This year’s Oracle Retail Exchange took place in New York from 13-16 January with a record number of delegates attending. 137 senior retail executives, from 66 companies across 25 countries convened at Le Parker Meridien to meet and discuss the issues facing the global retail marketplace, and take in the highlights of the NRF Big Show taking place at the same time.
Oracle runs the Retail Exchange programme each year, facilitating networking between an exclusive group of senior retail business and IT executives. Delegates gain access to high-level business content designed specifically for our audience, including presentations from some of the leading players in the market who share how Oracle is supporting their businesses to succeed.
As part of the programme, delegates also attend a series of exclusive events, dinners and social gatherings, and this year were taken to The American Museum of Natural History for a VIP reception, providing the focal point for the launch of “The Evolution of Experience Retailing” research.
Oracle Retail commissioned this research, interviewing consumers from Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Russia, the UK and USA, to help retailers identify what consumers really want from their shopping experiences and how they can create strategies and business priorities to meet consumer demand and compete more effectively in the global market. The results of this research are available to download on our Evolution of Experience Retailing microsite, where you can access a range of research resources including a whitepaper and an infographic showcasing the key results.
A further highlight of the Retail Exchange programme are the Store Showcase visits to New York retailers, where delegates are able to see best practice retailing in action. This year, delegates visited Deckers Outdoor’s UGG Australia store on Madison Avenue to hear about the journey Deckers is taking to develop a globally consistent consumer-direct operating model that unifies the customer experience across all touch points, streamlines operations, drives sales and improves profitability. The group learnt how Deckers is using Oracle Retail Point-of-Service, in addition to Oracle Retail Merchandise Operations Management and Oracle Retail Merchandise Planning and Optimization. Take a look at the recent press release detailing this journey.
In addition to events and visits to retailers, the Retail Exchange programme offers a rich and engaging series of presentations from Oracle customers, who share their experiences of how Oracle Retail solutions are supporting their retail businesses. This year, delegates heard from:
- Simon Russell, Director Retail Operations Development at John Lewis in the UK: Oracle Commerce: Supporting the Omni-Channel Journey at John Lewis
- Chris Mangham, CIO at M.Video in Russia: Developing a Complete Customer Experience with Oracle Commerce
- Dimitrios Bairaktaris, General Manager Merchandise and Logistics of IT from Coles in Australia: Optimising Replenishment at Coles to Improve the Customer Experience
- Jeremy Spencer, Regional Vice President Consultingat Oracle Retail EMEA; Marion Marees, Program Manager Retailbox Core, Senior Business Consultant at Ahold IM Europe; Mario Torres, Head of Delivery at Oracle Retail EMEA Consulting; and Andre Weigandt, CEO and Founder, Weigandt Consulting: The Changing Role of Oracle Retail Consulting in Supporting Customer Deployments in EMEA, with a focus on Ahold
- Frederieke Ubels, Manager IT Innovation and Feike Groen, Manager IT Architecture at bol.com from the Netherlands: Oracle Commerce – Supporting Growth, Customer Service and Market Share at bol.com
These sessions focused on how each organisation is working with Oracle Retail and Oracle Commerce solutions and the impact that each implementation is having or has had.
If you are interested in attending a future Oracle Retail Exchange event, please join our group on LinkedIn, where you can keep up to date with news and updates from Oracle Retail. This year’s attendees included:
A5, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Åhléns, Ahold, Al Nahdi Medical, AOKI Holdings, Auchan, Azizia Panda, Benetton, bol.com, Boulanger, Breuninger, Carrefour, Celio, Coles, Computer Plaza, Coop Switzerland, Darty, Dixy, Ecco, Euroset,Farmatodo, Fashion Continent, Gerry Weber, Gucci, ICA, John Lewis, Konzum, Lego, Leroy Merlin France, Leroy Merlin Vostok, M.Video, Manor AG, Marks & Spencer, Milan Zao (Izhtrading), Myer, NBTY Europe, Nilson Group, Norman Vivat, Pandora Jewellery, Peek & Cloppenburg, Pharmacor, Rewe, Rogers Communications, Scandlines, Siam Makro, SPAR Middle Volga, Sportmaster, Sprint, Teknosa, The Aldo Group, The Body Shop, The TJX Companies Inc., The Warehouse Group, TOP-TOY, Vodafone, Waitrose and WM Morrisons.