STORE 2008 Agenda

 

Day One — Monday, June 2
7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast & Exhibit Hall Open
Sponsored by:

8:30 a.m. – 8:40 a.m. Welcome & Opening Remarks

8:45 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Super Session #1 — From Mass to My: Making the Transition
Speaker:
Tony Chapman, Founder and CEO, Capital C
(2008 Inductee to the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends and Marketing's 2006 Agency of the Year).

In the past, retailers battled on the principles of "mass and scale," — those who shouted loudest and offered more storefronts won a larger share of minds and wallets. In the future, shouting louder will no longer guarantee success, as retailers will face an oversaturated marketplace, deflationary pricing, labour shortage, inflationary cost of goods, and an ever demanding customer who wants more for less. The battlefield will shift from scale to loyalty and victory will be earned customer by customer. Tony Chapman, CEO of Capital C, will use market tested case studies and Canadian shopper research to prove why retailers need to abandon obsolete mass tactics in favour of strategies that combine consumer and shopper insight to move the conversation with your consumer from 'mass' to 'my.'
Sponsored by:

9:30 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Super Session #2 — Seeing the Customer through Employees' Eyes
Speaker:

The Forzani Group understands that loyal employees work harder to earn the customer's loyalty. Forzani earns employee loyalty by creating rewards programs employees want and building a store experience that employees and customers enjoy. This session teaches delegates how recruiting employees whose profiles fit the company's personality, and developing growth strategies that anticipate employee needs, breeds employee and customer loyalty.
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10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Business Break — Exhibit Hall Open
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10:50 a.m. – 11:35 a.m. Concurrent Sessions

Concurrent Session #1 — Product Safety: Managing Risk and Keeping your Consumers' Confidence

Who is responsible for product safety?
Retailers, Manufacturers, or Suppliers? Customers want and need to know that the companies they buy from can be trusted to do what's right when problems arise. This session will explore how retailers can protect themselves against product safety issues, as well as best practices in managing recalls. Specifically, the session will explore the many issues retailers must address when facing product safety issues, including: managing liability, communicating effectively, mitigating risks, planning proactively for the unexpected and taking the necessary steps to avoid recurrences.

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Concurrent Session #2 — Environmental Sustainability: Going Green for Your Customers and Your Business

As the Green Revolution moves mainstream, retailers want to know how green they need to go, and how green their customers want them to go. Green products represent a growing market, but what about energy efficiency and waste reduction? Does promoting green initiatives build customer loyalty or customer cynicism? What are the brand implications for the long-term? What expectations do consumers have about environmental sustainability, and do green concerns really affect their shopping habits? Attend this session to find out what your organization can do to take part in your customers' Green Revolution.

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Concurrent Session #3 — Survival Strategy #1: Recruitment and Retention Starts with the Customer

More and more, the "just-in-time" strategy of recruitment isn't good enough. Our challenges include: labour scarcity, new retail business models, changing demographics and customers' evolving needs. Survival Strategy Number One is learning to anticipate customer needs and recruit employees who possess the skills needed in our rapidly changing economy. Gain new insights into how employees contribute to building customer loyalty, and how your entire operation — from the store to the top floor — can put the customer at the centre of your people strategy. Beware: This session guarantees to challenge conventional thinking.

Sponsored by:

11:40 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. Super Session #3 — Canada's Economy, Consumer Loyalty, and the Global Shopping Village
The retail industry is a key barometer of economic health and reflects the ebb and flow of consumer demand. As a result, successful retailers follow their customers every move. It's a complicated system, but at its core are consumers — their needs, their means, and their actions. This session will explore Canada's economic climate, the consumer trajectory, and the outlook for retailers. Key trends to be examined include: global retail reach, shoppers without borders, Canada's regional and industrial shifts and Canada's connections to the global economy. A special focus will include the Canadian dollar and cross border shopping.

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12:25 p.m. – 1:50 p.m. Buffet Lunch — Exhibit Hall Open
Sponsored by:

AGM Lunch (Board and Invited Guests — Waxman Room 3&4)
Sponsored by:

2:10 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. Afternoon Welcoming Remarks

2:20 p.m. – 3:05 p.m. Super Session #4 — Cineplex's Retail Evolution: Setting a New Stage for Success
Speaker:

What does a movie theatre have in common with a retailer? For starters, they share a need to build and maintain customer loyalty, which they do by first understanding customer desires. In an industry threatened by home theatres, online delivery and DVD piracy, this session explores how a Canadian media retailer retools a traditional business model in response to its customers' changing multi-channel habits. Delegates will learn how to shrug off the chains of institutional thinking and embrace new tools that will bring you closer to your customers.
Sponsored by:

3:05 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. Super Session #5 — Changing Tastes: M&M Meat Shops' Recipe for Success
Speakers:

In the early 1980s, M&M Meat Shops founder Mac Voisin looked at the emerging trend of dual-income families and foresaw its impact on how families approached mealtime. The secret of M&M Meat Shops' success was its ability to anticipate a growing demand, and help busy families preserve their mealtime traditions in a faster-paced world. Can M&M Meat Shops keep on top by continuing to anticipate customers' changing needs? They're betting the answer is yes. In this session, Gary Decatur and Kerina Elliott share their strategies for gaining customer insight, remaining dedicated to communities and succeeding in a competitive market.
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3:50 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Closing Super Session Remarks

4:00 p.m. – 4:40 p.m. Business Break — Exhibitor Power Centre
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4:45 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Concurrent Sessions

Concurrent Session #4 — Loyalty Strategies: Beyond the Transaction

The secret to earning customers' loyalty lies in the commitment retailers make to their customers. Successful retailers gain the right insights about their customers and follow through with meaningful strategies to build relationships. From exclusive products and outstanding service, to iconic brands and value-added rewards — attend this session to learn how to develop effective loyalty strategies and how to engage in long-term relationships with your customers.

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Concurrent Session #5 — Technology: The Business Case

Technology changes like the days. Does that mean you need to buy every new computer system, social networking tool, e-commerce suite and gizmo that comes along? Obviously, no. But a business case approach should include an evaluation and investment in the right technologies at the right time. Wise retailers should adopt technology when it fits their strategies, budgets, store mission and customers' needs. In a session geared towards decision-makers who are looking to make changes that include technology investments, we look at how you can evaluate new technologies alongside business processes so that you can implement the change you need, realize a return on your investment, and earn more loyalty from your customers.

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Concurrent Session #6 — Retail Marketing ROI Strategies: Measuring Quantity and Quality

Every marketing channel provides a unique opportunity to make connections with, provide information to, and build relationships with customers. How can retailers use marketing measurements and analyses to ensure that their approaches are meeting their expectations for success, and more importantly, are driving the right customer behaviors? This session will discuss a marketing ROI strategy that helps retailers assess short-term transactions and sales results and explore getting more insight into strengthening long-term loyalty to make a difference on the bottom line.

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5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Awards Dinner Reception
Sponsored by:

7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Excellence in Retailing Awards Dinner
Presenting Sponsor:

 

Day Two — Tuesday, June 3
7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast & Exhibit Hall Open
Sponsored by:

8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Super Session #6 — Six Pixels of Separation 2008 — How Retail Connects in a Digital Marketing World
Speaker:

Retailers struggle to understand online marketing as a new generation of Digital Marketing opportunities unfold. Consumers have never been so connected and influential. Mitch Joel unravels the fascinating world of social media, online marketing, e-commerce and social shopping. Learn why retailers are not doing everything they can to make the sale, and why the mass media model is being threatened by consumer generated reviews. Understanding these new online communities will give you key insights into creating staggering loyalty and market share. Learn how to both make money and take part in these communities and conversations.
Sponsored by:

9:15 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Super Session #7 — Keynote Presentation by Karine Washcer, Executive Vice President, Marketing, La Senza Corporation
Speaker:

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Business Break — Exhibit Hall Open
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10:35 a.m. – 11:20 a.m. Concurrent Sessions

Concurrent Session #7 — Using Tools of Collaboration to Get Your Customers Working for You!

Have you hired your customers yet? At a time when social media rules the Internet, that's a question you need to answer in the affirmative. User generated Q&A, stories and consumer reviews — that stuff they call social media, or Web 2.0 — holds tremendous power in the marketplace, and innovative retailers know to leverage user-generated content in their online marketing strategies. Simon Rodriguez presents online marketing best practices and shares examples of how Home Depot Canada is taking advantage of this trend to drive results.

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Concurrent Session #8 — Health & Safety and Risk Management: Hearing and Steering the Conversations that Matter

Zero is the only acceptable number of workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities for retailers, employees and customers! Therefore, striving for zero injuries is a key mission for fiscally, socially and morally responsible businesses. The formula for preventing injury and illness in the workplace includes anticipation, recognition, assessment and control of all workplace hazards, which can lead to maximization of profit through the elimination or mitigation of avoidable losses.

This session will focus on the role that all retail teams can play in contributing to a successful health and safety conversation as well as the risks, roadmaps, processes, and ROI associated with heath and safety and risk management strategies.

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Concurrent Session #9 — Research Behind the Statistics: Retail Organized Crime & What You Need to Know

Retailers need to work together to shut down criminal enterprises that hurt us all. This is the central message of the Retail Organized Crime Task Force, an initiative aimed at understanding how retailers can deter organized crime in their stores. In a session designed to brief retailers on Task Force activities, committee members present findings of the Task Force's research, update delegates about the Investigator Information Sharing Network and offer strategies to help make your customers, employees and business safer.

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11:25 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Super Session #8 — Spencer's Indian Retail Revolution: Earning Loyalty in an Emerging Market
Speakers:

Unprecedented growth in India's middle class, modernization in the retail sector and the government's newfound interest to foreign retailers have led to the emergence of millions of highly demanding, newly affluent Indian consumers. In this session, you'll learn about Spencer's Retail, one of India's oldest and most respected retailers and its efforts to evolve so that it retains its historic brand equity, incorporates elements of modern international retail and meets the customer's needs against growing competition.
Sponsored by:

12:10 p.m. – 12:55 p.m. Super Session #9 — Keynote Presentation by Kevin Layden, Chief Operating Officer, Best Buy International
Speaker:

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12:55 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Closing Remarks

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Awards Luncheon Reception

2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Canadian Retail Hall of Fame Luncheon
Presenting Sponsor:

2007, Retail Council of Canada — The Voice of Retail