Takeaways from NRF- The Super Bowl of retail technology

The National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show was in New York City last week. It was bigger, better and more well attended that any previous NRF. The show covered the entire Javitts Center with an array of companies from the biggest players in the industry to some of the newest niche companies. If you wanted to cover the entire show and attend some of the educational seminars it took at least two full days. These are some of the key takeaways I got from my two days at the show:
• CRM and Customer loyalty is a top priority from most retailers this year
• Omni channel integration – allowing the customer to order and interact with the retailer in the store and online
• Increase your ability to communicate with your customer on their mobile devices
• Offers that are tailored based on a customer’s past purchases
• More in- store customer engagement using digital signage
• Ensuring that your POS system will be EMV (Europay-Master Card-Visa )compliant by October 2015
• PCI Compliance to protect your system from a data breach
The PCI and EMV compliance are absolute musts from any retailer. My next top priority would be to enhance your ability to communicate with your customers on their mobile devices. This will also provide the double benefit of increasing customer loyalty. Retailer can longer avoid the ubiquitous smart phone that people check over fifty times a day on average. There here and not going away, so learn how reach those customers before, during and after they visit your store.