Headed to NRF in January? Are you in the supply chain or IT industry? Here are four happenings you won’t want to miss.

After over a year of virtual conferences and meet-ups, it’ll be refreshing to finally engage face-to-face at one of retail and e-commerce’s most respected events in the industry: The National Retail Federation (NRF) Retail’s Big Show 2022: Accelerate. This upcoming year’s event will be held in familiar New York City at the Javits Center January 16^th-18^th but will also include an Opening Party on January 15^th.

Those familiar with NRF’s retail show are well-versed in all of the exciting content and experiences the conference has to offer, though navigating a show so BIG has its challenges for supply chain and IT professionals.

Luckily, ProShip has put together a preview list of the top things those involved in logistics and distribution need to see or participate in.

1. Retail’s CIO Party

There ain’t no party like an IT party, right? On Sunday, January 16^th, from 5:30-7:30 PM, NRF is holding their annual Retail’s CIO Party. This is an exclusive invite-only networking event where the industry’s premier information technology leaders (300+ of you) can mingle while enjoying classic hors d’oeuvres and refreshing cocktails. The view is also not one to miss at PEAK NYC.

This year’s event is hosted by ProShip, along with Comcast Business and Talkdesk. But don’t worry, we’ll be the only vendors at the event, and we’ll be bringing some high-tech goodies to raffle off!

For any questions or to be added to the invitation list, please contact programs@nrf.com.

2. VIP Awards: An Industry Celebration at Gotham Hall

The night before the CIO party, you won’t want to miss the VIP Awards. Though this event requires a separate ticket to purchase, it’s a great event to learn about the top solutions that power today’s retail ecosystem.

[VOTE] ProShip is up for Best Fulfillment Advancement! Vote for us by visiting bit.ly/VoteProShip. Voting opens Monday, November 1st and will close on Friday, December 3rd.

So what are the awards? Well, this is a fantastic opportunity to formally support, influence and recognize the partners who help drive your own success! It’s also a great way to hear how fellow retailers are achieving success with their own choosen vendors. Here are some of the categories in which you can nominate a supply chain/IT vendor partner for:

• Partner of the Year: Achievement in Excellent Customer and Employee Culture – Customers want to do business with good companies. The satisfaction of your employees in service to the satisfaction of the customer above all else, can sometimes create difficult decisions, but you know the right thing to do. Applicants/submissions must demonstrate multi-faceted excellence including philanthropy, customer first behavior and great employee culture, with results.
• The VIP Challenge Award: Innovative adaptability and agility to address client needs from the pandemic’s disruption to the industry (2022’s theme). You took down barriers and incorporated speed, agility, and resourcefulness, moving away from the status quo, developing an original and inventive solution, or a significant change to your business model for your clients. Demonstrate innovation in partnership to solve a client hardship, pain-point, or new opportunity.
• The Retailer’s Favorite: You are always there, in good times and bad, AND no drama, no friction. Your clients consistently reach out to you, even for things outside your expertise. Apply here and explain why your customers say they wish all their partners were like you.
• Best Tech Enablement: Integration is critical to drive efficiency across a varied ecosystem, enabling digital acceleration and achieving better business results. Describe how your technologies, whether on-premises or cloud-based, impacted the strategic priorities and business challenges of your clients, and unlocks their future agility and potential.
• Best Fulfillment Advancement: With multiple channels and new requirements for fulfillment and returns processing, merchandise distribution is a complex process, where accuracy is key. With the retailer needing to provide fast and convenient service, describe the advances you have in your solution to address returns, and “anywhere” order fulfillment. To vote for ProShip, visit bit.ly/VoteProShip.
• Best Distribution Innovation: Innovations affecting productivity, reduced costs and speed to destination, are changing the industry and critical to compete. Describe how you are serving the industry and winning using robotics, automation, AI or simulation to bring state of the art methods to the success of your clients.

To learn more and to nominate your partner by the deadline of Friday, October 15^th, 2021, visit the nomination page.

3. Conference Sessions [Preview]

The main topics at this 2022’s NRF show are Operations on Overdrive, Expediting Experiences, Keep Pace with the People, Business Models Made to Move and Hit Go on Growth. But with hundreds of speaking sessions throughout the show, it may be difficult to pinpoint the most beneficial ones for IT and Supply Chain.

Though some may not have titles or descriptions yet, from our experience, sessions led by the following companies are always spot-on (so Save the Date!):

• Avery Dennison (ProShip customer highlight) – Sunday, January 16^th | 11:45 am
• American Eagle (ProShip customer highlight) – Sunday, January 16^th | 12:00 pm
• enVista (ProShip partner highlight) – Sunday, January 16^th | 2 pm
• CDW Corporation (ProShip customer highlight) – Sunday, January 16^th | 3:15 pm
• Blue Yonder (ProShip partner highlight) – Monday, January 17^th | 10:15 am
• Manhattan Associates (ProShip partner highlight) – Monday, January 17^th | 12:30 pm
• Jesta I.S. (ProShip partner highlight) – Monday, January 17^th | 1:30 pm

Don’t forget to check back as more details are added to these sessions.

4. Expo Floor Booths

What’s an elite conference without top retail vendors duking it out on the expo floor? Can you imagine 700+ of them vying for your attention?

Let’s narrow the multi-level exhibitor floor down to just 6 must-see booths filled with top-tier enterprise technology for supply chain IT professionals. [Retailers: Claim your free Expo Pass]

Blue Yonder, Inc. | NRF Booth #4721

enVista | NRF Booth #4552

Generix Group | NRF Booth #4859

Jesta I.S. | NRF Booth #4245

Manhattan Associates | NRF Booth #4436

ProShip, Inc. | NRF Booth #4240

How retailers can achieve success with ProShip:

• Leverage the fastest carrier engines in the world to automatically choose lowest-cost carrier service while meeting delivery promises.
• Utilize more inventory sources through omnichannel fulfillment strategies, moving more product & increasing sales.
• Easily handle chaotic peak season shipping & scale as your business grows, improving the customer experience & building brand loyalty.

25% of NRF’s Top 100 Retailers who ship parcel trust ProShip.

See You in January at NRF 2022!

So there you have it – the top 4 things to look for at NRF Retail’s Big Show 2022! We hope to see you there. If you plan on attending but haven’t registered yet, feel free to use our special discount code 3738 to receive a 20% discount on full conference pass rates, or get your free Expo pass here.

Interested in meeting directly with ProShip multi-carrier shipping experts? Reserve a meeting with us at the show!