2013 Elective Sessions

The Changing Retail Adventure

Elective Session Schedule

Be sure to check back often, as we will be continually adding more exciting sessions!

Super Sessions

The Super Sessions will be a process combination of an: elective session, panel discussion, round table, birds of a feather and demonstrations.  Short presentation will be made by selected panel members, other IRUG associate members, with a topic focus - from a different perspective. The panel will also feature retailers and an outside expert. There will be three Super Sessions for 2013.

Toshiba Super Session

Specialty Super Session
 
The Challenges Facing Specialty Retailers (this session will not repeat)
Specialty retailers face tough competition from other retailers who offer a differentiated brand or shopping experience, and from e-commerce. Come hear how specialty retailers are transforming their stores and enabling a more personalized, cross-channel shopping experience to attract and retain customers.

Moderator:
Fredrik Carlegren, Senior Marketing Manager, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions
Panelists:
Lisa Nemeth, VP, Store Solutions & Enterprise Collaboration, Bed Bath & Beyond
Nigel Shortt, Head of Delivery - Retail, Boots
Perry Kramer, Vice President, Boston Retail Partners, LLC

Bricks and Mobile: The Reinvention of the In-Store Shopping Experience
This interactive panel of industry experts will address the mobile consumer; revitalizing the customer experience, and managing mobile information anywhere, anytime. Managing on the move gives customers on-demand access to product information as they shop, and provides merchandise pricing and availability to satisfy customer demand. Retailer and shopper mobility drives measurable results from the warehouse to the sales floor to merchandise in the hands of the customer. More and more retailers are recognizing the importance of the mobile channel to increase customer loyalty.

Moderator:
Andrew B. Morris, Principal, InCode
Panelists:
Dennis Blankenship, Managing Principal, Retail Solutions, Verizon
Martin Dempsey, Senior Director of Information Technology, J. Crew
Steven Moore, Front End Team Leader, The Hershey Company
Ben Sprecher, Manager of Geo-Commerce Emerging Platforms, Google
Erik Vlugt, Vice President, Product Marketing, VeriFone

The Changing Supermarket
Like other retail verticals, grocery retailers are dealing with changes in how their customers shop.  The front end of our stores is the most expensive department to run both from a personnel and hardware/software perspective.   New trends in mobile payments not specifically EMV; updates on eWIC, traceability, FIM, GS1 stacked barcode, coupon processing & fraud prevention, promotion tracking and connection to CRM are just a few of the topics addressed in this Super Session.

Moderator:
Rob Weisz, Director, Retail Systems, Bizerba
Panelists:
Jeff Cowan, Industry Development Director, GS1 US
Axel Doerwald, President, Invatron Systems Corp.
Aaron Roberts, Founder/CEO, Q-thru
Jack Wong, Software Architect, Safeway, Inc.

This track was devised to provide a facility for technical education.  Based on your feedback, the following 5 technical education classes will be offered:

The Future of Payments EMV 101

Let’s discuss how it all comes together: EMV, NFC, QR, e-wallet, mobile in the payments enterprise and now the retail enterprise addressing Finance, Marketing, store operations and IT. This is more than adding a key on the cash register for payments. Complexity timelines and integration has to be carefully and strategically thought about such as testing & certifications. What are some of the industry challenges outside your control: Credit Cards networks, Debit Card networks, Government regulations? What is your strategic positioning to address business objectives and deliver the right architecture? A brief presentation followed by round table discussions will help you in your future endeavors.

Stephen Braceland, President, CEO, STJ Retail

Mobile Device Management

With all the new mobile devices being connected to your networks, find out how to best manage security with business needs. Learn techniques to manage updates and monitor devices. Pick up tips on what to look for in MDM applications and solutions.

Hector Meza, Principal Technical Architect, Motorola Solutions, Inc.

Mobile Application Development

Hear the latest information on new mobile application programming techniques. Find out what skill sets are in demand and how to find people to best match those skills. Learn what's coming in the future and what to watch out for when developing mobile apps.

Neil Girard, SI GUI Lead Developer, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions

4690 v6r3

Learn about the latest 4690 OS version, how to migrate from where you are, benefits, and voice your suggestions for future releases. Connect with the people who can make it happen!

Alan Hutchinson, Certification & Technical Education Lead, Toshiba

4690 Problem Determination/Troubleshooting

Find the most efficient ways to troubleshoot issues with your 4690 environment. Pick up tricks and features you may not know yet. Ask questions of experts and voice suggestions for future updates. Hear from fellow 4690 users and make new connections.

Lorraine Bratcher, Technical Sales & Marketing Support, Toshiba

Attendees of the education sessions will receive proof of their participation through receipt of a certificate issued by the International Retail Users Group. Not only will you be come back to the office with new information from the conference, by attending the educational sessions you will also have gained knowledge which will provide immediate value to your organization!

Data Driven Promotion at the POS - the Time is Now

The time has finally arrived where the integration of mobile and POS can deliver a targeted, relevant offer can be delivered to the right customer at the right time.  In this session, CEOs from two frontrunners in targeted promotion delivery, Sparkfly and Capillary Technologies will present their offerings and the potential that they have to increase sales per customer.  Attendees will have an inside track on understanding the potential of this game changing technology.

Thad Peterson, Principal, Mobile Commerce, InCode

How Always-On Mobility is Changing the Way Customers Interact with the Retailer

This forward-thinking discussion will be centered around how retailers should leverage mobile and enabling technologies to better interact with their customers. The topics we will address will address how smartphone and tables, mobile POS, interactive Digital Displays, location based services and connectivity solutions will dramatically change the retail experience.

Michael Hess, VP, Retail Consulting Services, Qualcomm

In-Store Multichannel CRM Technology at Tommy Hilfiger

We will review how Tommy Hilfiger invested heavily in new CRM technology in-store. This awards-winning technology integrates Tommy Hilfiger stores in over 20 countries, franchise partners and the e-commerce platform. It is common that franchise partners use different IT systems making integration a challenge. Tommy Hilfiger has achieved higher average spending per customer and improved customer loyalty. New in-store technology facilitates customer data, traffic counting and sales data.

Jakob Gottlieb, Director, Business Development, ID24

Bas Spierenburg, Director, CRM, Tommy Hilfiger Europe, BV

 

Interact with your Consumers Through Proximity, Presence, and Analytics
What would it be worth to your business if you could:1)Communicate personally with shoppers in your store, 2)Tailor the engagement to the individual, 3)Align shoppers’ on-line and in-store experiences,4)Optimize your store network for in-store tasks and consumer interaction, 5)Use analytics to optimize and refine the shopper experience, 6)Locate individuals within the store, 7)Offer context aware assistance, 8)Never be out of stock

Ed Weiser, Principal, Retail Solutions, Motorola Solutions, Inc.

"Mobile Mall" Puts your Stores in the Customers Hand
'Mobile Mall' enables any merchant, retailer or brand to connect with large numbers of mobile consumers in their local area through various touch points and helps drive additional sales. The solution provides businesses a complete set of tools to connect with, create and manage mobile campaigns, deals, offers, loyalty and rewards to a subscribed mobile consumer.

Michael Sachar, Director Enterprise Accounts, MobileBits

The Customer is the Point of Sale
In the near future the traditional point-of-sale and the checkout lane as we currently know it, will likely be obsolete. Mobile technology and a renewed focus on the customer experience has changed retail forever. The future of POS is now in the customer’s hands – literally – as smartphones and tablets revolutionize the point-of-sale. In this session, Boston Retail Partners presents the findings from the recent 14th Annual POS Benchmarking Survey: Customer Point-of-Sale (cPOS) of top North American retailers. This survey, combined with the practical knowledge gained from assisting hundreds of retailers with mobile POS implementations, will offer insight into the benefits and challenges retailers face as they implement the technology and process changes necessary to adapt to this new customer point-of-sale (cPOS) model.

Perry Kramer, Vice President, Boston Retail Partners, LLC

The Future of Coupons: What It Will Mean to You
The coupon industry is changing rapidly. This session will cover the the state of couponing today - what works and what doesn't work - and identify emerging trends and technologies that are changing the industry. We will also discuss the practical implications retailers should consider to ensure successful adoption of these new couponing vehicles and platforms. Finally, we’ll look ahead at the exciting and game-changing technologies coming in the months and years ahead.

Ben Sprecher, Manager, GeoCommerce Emerging Platforms, Google

The Future of Shopping – Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond
Every twenty-one seconds, 750K YouTube videos are watched, 250K items are shared on Facebook, and 35K tweets are posted on Twitter. Last year, 1 million people subscribed to Pinterest; today that number is over 30 million.

Today’s news is tomorrow’s trash; this is especially true as the 'consumerization' of technology continues to accelerate. Consumer’s expectations are rapidly evolving; they are more informed, empowered and demanding than ever. As a result, the retail shopping experience will need to change to meet these smarter consumers.

In this session, we'll explore the impact that technologies are having on consumer expectations and the future of shopping. What will we be talking about next year?

Scott Duby, IBM Global Retail Executive, IBM Corporation


What Technologies are Savvy Retailers Investing In?
The Consumer Technology that is useful to enhance their retail experience is increasing at an increasing rate.  Retailers are faced with the challenge of deciding what technology they need to invest in to attract consumers to their various channels.  This presentation will provide examples of how some of these technologies are being leveraged, as well as recommendations of which ones retailers should invest in, as well as which they should avoid.  Examples given will be international retailers, that have made some of these decisions and implemented them in their marketing channels.

Andrew Jacobs, VP, Business Development, Entertainment Systems, Omnico

Steve Thomas, CTO, Omnico

Where Mobility and Wireless is Heading
Mobility and Wireless - where are we now and where we are going. While retail legacy wireless systems are nearing their end of usefulness, demand for better wireless solutions is on the rise at every store in your chain.  With new technology that includes POS mobility, customer facing applications and web based functionality, the in-store shopping experience is changing rapidly.  How do I upgrade my system with budget and time constraints?   What is the ROI for upgrading?  How can I leverage and replace existing infrastructure to get more bang for my buck?  How is the future of mobility going to help me with target marketing, customer experience, and productivity, applications, while balancing safe and secure payments?

Gene Bradley, Director of Channel Sales and Business Development, Spencer Technologies

John Haddigan, Director of Retail Technologies, Spencer Technologies

Cash Management Options - from the Store Front to the Bank

Focus on how changing technologies are allowing retailers to consolidate cash handling. Technology allows reduction of time and effort to manage cash at the front and back of the store.  Focus on how these technologies are also allowing retailers to implement no touch strategies where cash is handled only by the consumer and cash in transit (CIT) companies freeing associates to provide a better customer experience.

Joe Janick, Global Director of Retail Payment, MEI Group

Integrated Traceability in Fresh Foods

This session will provide an update on how GS1 US is working with various fresh food sectors to improve supply chain visibility, traceability, and food safety by driving adoption and usage of GS1 Standards in real world business operations.

Jeff Cowan, Industry Development Director, GS1 US

Introducing IT Practices and Innovations Developed In-House by a Retailer

Trial Company, Inc. operates more than 150 supercenters in Japan and Asia with annual revenues of $3.5B, growing at more that 20% pa. We attribute much of our success to the IT innovations developed in house to provide a high level of service and products for our customers. Sean will discuss an Android-based mobile solution for retail store employees that enable better labor efficiency and better communication.  Also, he will discuss big data from a retail perspective, focusing on computing and analytics as enabled by internally developed SMART technology.

Sean Nishikawa, CEO, Trial Retail Engineering, Inc.

Leveraging the Payments Infrastructure to Support Today's & Tomorrow's Retailing

The retail landscape is under pressure to address changing business and technology requirements.  Consumers are demanding a more robust and well rounded shopping experience while your competitors are changing strategies.  And, security and regulation issues are continuing to evolve and become more complex.  Is your payment system positioned to adapt? From EMV,  PCI compliance and Durbin to Omni-channel convergence and the mobile wallet war, Bob Koscheski, Vice President of Solution Consulting at ACI Worldwide, will address these and other factors as you craft your payment system to be flexible, cost efficient and positioned for growth.

Bob Koscheski, Vice President, Solution Consulting, ACI Worldwide

Synchronizing Pricing Data & Promotional Engines with Open Scales

This is the power of the PC Based scale, not the hardware technology that is expected to be first in class today, it’s the ability to integrate the best app(s) to improve workflows where it matters most, in front of the customer so they think the store they are shopping in is the best experience out of all the choices they have in today’s environment.

Rob Weisz, Director, Retail Systems, Bizerba

Toshiba Sessions

A Smarter Front End- Your Gateway to Improved Store Profitability  

Learn about new and updated store solutions that help uncover and reduce a wide variety of losses in traditionally hard to control areas of the store. These are areas that can dramatically impact profitability and include perishables losses, poorly executed promotions, pricing issues, and cashier fraud. We will discuss a variety of impactful tools available today to address these areas and truly make your front end smarter.

Robert Banker, Solutions Sales Executive, Toshiba

Wayne Truhan, NRSC Services Principal, Toshiba

 

Building a Comprehensive Mobile Commerce Experience 

Mobile commerce is emerging as a serious force in the retail industry. Merchants and brands are facing the greatest marketing opportunity since the rise of online shopping and digital advertising. The shopping experience now begins long before entering the store: A consumer can digitally clip coupons, receive personalized offers and manage loyalty rewards – all in their mobile wallet. 2013 will see tremendous growth in the adoption of mobile wallets, as the Isis Mobile Wallet™ and others roll out. Hear from Jim Stapleton – Chief Sales Officer for Isis – about the vision for mobile commerce and what it means for retailers.

Jim Stapleton, Chief Sales Officer , Isis

 

focus on the shopper and all else will follow: inside Toshiba's design+innovation labs

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions’ design+innovation labs not only designs hardware and software solutions, but also engages with clients as an advisor and partner beyond point-of-sale and technology in the areas of shopper experience, front-end layouts, and human factors engineering. Within the retail environment, experience design is about form, space, technology, and, especially, people – the interactions between shoppers and employees. More than ever, understanding how technology and business process decisions will affect your shoppers and employees is absolutely critical for delivering a premiere front-end experience.

Dr. Jeff Smith, Toshiba

 

Let's Get Personal: Maximizing Consumer Loyalty Through Highly Targeted Promotions

Promotions and loyalty management continues to be a major pain point for retailers in the fight for consumer attention and loyalty. In this session you will first receive an update on the development roadmap and investment focus for PLMS, Toshiba's promotions and loyalty management solution. Then you will hear a first-hand account of how one retailer has successfully partnered with TGCS to deploy PLMS and is using it to create and execute highly targeted promotions.

Ken Duffy, WW Offering Marketing Manager, Toshiba

Connie Shirah, IS Project Manager, Harris Teeter, Inc,

 

Leverage Consumer Research and Technology to Ensure a Winning Customer Experience 

Get updates on some of the latest IBM consumer research and better understand today's more sophisticated customers. Find out what and where customers learn about your stores, your brands, and their shopping experience in your stores. Find out what some retailers are doing to measure, manage, and improve the in-store customer experience and what that has meant to their bottom line. See how to view your stores through your customers eyes, and why it is so critically important given the tendencies of today's shoppers.

Robert Banker, Solutions Sales Executive, Toshiba

Wayne Truhan, NRSC Services Principal, Toshiba

 

Redefining Retailing - Point-of-Commerce Ushers in New Era for Stores

Are you ready to redefine retailing by turning the store into a seamless extension of your omni-channel experience? Allowing consumers to shop seamlessly across touch points inside and outside store... yeah, that's about to become the new normal. No longer is the fractured customer experience created by separation between omni-channel commerce and the POS acceptable. It's time to start thinking of stores as a true portal for commerce rather than a channel for sales - it's time for Point-of-Commerce. Come explore how Toshiba's announcement will usher in a new era in commerce... and help you deliver differentiated value to your customers.

Fredrik Carlegren, Senior Marketing Manager, Toshiba

Store Without Walls: How Mobile Bridges Physical and Electronic Commerce

The buzz surrounding mobile solutions - from 'M-commerce' to 'Mobile Payments' - in retail has heightened dramatically over the past year and retailers of all segments are taking note. How does a retailer choose what to do and what will the road to adopting these technologies look like? Come hear what retailers are saying about the motivators and imperative to adopt these technologies as well as ways they plan to integrate them for maximum efficiency while delivering business value.

Ken Duffy, WW Offering Marketing Manager, Toshiba

 

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Portfolio Overview

The announcement of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions combines the strength of Toshiba TEC and IBM Retail Store Solutions and includes proven technology installed in the top global retail establishments – including world-class hardware, software, services and application solutions capabilities. This session will introduce the expanded solutions portfolio from the combined footprint of Toshiba TEC and RSS – enhancing the company’s ability to deliver innovative solutions to retailers globally.

Alan Outlaw, VP of Commerce Technologies, Toshiba

The Fast Changing World of Payments

The payments landscape worldwide is changing at an increasingly dramatic pace, causing challenges for Merchants aiming to ensure their solutions maintain currency with technology and consumer advances whilst also achieving the increased regulatory compliance demanded by Banking network providers and card schemes such as EMV with a shift of fraud liability. In addition, momentum builds for an emerging generation of Mobile Payment solutions from players in various industries - internet/technology, banking, telecom and others. Merchants find themselves with new opportunities and choices while having to adapt to these new requirements and capabilities. Come hear how the trends in payment industry are impacting retail and understand how merchants globally have responded to these requirements.

David Beer, Retail Store Solutions Sales Manager, Toshiba United Kingdom

Kirk Goldman, Strategy and Business Development Executive, Toshiba

"Unchanneled" – A Future of Commerce without Constraint

For the 2015 consumer, channels exist only as a memory and brand interaction is pervasive. Come explore how shopping will evolve over 2, 5, and 10 year horizons as consumer touchpoints proliferate and expectations for a seamless experience rise. Also hear how some retailers are anticipating and driving this evolution, giving their consumers the power to shop where, when, and how they want.

Tadd Wilson, Senior Managing Consultant and Business Development Leader, Toshiba

Mobile 
Mobile Apps – Why and How 
Mobile Marketing Techniques 
Mobile Coupons 

Customer Experience 
Social Media 
Future of Consumer Behavior 
Use of Smart Data for Customer Satisfaction 

Toshiba Feedback 

Cloud Computing 
Making the Cloud Work 
Architecture for the Future 

Payments 
EMV 
Mobile and Alternate Payments 

Security 
Coupon Fraud 

Techie Talk