Retail Observer

JULY 2016 RETAILOBSERVER.COM 35 J eff Knock reported that 2015 was strong for Nationwide programs. "In support of PFS, Nationwide must serve you on two very distinctive fronts: 1. Wholesale: Nationwide is a buying group. In today's landscape, there are multiple choices for you to make. Along with working with vendors to bring you options, comes an obligation to best serve you through those vendors that are most contributing to the PFS cause. This means, simplified plan-to-sell's, exclusive/ derivative SKU's, margin enhancement on those SKU's and margin protection with problems on those SKU's. You will hear the details for each vendor's support levels for PFS from our merchants. 2. Retail: Nationwide is a marketing group. In today's landscape, there are multiple choices for you to make. While working with vendors on their objectives, we bring you options to reach ALL consumers, with the value of telling your "Best Story". We help you do this through building 360 media campaigns that save you tons of time and money to execute. We help you target consumers best suited to deliver an ROI. We help purchase air time in your marketplace and in many cases…we do most all of the work for you. The industry is changing. Consumers are changing. Although it may require a step outside of your comfort zone, lean on us to prepare you to adapt to these changes and succeed." The group also rolled out the new Nationwide Learning Academy, formerly known as PrimeTime! University. Knock said, "The LA experience you will see will blow you away. Through surveys, the format and content are what you have asked us for. You will hear from our vendors about merchandising and promotions as you never have before. But–it doesn't stop at the show! The Nationwide Learning Academy will become the pinnacle of any training package in the country!" Tom Hickman, EVP of CE & Distribution, reported that the advancements in the CE space are more incredible than ever. "Black Friday was quite the ride and appropriately launched us into what was by all counts the most dynamic and successful CES show I have seen in my 20 plus years in the business. As 4K UHD pricing got hyper competitive, next generation 8K product took center stage at CES. Connected device counts (not just TV) soared in Q4 and non-connected devices couldn't be found at CES. Sense the shift, yeah, me too. Candidly, for all the "talk" about IoT and connected home, there wasn't a whole lot of "walk", until now. How PRIMETIME RECAP / ORLANDO MARCH 2016 REIMAGINES RETAIL IN ORLANDO N AT I O N W I D E M A R K E T I N G G R O U P H E LD T H E I R S P R I N G P R I M E T I M E ! C O N F E R E N C E AT T H E O R A N G E C O U N T Y C O N V E N T I O N C E N T E R M A R C H 1 3 - 1 6 . DAV E B I L AS , C E O , A N D J E F F K N O C K , C C O , K I C K E D O F F T H E B I G G E ST O R L A N D O S H OW BY E X P L A I N I N G T H E S H OW AT T E N DA N C E E XC E E D E D 3 , 0 0 0 P E O P LE . T H E S H OW H E LD OV E R 72 0 M E M B E R C O M PA N I E S A N D 1 75 + V E N D O R S . O C C U PY I N G 1 9 8 , 0 0 0 S Q UA R E F E E T O F S H OW S PAC E , T H E T R A F F I C WAS H E AV Y AT T H I S L A R G E LY AT T E N D E D S H OW. N AT I O N W I D E WAS P LE AS E D TO S H A R E T H E I R M E M B E R S H I P N U M B E R S T H I S Y E A R . T H E LE A D E R S H I P T E A M S A I D T H E G R O U P H AS 3 , 5 0 0 + M E M B E R S R E P R E S E N T I N G M O R E T H A N 1 1 , 0 0 0 STO R E F R O N TS .

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