I had the opportunity to walk a show in Las Vegas called GlobalShop.

Imagine a show
about half the size of the New York International Gift Fair dedicated to store design,
fixtures and point-of-purchase displays. There were countless ideas for a retailer, not to
mention a couple of complete store examples. There was also a full conference schedule
with educational sessions on retail trends, merchandising, branding and new
technologies.

For example, there was a session titled “5 Biggest Challenges for Retail in the Next 5
Years “. “The past five years were some of the most turbulent in retailing history.
Consolidation ruled, mighty Wal-Mart struggled, the Internet became just one of the
guys, and just about anyone could find money to open a new store. All the while, U.S.
shoppers sat on the sidelines. Wendy Liebmann will take you on a ride to the future: New
channels, new shoppers, new competition (hint: the British are coming)--a whole new
shopping world. Are you ready?”

Presentations spotlighting digital signage and scent marketing were part of the
conference program at GlobalShop. The three-day conference series will include over
twenty distinct sessions and feature insights from top executives, design specialists,
retailing experts, branding strategists, researchers and marketers from leading design,
retail and marketing companies. This year’s event also had a special Digital Signage Day
that devoted an entire day of conference sessions to digital media techniques and
strategies.

I doubt that many, if any, of the independent retailers from our industry attended this
show/conference. That’s sad because you can bet their big box competitors were
attending. As our Retail Advisory Board talks about in their Driving Dollars to Your
Doorstep seminars, without good visual merchandising, having great product won’t make
a retailer successful. You have to wonder how we can transfer some of the show’s
resources into our industry.