Expert keynotes, innovative retail technology and industry firsts set the stage at the world’s largest event dedicated to the retail industry. RetailX, the co-location of three leading retail industry trade shows Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE), GlobalShop and RFID Journal Live! Retail, took place over a three-day mega-event held from June 25-28, 2019, at McCormick Place in Chicago.
RetailX featured more than 400,000 square feet of space from 1,200+ exhibiting companies. “It was an electrifying three days,” said Doug Hope, RetailX Show Director and Senior Vice President of Emerald Expositions. “From influential keynotes to today’s most state-of-the-art retail products and services, we brought together retail’s key players, bridging the gap between both physical and digital retail. We look forward to seeing our attendees put what they have learned and sourced from the show into their retail strategies and day-to-day operations.”
The event kicked off with an exciting keynote address from Doug Stephens, The Retail Prophet, followed by additional keynotes throughout the three days including Andy Dunn, Senior Vice President of Digital Consumer Brands at Walmart, Chip Conley, Strategic Advisor of Airbnb, Susan Tynan, CEO of Framebridge and Daniel Alarik, CEO & Founder of Grunt Style.
The show floor was anchored by Innovation Valley, a central area designed to stimulate new thinking, generate deeper insight and help guide the near-term future of retail. All solutions showcased were new to the market, but beyond beta stage. Attendees were given first-hand presentations and concept demos from entrepreneurial teams. From a roaming pink robot named Tory from German brand MetraLabs analyzing its environment and scanning RFID items, to StealthMatrix who creates 2-D on-demand floor maps to instantly locate merchandise in retail environments, Innovation Valley was a source of new-age tech inspiration set to lead the charge of the future of retail.
Pop-Up Talks, a new feature of the GlobalShop conference program, was presented in a fresh, exciting format on the show floor this year. The new stage, sponsored by Moss Inc., featured a full program of hot topics and industry expert panels and was standing-room only throughout the show.
Presented from the new Pop-Up Talks stage, the IIDA GlobalShop Product Design Awards honored several manufacturers for advancements in innovation, function and aesthetics in product design for the retail industry. Winners included C-West Custom Fixtures, Shaw Contract, SEG Systems, CNL Mannequins, Ad-Tech and LLC. The Best in Show Product Design Award went to Converge Retail for its Kinetic Retail Display Platform, enabling customers to watch tutorials, read customer reviews and compare product specs.
New for 2019, The Voices of RetailX Podcast Studio, presented by Rise25, broadcast live-streamed podcasts from a dedicated studio set in the heart of the Expo Hall, capturing a series of on-the-show-floor interviews with key players from the retail community.
“We are overwhelmed with the fantastic turnout at RetailX,” said Hope. “Not only were attendees particularly satisfied with the exhibitors and their product offerings, but also with the high-quality programming on the show floor that elevated the attendee experience. We look forward to 2020 when we will return to Chicago for the second edition of RetailX.”
RetailX will take place on June 9-11, 2020, at McCormick Place in Chicago. For more information, visit the website at www.globalshop.org.