design:retail - November/December 2017 - 8

globalshop talk

008

Pushing
Back

DOUG HOPE
FOUNDER AND SHOW DIRECTOR, GLOBALSHOP

doug.hope@emeraldexpo.com
@globalshopshow

ORDS LIKE "CHANGE ,"

"innovation" and "disruption" have worked into
the daily retail vernacular this year, arguably at a
fever pitch. But are those words free, or do
they (and the actions and reactions they
demand) require a cost and investment of
time, effort and money? Companies that
excel at innovation, that answer the challenge of disruption, know that the cost is
high; that survival, success and growth are
sadly not free, or even cheap. So, given the
scale and pace of our industry's changes,
it's perplexing to see some retail practices and policies at play.
Any business should strive for the best value for
its investment, and retail is no exception. The design industry that serves retail somehow weathered
value engineering in the '90s and, beyond that, a
short-lived reverse-auction model. But today, the
industry is headed toward commoditization as
buying processes, both internal and outsourced,
have taken not only cost, but also people, out of the
equation. And the most valuable asset in the change/
innovation/disruption solution set is people. Those

GlobalShop 2018
March 27-29
Sponsored by Shop!
In cooperation with IIDA

Chicago | McCormick Place
globalshop.org
CONTACT US:
1145 Sanctuary Pkwy., Ste. 355
Alpharetta, GA 30009-4772

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

people are not only the ones inside the retail design
team, but also the vendor community.
Vendors are a bit of a misnomer, because vendors
include non-retail staff architects and designers as well as producers and suppliers of in-store
products and services. Vendor personnel can also
include increasing numbers of former in-house retail and brand professionals, who know not only the
inner workings of corporate retail, but also have the
insights that an outsider gains: a "big picture" view
of retail's perils. Inside those vendor organizations
lie endless solutions, keen insights and sweeping

SHOW STAFF:
→ Founder and Show Director Doug
Hope (770) 291-5453 doug.hope@
emeraldexpo.com → Associate Show
Director Heather Kuznetz (770) 2915512 heather.kuznetz@ emeraldexpo.
com → Senior Account Executive Kerry
Tyler (770) 291-5432 kerry.tyler@
emeraldexpo.com → Account Executive
Donna McKerrow (770) 291-5521 donna.
mckerrow@emeraldexpo.com

DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

GLOBALSHOP.ORG

experience that should be a vital part of
go-forward strategy. And yet, for the sake
of well-intentioned procurement practices, those assets are too often cast aside
like an old glove.
Retail design is a thriving $50 billion
industry that has grown into its size not
because of ego or vanity, but because of
thousands of studies, both internal and
external, that have proved the worth of
design in the success and growth of the
retail industry, into the $5 trillion market
it is today-still driving 90 percent-plus
of that volume through the brick-andmortar channel. Today's challenges aren't obviating
the need for great design. Elevated shopper experience is widely recognized as essential to future
retail success, and that heightens the need for design solutions. In order to answer that call, it's time
to pull in vendor community partners, not push
them away. And that may mean pushing back-
hard-against the policies that do the pushing.

→ Marketing Director Vanessa Ruiz
(770) 291-5502 vanessa.ruiz@emerald
expo.com → Conference Manager Toni
Ward (770) 291-5441 antoinette.ward@
emerald expo.com → Senior Operations
Manager Derrick Nelloms (770) 291-5452
derrick.nelloms@emeraldexpo.com →
Executive Vice President Joe Randall
joe.randall@emeraldexpo.com

EMERALD EXPOSITIONS:
→ CEO and President David Loechner
→ CFO and Treasurer Philip Evans →
Chief Information Officer Bill Charles →
Senior Vice President, General Counsel
and Secretary David Gosling → Senior
Vice President, Operations Lori Jenks
→ Senior Vice President, Marketing
Operations Joanne Wheatley →
Vice President, Human Resources
Eileen Deady → Vice President,
Corporate Operations Denise Bashem

Photo by ANDREY_POPOV/SHUTTERSTOCK

http://www.globalshop.org http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM http://www.GLOBALSHOP.ORG

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