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Tuesday, June 10

• Retailer Session: Bang for Your Buck
Tuesday, June 10
2:30 pm —  3:30 pm



This retailers-only session reveals insider techniques on negotiating with technology vendors. When you’ve chosen the technology that’s right for you, how do you craft a price,SLAs and a contract?  Ken Brame, noted IT leader from AutoZone, Bass Pro Shops, and Service Merchandise, leads a roundtable discussion on selection solutions, contracting for them, making your skinflint CFO happy.




Speakers:
Ken Brame, former CIO, AutoZone

• Vendor Session: Five Ways to Get Closer to the Retailers of Your Dreams
Tuesday, June 10
2:30 pm —  3:30 pm

You’ve got a terrific product. You’ve taken out a booth at a trade show. You’re advertising. Are these the way to win the hearts of retailers? Nope. Our veteran vendor analyst leads a roundtable discussion on the new ways that savvy technology marketers are messaging their products, getting in front of retailers, and making the sale


Speakers:
Jeff Roster, Gartner

• Extending the Store Experience Online
Tuesday, June 10
3:45 pm —  5:00 pm



Build-A-Bear Workshop has delighted kids and adults with its imaginative take on stuffed friends. Now Build-A-Bear has extended the brand with an online virtual world where kids can bring the Build-a-Bear Workshop animals to life and interact with them. Chief Information Bear Dave Finnegan talks about the concept, the execution, and the intersection of technology and operations that brings this world to life.




Speakers:
Dave Finnegan, Chief Information Bear, Build-a-Bear Workshop

• Summit Welcome Reception
Tuesday, June 10
5:00 pm —  6:30 pm

Wednesday, June 11

• Networking Continental Breakfast
Wednesday, June 11
8:00 am —  8:30 am

• Destination Retail: Virgin Entertainment
Wednesday, June 11
8:30 am —  9:15 am



Virgin is the sprawling empire of Sir Richard Branson, serial entrepreneur and business visionary. So Virgin Megastores could not be ordinary record stores. Virgin Megastores’ CIO Robert Fort joins us for an inside look at Virgin, and the intersection of technology and operations, and Virgin’s reinvention of its industry after the music era crash.




Speakers:
Robert Fort, CIO, Virgin Mega Stores

• Assessing Store Performance
Wednesday, June 11
9:15 am —  10:00 am



Just how well are your stores doing, anyway? Are you making progress against out of stocks? Is your loss prevention posture improving? Are the right people working in the store when needed? Our panel of retail leaders provides perspective on measuring how well your store are doing, and suggests metrics to use when you get back home.




Speakers:
Bob O’Hern, VP, Information Systems, Ritz Camera
Alan Barnett, former SVP, Merchandise Planning and Information Systems, Barney’s
Janet Sherlock, CIO, Calico Corners
Jeff Kish, CIO, Stage Stores
Marc Millstein, Principal, RetailConnections

• Get Closer. Sell More.
Wednesday, June 11
10:00 am —  10:45 am



In-store coupons. Branded loyalty and credit cards. Sweepstakes. Experiential Web sites and portals like Second Life. New technologies make it easier to be visible to customers, but retailers are still feeling their way. Our panel talks about what retailers are doing to replace traditional methods of boosting sales, and the potential to get closer to customers in the process.




Speakers:
Cathy Hotka, IT/Relationship Diva, Cathy Hotka & Associates
Calvin Hollinger, CIO, Urban Outfitters
Marshall Andrew, CIO, Station Casinos
Steve Pinchuk, VP, Profit Optimization Systems, SAS

• Networking Refreshment Break
Wednesday, June 11
10:45 am —  11:00 am

• Digital Natives and Retail
Wednesday, June 11
11:00 am —  11:45 am



Digital natives – those people under 25 who could type before they could write, are writing a whole new retail story. They believe in Facebook, cellphones, tattoos, iTunes, eBay, flexible schedules, and credit. They want to work on their own terms. They crave international travel. And they have definite opinions on what the retail experience should look like. Our panel shares tips on how to appeal to this free-spending audience. One hint: don’t email them.




Speakers:
Mike Relich, CIO, Guess?
Calvin Hollinger, CIO, Urban Outfitters
Samantha Murphy, Associate & Web Editor, Chain Store Age
Robert Fort, CIO, Virgin Mega Stores

• COOLEST! Innovative Interactive Applications that are Changing the Retail Game
Wednesday, June 11
11:45 am —  12:30 am

Innovating retailers are providing customers with ways to interact with merchandise in inventive and lucrative ways. Our power panel talks about eye-popping innovations, and new directions that customers are taking the retail experience, and the daring new technology deployments that are having an impact.


Speakers:
Greg Buzek, President, IHL Consulting
Tony Briggs, VP of IT, Payless Shoe Source
Dave Finnegan, Chief Information Bear, Build-a-Bear Workshop
Alan Lipson, Retail Industry Solutions Manager, Hewlett-Packard

• Lunch – Topic Table Discussions
Wednesday, June 11
12:30 am —  1:45 pm


1. Choosing & Using POS: Should the investment be on better serving the customer or providing more functionality for the retailer? Can the two be mutually supportive?
2. Return Fraud: Success stories & horror stories. How can the battle be fought more strategically?
3. Handling Peaks/Surges in Customer Demand: Planning ahead for predictable seasonal demands, and being agile when demand is unexpected such as pre-hurricane shopping surges or un-anniversaried sales.
4. Biometrics (alternative payment/ID methods): Do consumers want it? Do retailers need it? What demographics are most inclined to accept this method and what retailers are best-suited to adopting it.
5. PCI/Security: The card companies suggested some safety measures that are a good first step – but some retailers say they can’t achieve them. We’ll discuss the safety of information about customers, and store associates, in the store.
6. Hiring, Firing & Inspiring: Do you have a formal training program? What is the objective of it? Do you customize it to different departments? What should training do for the trainee? What should it do for the company?
7. Loyalty & CRM: How can you leverage your CRM to build customer loyalty? How can you make it work in your organization? Learn how to simplify the use of all of that data.
8. Workforce Management: What does your strategy look like? How would you improve your current workforce productivity systems?
9. Inventory Integrity: How many times in the last three years have you re-worked your basic in-stock systems? What would be on your technology, operations or information systems wish-list to improve this aspect of your business?
10. Linking the Point of Purchase Transaction to Better Benefits: Can technologies such as data mining, RFID, and self service kiosks link to the point of payment so that it evolves into an integral component of the transaction process for the customer? As a retailer, what would be on your wish list if you had access to a broader range of customer purchase data?

• Task Management
Wednesday, June 11
1:45 pm —  2:30 pm



Retailers know what makes up a great store, but getting from the idea to the execution can be problematic. Some retailers struggle to achieve consistent, cost-effective execution, and they must balance ambitious plans with associates’ workloads. Our panel tackles the challenges of building an environment that has the right product in stock at the right time and displayed in a pleasing and sales-inducing manner while providing superior customer service via informed store associates, across the chain.




Speakers:
Ken Brame, former CIO, AutoZone
Ron Baker, Director of IT, Payless Shoe Source
Tony Briggs, VP of IT, Payless Shoe Source
Prashanth Palakurthi, CEO, Reflexis

• Asset Management - What's in Your Store?
Wednesday, June 11
2:30 pm —  3:15 pm



As IT infrastructure continues to grow in complexity, asset management remains a challenge for many. Retailers are continually seeking asset management opportunities that not only create a competitive advantage, but positively impact the bottom line. Come see how three retailers are currently managing their assets. See the challenges they face and the solutions that have grown from their efforts.




Speakers:
Judy McGrath, IT Purchasing & Lease Manager, The Container Store
Elliott Sherman, IT Retail Deployment Lead, Office Depot
David Levitt, Senior Director, Store Systems, The Children’s Place
John Pruban, President, TekServe POS
Michele Sheridan, Asset Manager, Williams-Sonoma

• Networking Refreshment Break
Wednesday, June 11
3:15 pm —  3:30 pm

• Partnering with the CIO: The Future of IT Sales Seen Through the Eyes of Key Decision Makers
Wednesday, June 11
3:30 pm —  4:15 pm



Michael Minelli talks about the fundamental disconnect between technology companies and the retailers they would like to engage as clients. Minelli shows that the usual sales tactics used by IT suppliers are often ineffective, and suggests alternative strategies for building profitable long-term partnerships between suppliers and the executives responsible for making key purchasing decisions. Joining him with personal observations are CIOs responsible for winning IT strategies at some top retail companies.




Speakers:
Janet Sherlock, CIO, Calico Corners
Calvin Hollinger, CIO, Urban Outfitters
Michael Minelli, Author, Partnering with the CIO

• Drive Pervasive Interactions with Advanced Selling Technologies
Wednesday, June 11
4:15 pm —  5:00 pm



Traditional in-store applications such as Point-of-Sale (POS), inventory management, and replenishment systems help ensure product availability and transaction efficiency, but retailers need to complement these investments with customer- and employee-facing advanced selling technologies. Based on responses from 150 retailers across segments, this report looks at new technologies, along with revamped processes, used to create a closed-loop selling strategy that leverages customer and product insights to empower employees and provide customers with timely and relevant information.




Speakers:
Janet Sherlock, CIO, Calico Corners
Michael Minelli, Author, Partnering with the CIO

• Networking Cocktail Reception
Wednesday, June 11
5:00 pm —  6:30 pm

• Rock 'n' Bowl
Wednesday, June 11
7:00 pm —  10:00 pm

Thursday, June 12

• Networking Continental Breakfast
Thursday, June 12
8:00 am —  8:30 am

• Good News in Bad Times
Thursday, June 12
8:30 am —  9:15 am



Nothing focuses the mind like two new stores per day. As retail chains expand at the rate of a store a day or more, it is crucial to have bulletproof processes in place. Explore the blazing corporate growth phenomenon, and the operations and technical processes that fuel blazing growth.




Speakers:
Ken Brame, former CIO, AutoZone
Jeff Chasney, EVP & CIO, CKE Restaurants
Ron Baker, Director of IT, Payless Shoe Source
Tony Briggs, VP of IT, Payless Shoe Source
Bruce Ash, SVP & CIO, Dollar General

• O Canada!...Home of Retail Innovation
Thursday, June 12
9:15 am —  10:00 am


There is a wealth of new ideas to be “borrowed” from our friends in the north. Canada is home to memorable and innovative companies like Indigo Books, Future Shop, Roots, Canadian Tire, and LCBO. Come take a tour of the best retail innovators north of the border.

• Beyond PCI: Protecting Your Corporate Data Assets
Thursday, June 12
10:00 am —  10:45 am



Think your transaction data is protected? Think again. There’s a new wave of cyber threats and they can strike even at companies which are PCI-compliant, as recent headlines have shown. Nearly everyone agrees that retail needs new guidelines for data safety. Our moderator, who helped draft the original PCI standard, talks with retail data assurance practitioners about the new threat environment and what retailers can do to stay out of the headlines.




Speakers:
Edward Schwartz, CTO, NetWitness

• Hot or Not? What We Heard from Top Retailers This Week
Thursday, June 12
10:45 am —  11:30 am



Our intrepid analysts review the scoops from TOPSS and talk about the technologies and processes that have the most buzz in the industry.




Speakers:
Greg Buzek, President, IHL Consulting
Cathy Hotka, IT/Relationship Diva, Cathy Hotka & Associates
Deena Amato-McCoy, Technology Editor, Chain Store Age