OPENING KEYNOTE

The Shopper-Centric Enterprise

Keynote Speaker: Bill Pryor, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Shoebuy.com

The co-founder and chief operating officer of giant Shoebuy.com, Bill Pryor, explains how the world's largest marketplace for shoes and accessories built a fast-growing retail model completely centered on the shopper. In just 11 years Shoebuy.com has grown to offer a million SKUs and shoes from 1,000 brands representing $4 billion in inventory, Learn why and how Shoebuy.com makes customer service and satisfaction its top priority, with speed of shipping averaging less than 24 hours and fill-rate accuracy 99.7%. All retailers are multi-channel retailers today, and regardless of channel there is one constant common to all - the shopper. Here's how one company made the shopper its top priority and how it paid off with fast-growing success.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS SET #1

#1-A: "SHOPPER-CENTRIC STORE"

Improving In-Store Shopping Experience with Technology

Co-Presenters: Caroline Hogwood,
Vice President, Store Solutions,
Canadian Tire Corporation 

Linda Siksna, Vice President, Retail IT, Canadian Tire Corporation

Canadian Tire has begun a journey to create a consistently improved in-store shopping experience for both today's customers and tomorrow's (today's kids) that will be far more tech-savvy. It's a journey that involves technology but also process improvement and metrics, and equipping its employees with self-service tools that put the shopper at the center of the store. In the process Canadian Tire gained additional insights visiting a range of European retailers and studying their best practices. Come listen to this case study to learn from Canadian Tire's experience and where it's going next.

#1-B: "SHOPPER-CENTRIC INTELLIGENCE"

Improving Customer Relevancy through Shopper-Centric Intelligence

Speaker: Scott Zucker, Vice President / Merchandising, Family Dollar Stores Inc.

Growing wallet share from shoppers is getting increasingly difficult for retailers as a result of the rapid and fundamental change in consumer spending. Fortunately, before the downturn reached full speed, Family Dollar initiated a merchandising transformation aimed at dramatically improving its customer reach and relevancy. Learn how Family Dollar leveraged the four "P's" (Price, Promotion, Product & Place) to drive positive results during one of the most challenging economic environments in a generation.

#1-C: "SHOPPER-CENTRIC CHANNELS"

Social Media across Channels

Speaker: Leeann Fecho
Marketing Manager, Email & Social Media, Follett Higher Education Group

In this case study you will learn how Follett Higher Education Group, the nation's largest college bookstore operator, is moving closer to a multi-channel management platform for e-mail, social media, SMS and more. The company's objective is to create the strategic foundation upon which it can build out its social media efforts with minimal human resources, while retaining a high level of oversight. Attend this session to gain insights into the strategic thinking behind this process.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS SET #2

#2-A: "SHOPPER-CENTRIC STORE --
It's Not a POS, It's a Point of Interaction

Speaker: Sherwin Socaransky, Vice President, Merchandising and Store Systems, New York & Co.

New York & Co. delivers a streamlined checkout experience that aids associate productivity, increases customer satisfaction and aligns with a move from a product transaction approach to a customer-centric model . Learn why New York & Co. developed an RFP with 2,000 system requirements and why it tested at least half of them before sealing the deal. Also, you will hear why taking an innovative approach to POS and leapfrogging the competition enabled it to move to a scan-based coupon/customer identification system that supercharged the retailer's ability to meet exploding customer demand for promotions, offers and deals and better understand the voice of the customer.

#2-B: "SHOPPER-CENTRIC INTELLIGENCE"

Raise Your Performance IQ with the Right BI Dashboard

Speaker: Maura Hart, Vice President, Information Technology, Winn-Dixie Stores Inc.

Every retailer has tons of data and generates many reports, but the trick is to transform executives from being passive readers of these reports into power users who pull actionable insights out of easy-to-use dashboards. When you create the right dashboard training is reduced and speed to performance improvement is accelerated.

#2-C: "SHOPPER-CENTRIC CHANNELS"
Cross-Channel Merchandising

Speaker: Janet Sherlock, Vice President & CIO, Carter's Inc.

What do shoppers want? The marketing and buying teams answer this question by stocking specific products, but the rest of the merchandising team makes sure the overall plan is executed at the highest possible level. It is more important now than ever before align these functions within the enterprise and across channels.

"MASTERS WORKSHOPS" (3 concurrent "deep dive" workshops)

The Masters Workshops: Our three Masters Workshops that follow will be topic-specific, solution-oriented workshops led by industry experts. The workshops are designed to provide senior-level technology and business team members with breakthrough insights and analysis of their business IT needs. The workshop format is designed to help participants build a network of peers facing similar challenges who will share their solutions.

Workshop #1: SHOPPER-CENTRIC STORE

TOPIC: Store Systems as Competitive Advantage

SPEAKER: Dale Linebarger, Former Sr. Vice President & CIO, AAFES

In this workshop you will discuss and gain insights from peers on how store systems can provide you with a competitive difference from other retailers. Led by Dale Linebarger, former senior vice president and CIO with AAFES, the discussion will focus on the point of sale application, as well as other store systems from price check stations to product information terminals. Survey results from the RIS News 2010 Store Systems Study will also be incorporated to inject industry benchmark findings into the discussion.

Workshop #2: SHOPPER-CENTRIC INTELLIGENCE

TOPIC: Shopper Marketing

SPEAKER: Michael J. Haaf, Former Sr. Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Strategy, Food Lion LLC

Marketing is the art and science of identifying, capturing and growing profitable customers. In this workshop you will gain insights into how to define that process in an actionable manner looking at research, segmentation, targeting, positioning, marketing mix, execution, measurement, feedback and control. Led by Mike Haaf, the recent SVP of sales, marketing and business strategy with Food Lion LLC, you will gain an understanding of what these terms mean in a "shopper marketing" context.

Workshop #3: SHOPPER-CENTRIC CHANNELS

TOPIC: Adapting to the Rise of the Mobile Shopper

SPEAKER: Jim Crawford, Executive Director, Global Retail Executive Council (GREC)

With 50% of US consumers projected to carry smartphones by 2012, retailers are facing a mobile revolution: shoppers armed with product, price and competitive information from their homes to the store shelf. Hear how retailers around the globe are transforming their customer experience and discuss with peers and experts ways your company can embrace the new strategic paradigm of mobile retail. 

DAY ONE CLOSING KEYNOTE

Three Keys to Setting IT Strategy and Bottom-Line Success

Keynote Speaker: Patti Reilly-White, Sr. Vice President & CIO, Darden Restaurants

By focusing on three critical factors -- consumer insights, emerging technology and business strategy --  Darden creates a corporate IT strategy that helps it achieve bottom-line success. In today's closing keynote session Patti Reilly-White, SVP and CIO at $7.2 billion Darden Restaurants, will share a vision that has helped position Darden as the largest full-service restaurant company in the world. Darden owns and operates 1,800 restaurants under such brand names as Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52. In this session Reilly-White will reveal major lessons learned from integrating multiple brands while maintaining the uniqueness of each division, developing and implementing a highly customized POS, and rolling out an advanced remote management system.

Cocktail Reception / Networking Center

Day Two Keynote

20th Anniversary Edition: RIS News / Gartner Retail Tech Trends Study (Highlights & Discussion)

Speaker: Jeff Roster, Research VP, Industry Market Strategies, Retail & Wholesale, Gartner

Speaker: Joe Skorupa, Goup Editor-In-Chief, RIS News

After two decades of analyzing retail tech trends, the 20th anniversary edition of the benchmark study takes a deep dive into the impact of the economy on IT strategy, customer-centricity, multi-channel retailing, PCI compliance, POS, self-service, workforce management, business intelligence, mobile commerce, social networking, and more.