From The Editor | November 3, 2016

Sneak Peek At IRT Retailer Innovation Awards

Erin

By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1

We just wrapped up our inaugural Retailer Innovation Awards, and we could not be more excited to unveil the Winners and Finalists in a special report Matt Pillar’s penning for our January/February 2017 issue. To say that the number of thoughtful nominations far exceeded our expectations is an understatement — they were riddled with actionable data and quantifiable results from best of breed retailers both large and small. The competition was fierce, but we think you’ll agree that our Winners earned the title.  

Throughout October, we invited IRT subscribers to nominate the most entrepreneurial and groundbreaking retailers in critical areas of business transformation, including omni-channel retailing, customer engagement, in-store operations, WFM/HCM, loss prevention, and supply chain/fulfillment — and their use of retail technology to drive growth and innovation. Each category had clear winners and some pleasant surprises.

Since Matt’s penning the report, and since I won’t reveal the winners (you’ll have to read the issue when it hits your mailbox early next month!), I checked in with him for a sneak peek to share with you. Here’s what he had to say:

 “With the winners chosen, the challenge at hand is to whittle these lengthy nomination questionnaires down to a suitable size for print, without leaving any value on the cutting room floor. I’m really encouraged by the effort our nominators put into these submissions. The winning entries are more than just flashy and innovative applications of technology—they’re chock full of the measured benefits of that innovation."   

Watch your mailbox and www.InnovativeRetailTechnologies.com next month — we think you’ll like what you’ll read. And with NRF BIG Show around the corner, schedule some time to stop by the IRT booth (#3782) to pick up an extra copy of the issue and to talk to the IRT team about the Retailer Innovation Awards. We’d love to hear your thoughts and to explain our plans to grow the program next year.