Magazines Archives - 2008 March

Green was the dominant colour of the 97th National Retail Federation (NRF) Annual Convention & Expo, held in January 2008 in the US. Senior correspondent Joan Bergmann files the following report from New York.

GREEN, of course, is shorthand for identifying environmental issues that affect retailing — from energy conservation to store design and packaging. But feeling green, or even ill, also describes concerns over the US economy.

Many, if not most, attendees at the recent National Retail Foundation 2008 Annual Convention & Expo (NRF 2008), the 97th to be held in the US, could attest to a relatively poor Christmas selling season in 2007.

Even the luxury segment of the market felt the effects. What was also on the minds of the NRF 2008 conventiongoers were prospects for the year ahead, including the looming possibility of a recession, the weakness of the US dollar, the paltry number of new jobs being created, and the crisis in the housing sector.

Of major concern, too, is the credit crunch, attributed predominantly to the US sub-prime mortgage-lending business and its subsequent effects on the nation’s housing market and the resulting slowdown in new-home construction and sales, along with the rising unemployment rate and the soaring prices of petrol and home-heating oil.

NRF chief economist Rosalind Wells, who had forecast a 4% sales increase for general-merchandise retailers last year, is predicting a 3.2% increase in US retail sales in the first half of 2008 and 3.8% in the second half.

One notable aspect at NRF 2008 was the near absence of RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology sessions or demonstrations.

For at least three years, RFID was the buzz word of the convention, promising all sorts of fancy benefits, from the faster movement of products through the supply chain and better inventory management to the ability to identify slow- and fastmoving items by SKU, colour, size, price and such, as well as improved abilities to curb inventory shrinkage.

Wal-Mart in the US and Metro of Europe, two major retail companies to embrace RFID technology, seem to have slowed down their demands for suppliers to be RFID-ready at a time when suppliers are complaining about the costs and slowness in realising this technology’s benefits.

The ‘green’ theme shone through presentations by Wal-Mart, LL Bean, Best Buy, REI, Kohl’s and the city of Chicago, and in the Green Pavilion of the expo hall.

A concurrent trade show with more than 600 exhibitors saw vendors focus on new technologies for retail use. This trade show included an entire level designated the NRF Design Studio at the Javits Centre exhibition hall. The whole floor was dedicated to sessions and exhibits of retail design, and lighting trends and solutions.

NRF reported that its 2008 event drew a record high of over 18,000 visitors. The highlights of some of the BIG Show seminar sessions are featured in this special review.