.
We’ve developed an innovative demo with CLEAR® to provide an easy, quick and secure way to verify your identity by using your biometrics – unique characteristics like your face, fingerprints and eyes.
2020 is the year to create personalized experiences and raise the bar to meet your customers wherever they are, in-store, online and in-home.
KWI was the first to introduce Retail to the cloud over 3 decades ago. Today, the platform continues to utilize the cloud for a seamless omni-channel experience with POS, Merchandising, eCommerce, CRM, and Loss Prevention all powered from a single database.
Join us at NRF’s Big Show at Booth #5355. During this year’s event, we are excited to be showcasing these new and improved innovations to our already powerful platform:
It’s go time for retailers as the holiday season kicks into high gear. With Black Friday the last day of November, there are six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so retailers have started Black Friday deals even earlier than normal and have even more on the line. According to Cowen retail analyst Oliver Chen, “"We're in a very strong consumer environment. If you're having difficulties, what does it mean for the future?" Morning Consult Economic Intelligence currently holds at 110.2 — close to its highest measure in a year and above the 100 line that divides positive from negative impressions of economic outlook.
But before holiday shopping officially begins, many other retailers made headlines this month. Alibaba’s Singles Day on November 11 beat Amazon’s Prime Day sales within an hour of being live, generating $13 billion in sales. Reports came out that luxury reseller The RealReal had sold counterfeit merchandise, calling into question its authentication process. And lastly, LVMH announced it would purchase Tiffany for $16.2 billion, the largest ever in the luxury sector, giving LVMH more access to the US market and helping Tiffany in Europe and China.
Here’s what else caught our eye in November:
Once again the retail industry is gearing up for the holiday season. Wondering what kind of holiday season it will be? The National Retail Federation expects holiday retail sales during November and December to increase between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent over 2018 to a total of between $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion. PwC’s 2019 Holiday Outlook reports that Black Friday is now more symbolic than significant with almost 50% of shoppers waiting until after Black Friday Week to complete their shopping.
What’s notable is that the winners this holiday season and beyond will be the ones that are combining technology, personalization and in-store services in new ways to drive customer acquisition and increased customer lifetime value. As we approach 2020, it’s about the ability to meet customers wherever they are, in-store, online and in-home.
Stories about technology, personalization and in-store services that caught our attention this month:
Investing in an intuitively designed POS can have a direct impact on your revenue. Read on to find out more.
KWI offers a complete commerce solution for specialty retailers. Our cloud-based technology powers all the solutions you need to create unified customer experiences. It is a Point of Sale, Merchandising, eCommerce, CRM, and Loss Prevention solution, all from a single database.
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