Retail Observer

R ETAI LOBSE RVE R.COM JUNE 2016 58 EPA RECOGNIZES NATIONWIDE MARKETING GROUP WITH 2016 ENERGY STAR ® PARTNER OF THE YEAR – SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE AWARD The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Nationwide Marketing Group with a 2016 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award for its continued leadership in protecting our environment through superior energy efficiency achievements. Nationwide Marketing Group's accomplishments were recognized in Washington, D.C. on April 13, 2016. Nationwide Marketing Group, an ENERGY STAR partner for the last twenty years, were honored for their many initiatives that have given the group command of a large piece of the appliance and electronics market. The group's promotional messaging featuring ENERGY STAR hit its strongest year. Nationwide aimed to engage stronger participation in the Presidents Day- Black Friday programs, encouraging the sales of ENERGY STAR qualified products. Their members ran more than 10,000 campaigns with ENERGY STAR product featured within. "Nationwide Marketing Group truly values our partnership with ENERGY STAR," said Richard Weinberg, SVP of Marketing for Nationwide. "It's exciting to see the impact we've made through our strong partnerships with vendors, enabling us to drive the sales of ENERGY STAR qualified models and cause the retirement of older, less efficient major appliances and consumer electronics. We remain committed to continuing our work to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the environment." "By continued collaboration with ENERGY STAR, Nationwide Marketing Group is helping Americans save money, save energy, and do their part to reduce our nation's greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate climate change," said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. "I'm proud to recognize Nationwide with the highest form of ENERGY STAR recognition, as the winner of the 2016 Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence Award. Nationwide Marketing Group demonstrates a strong commitment to energy efficiency and to preserving a healthy planet for future generations." For a complete list of 2016 winners and more information about ENERGY STAR's awards program: www.energystar.gov/award winners. NATIONWIDE SIGNS SES-IMAGOTAG AS NEW VENDOR PARTNER Nationwide Marketing Group is proud to introduce SES- imagotag as a new vendor. SES-imagotag is the global leader in electronic shelf labeling and has an unrivaled experience and technological advance in independent retailing as well as large department and big box stores. Nationwide is proud to be the first to introduce a service such as this to Members. Working with Nationwide's POS and PriceTag vendors, SES- imagotag is able to offer a plug and play solution for their members. This technology allows the retailers to update pricing from their POS or PriceTag—which means no more printing and replacing paper tags. Prices and data are updated instantan- eously and automatically, through the most reliable high frequency transmission system in the market. It's completed seamlessly without any errors and without the need for manual intervention, and prices at the shelf edge are perfectly synchronized with those scanned at the checkout. These tags can be customized and programmed to showcase various product details that the retailer deems more important, including regular price, promotional price, rebate options and other pricing information. Retailers are also using the tags to show logistics information, such as live inventory levels to bring even more value to the automation between the back office and the shelf edge. Tags have the ability to connect to mobile devices through QR codes or NFC for both the store associates and customers, thus creating new contactless uses for them. "With shifting prices, promotions and specials available on a product—integrating digital prices tags onto a sales floor, to be updated directly from a members POS, eliminates a lot of human error," says Chris Kirk, VP Member Services "Not to mention the time and labor saved, allowing our members time to focus on other aspects of the business. While the technology is still new and requires an initial investment, it's estimated that the system pays for itself in less than a year." SES-imagotag was originally founded by a retailer. Its insight of the retail environment and the practical problems faced by store— in terms of both delighting their customers and optimizing their operating procedures—sets it apart from its competitors. B U Y I N G G R O U P N E W S RO

• Cover