IBM ran a great session about data – did you know, 90% of all global data was generated in the last two years and that 80% of all data is completely unstructured? One thing I found myself asking was – where does your business see itself in managing data? Is it historical, real-time or predictive and how relevant is the data you collect?
An intriguing survey grabbed my attention on the second day of the show; of 28,500 people from 15 different countries, 76% of the respondents said they would welcome more communication from retailers – this has got to come as a surprise to businesses. The survey also found that customers are willing to share information about themselves, with three quarters saying they would divulge media usage, 73% willing to tell demographic information and 61% fine with sharing identifying information such as a name and an address.

Consumers between the ages of 18 and 25 would rather shop in brick-and-mortar stores for clothing and shoes, according to a study, although two thirds said they head online to do product research and price comparisons first – a fact that has been evident almost since the beginning of ecommerce. So, whilst social media plays a role in brand awareness, 88% said they opt not to shop on Facebook or Twitter.

With the growing number of selling channels, product choices and unprecedented access to information, retailers are challenged to keep pace with changing consumer buying behaviours. The omni-channel retail environment is making it more difficult for companies to meet increasing service-level expectations while minimising inventory costs and maximising margins. Solving these challenges was a huge focus of many vendors in the Expo, and is certainly the focus of our core campaigns for 2012 as a leading Microsoft Dynamics AX for 2012 Retail partner which launches virtually on 1st February this year.

Survery sponsors, K3 Retail launched survey last night at the Retail Systems Multi-channel Conference.

The synopsis can be downloaded from The Retail People site. Enjoy the read.

The event featured a great line-up of speakers, including a keynote from Asda's  Excutive Development Director. Doug Gurr, Joe Tarragano from eBay and Roz Hunt,  Head of Online for Lloyds Pharmacy. K3's own Tony Bryant delivered a great presentation on "What Does Multi-channel Strategy Mean to a Bricks and Mortar Retailer".

" This years  multi-channel summit was a very successful event, with more than 80 retailers joining us for a busy day packed with presentations and thought provoking comment around one of the most talked about topics in retailing today", Tony writes in the introduction to the post-event report written by retail journalist Gynn Davis. (Check out Glyn's blog Retail Insider.)

With our extensive background in multi-channel we are proud to have taken a lead part in the Multi-channel Retail Summit 2010, as it brought together some of the latest ideas and freshest perspectives from throughout this fast-paced industry.

• Doug Gurr, Executive Development Director, Asda Wal-Mart
• Aamir Ahmad, Managing Director, Dwell
• Tony Stockil, CEO, Javelin Group
• Richard Burrell, Director of Media Operations, QVC
• Darren Gardner, Head of New Business, Multichannel and Future Strategy, The Carphone Warehouse Group PLC
• Tamer Ozmen, Vice President, Online, Orange
• Nigel Randall, E-Commerce Systems Manager, Waitrose
• Joe Tarragano, Enterprise Services, eBay
• David Oliver, Director, CRM (EMEA), Hertz Europe Limited
• Tony Bryant, Business Sector Manager, K3 Retail Business Solutions
• Ros Hunt, Head of Online, Lloydspharmacy
• Duncan Grant, Director of Multichannel, The Entertainer

See you there!

ENGAGE will be held on the 19th of March at the Four Pillars Hotel, South Cerney, Gloucestershire. Speakers include K3 customers Digital Village, iForce  and The White Company. We're also very excited to have as partners for this event Agiles, Cenium, Equisys, Handpoint, Lanham Associates, LS Retail, Microsoft, Miracle , Protouch, Servebase, SmartFundIT, SQL Perform, TargIT and Toshiba.

Being the kind hearted souls they are, the K3 Marketing Team has worked hard to make sure the cost is lower this year, and they've also come up with a 2For1 deal.  All the information can be found on the event microsite. Feel free to get in touch with them about coming along.

Suppliers handPoint and Protouch signed up early to the free event, keen to take the opportunity to inject some positive thinking back into the collective 'retail conscious'. We look forward to seeing the response to the Retail Business Summit and Spring Fair in February, and fervently hope they can help boost optimism and create new opportunities.