The Biggest Surprises From NRF 2019

Retail experts knew what they were walking into this year at the industry’s marquee event, NRF 2019. Robotics, massive digital signage and anything and everything related to the major buzzwords like “customer experience.”

Still, there were some less publicized technologies that caught the attention of attendees.

Small screens might not be noticeable by customers from blocks away, but nothing at this year’s event was more engaging when someone actually went up and handled one. These tablets allowed users to customize retail items, experiment and get an e-commerce experience within a brick-and-mortar environment. From the retailer’s perspective, data tracking on these devices will provide valuable insight about what products are popular and what they can do to encourage people to view more items.

An area that shined at NRF but won’t necessarily get direct attention from consumers is the software and technology that retail stores will use to run their distribution centers and warehouses. Ultimately, these dividends will pay off in the form of a more reliable and consistent customer experience, but the purpose of many of these technologies is to streamline fundamental business processes.

B2B companies had some of the most innovative and proactive solutions at the show, and that is an exciting prospect for retailers who are in constant need of products and services that can increase efficiency to compete with e-commerce giants like Amazon.

Walking NRF with Melissa Gonzalez and Nicole Leinbach Reyhle

MarketScale called upon two of the industry’s most prominent thought leaders to give us a tour of the floor so we could walk away with the most important insight from Retail’s Big Show.

Melissa Gonzalez, CEO and Founder of The Lionesque Group, and Nicole Leinbach Reyhle, Founder of Retail Minded gave us an all-access look at this year’s event. The two told us what their favorite exhibits were, what trends became evident and what their favorite emerging technologies were.

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