Insight-Driven Retailing Blog

First ARTS User Conference

By David Dorf on September 20, 2009 7:21 PM

I'm on my way to Orlando to attend the first ever ARTS User Conference. There are over 90 attendees signed-up, including many of the world's best retailers. Not bad for an initial gathering. There are two days of presentations planned,...

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First ARTS User Conference

By David Dorf on September 1, 2009 7:20 AM

The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), a subsidiary of the NRF, is holding its first user conference in a few weeks. I have been an active member for about four years, and the quarterly meetings have always been about...

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Retail Outlook for Fashion

By David Dorf on January 23, 2009 2:00 PM

Here's a scary statistic: Normally 4% of women surveyed by America's Research Group say they have no plans to purchase new clothing in the coming year. For 2009, one third of women say they will purchase no new clothing. Yikes!...

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Back from NRF 2009

By David Dorf on January 15, 2009 9:30 AM

Now that I'm back from NRF, retail's "big show" in NYC, here are my impressions of the event. 1. The only gadget that caught my attention was Microsoft's Tag. Its basically a barcode created to work well with mobile phones,...

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SOA for New Look

By David Dorf on January 12, 2009 7:40 AM

There were lots of press releases germane to the retail industry this week, principally to mark retail’s yearly conference, NRF. Oracle had its share, which you can review here. One jumped out at me because it was related to my...

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Countdown to NRF's Big Show, Part 3

By David Dorf on January 6, 2009 3:31 PM

At OpenWorld, Oracle Retail tried holding Birds-of-a-Feather breakfast meetings where customers could sit down with other customers to discuss specific topics (and get a free breakfast to boot) in an informal setting. A table-moderator handled the introductions and kept the...

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Countdown to NRF's Big Show, Part 1

By David Dorf on January 5, 2009 9:27 AM

Here in Texas it's relatively warm. I spent Christmas and New Years day outside playing with the kids or working in the yard. But every January I dig out my winter-wear and make the trek to New York City for...

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'Tis the Season for Returns

By David Dorf on December 30, 2008 9:54 AM

Now's a good time to return that pink bunny suit (aka the Pink Nightmare) your aunt bought you so that you can instead buy the Red Ryder you've always wanted. Now is the time when the gifts gone wrong are...

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Black Friday Trivia

By David Dorf on November 26, 2008 9:30 AM

There's been lots of doom and gloom of late in the retail industry, including predictions of poor turnout for this weekend's holiday shopping kickoff. The National Retail Federation predicts up to 128 million people plan to shop this weekend, slightly...

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Standards Reduce Integration Costs

By David Dorf on November 6, 2008 6:56 AM

The Association for Retail Technology Standards, better known as ARTS, is a subsidiary of the National Retail Federation. Its charter is to reduce a retailer's costs through the use of technology standards. ARTS has hundreds of retailer members, and along...

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