TVB Goes To NRF
The NRF (National Retail Federation) held its annual conference in New York City from Jan. 10-12, 2010.
Peter Schmid, TVB’s Senior VP – Marketing, was in attendance. Here is his report.
There was an air of optimism among the 15,000 registrants during the three day retail conference. Featured
speaker Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, said “the economy today is measurely better
than it was a year ago, and it will be measurably better than this a year from now.” He also said that that the
most significant indication of this is job growth. Zandi expects growth somewhere around 150,000 jobs per
month. A panel of speakers credited last year’s stimulus package for this improvement, saying that the package
is reflected in retail sales. Zandi also said that “core retail sales for Christmas 2008 were down 4 percent. This
December showed a 1 to 2 percent recovery form 2008 and Christmas 2010 should see growth of 3 to 4
percent.” Spending on clothes was strong in December, with even high-end stores like Saks and discounters like
TJ. Max and Marshall’s who had the best showing with 14% gains in same store sales.
Other NRF sessions included Marketing and Brand Management, moderated by Zain Raj (CEO, Euro RSCG)
and featuring Darren Marshall (VP, Global Customer and Shopper Marketing, Coca-Cola). Marshall drew a
distinction between marketing to shoppers and marketing to consumers. “Consumers buy benefits but shoppers
seek occasions,” said Marshall. Another heavily attended session featured JCPenney’s VP/Corporate Social
Responsibility James Thomas. He described how Penney’s remodels its stores by going “green.” In past years,
he said, remodels have been traditionally been to refresh the store layout, launch new branding and jumpstart
sales. Today, remodels are a great opportunity to improve profitability by increasing energy efficiency and
capitalizing on the benefits of recycling programs. Such remodeling allows the retailer to respond to the
marketplace trend of “going green.” Karen Meskey, Macy’s SVP/Store Planning, explained what Macy’s is
doing to be prepared for the recovery and how consumer preference data is helping Macy’s to make the right
design decisions.
The conference featured all the latest technology that retailers hope will engage a consumer in the selling
process. Featured technology included Target’s touch screen displays that will allow the consumer to choose
different styles and colors, sophisticated scanners reporting more relevant information about the consumer and
stored in data bases, the use of social media (Facebook and Twitter), etc.--all in the hopes of reaching the
important 15- to 24-year-olds. Some retailers are encouraging shoppers to share their buying experiences via the
social media. However, retailers still feel the need of traditional media in the support of its marketing strategies.
Other sales ploys include the use of “pop up stores” and mobile stores. It seems that these venues are making a
good impression with shoppers. Other technologies included the rapid distribution of merchandise to stores
based on product need and price point.
Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the NRF. Later this quarter, TVB and the NRF will discuss ways in
which we can participate in its anniversary celebration. Initial thoughts centered on the role of broadcasting in
retail marketing campaigns throughout the years. We will keep you apprised on these discussions.