May 14-16, 2012
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CONFERENCE AGENDA |
(may be subject to change) |
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Alexis has dedicated her career to building and launching innovative and compelling ecommerce experiences for consumers. In 2007, Alexis became a founding CEO of Gilt Groupe, working to expand the company's sales categories from women's brands to include lifestyle categories such as sporting goods, home decor, children's apparel, local experiences and luxury travel services. Read more |
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Kyle Lacy is Principal of Marketing Research and Education for ExactTarget, a leading provider of interactive marketing solutions. He is the author of two critically acclaimed books, Twitter Marketing for Dummies (2nd ed) and Branding Yourself (2nd ed). Prior to ExactTarget, Kyle co-founded a marketing technology company, helping over 350 clients build and deliver digital marketing experiences. You can follow him on Twitter at @kyleplacy or visit his blog at KyleLacy.com. |
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Paul Erickson presently serves as Senior Vice-President- Client Services of RMSA. Based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota he has served retail clients throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. His passion for client service and for preparing independent retailers to excel in the area of inventory productivity and control has been central to both his personal success and that of the RMSA client base. Read more |
| Monday, May 14 | |
| 5pm - 7pm | Welcome Reception at the Marriott Poolside
Kick off the RICS Software User Conference at a welcome reception presented by Infintech, X-Charge and Honeywell. Enjoy a crawfish boil, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres while you pick up your registration packet. |
| Tuesday, May 15 | |
| 8:30am | Welcome |
| 8:35am | CEO Opening Remarks: RICS Enterprise Road Map
Speaker: David Becker, CEO RICS Software A development roadmap is critical to the success of our retail customers. CEO David Becker takes a look at the accomplishments of the RICS Software team in 2011 and what the future holds for 2012 for RICS Enterprise, our customers and business partners. |
| 9:00am | Keynote Speaker: The Future of Shopping is Now
Speaker: Alexis Maybank, Co-Founder Gilt Groupe The story of Gilt Groupe from concept to today, CRM and the importance of personalization, the impact of mobile, social media and its usage, the merge of commerce and content. |
| 10:00am | Industry Speaker: Retail Touchpoints Exposed: Winning with Subscribers, Fans & Followers
Speaker: Kyle Lacy, Exact Target The ways in which email subscribers and social media fans interact with brands are evolving rapidly. Today's struggles is not only to build this "earned" audience but also to retain their attention in today's noisy marketing landscape. Join ExactTarget's Kyle Lacy as he shares insights and strategies obtained after analyzing the offline and online marketing behavior of Internet Retailer's top 100 fastest growing retailers. Learn from the top performers in your industry as he shares the lessons learned and how to re-energize your cross channel audience. |
| 11:00am | Industry Speaker: Psychology of Price (The Markup and Markdown Game)
Speaker: Paul Erickson RSMA How much product is marked up initially directly affects how profitable your retail business can be. Many retailers swear by tried and true mark up models, but it is a good practice for any retailer to constantly review current pricing practices to find areas for improvement. This session will demonstrate the benefits of different competitive pricing strategies that you can begin implementing in your store immediately. You’ll discover the three elements that initial markup must satisfy to achieve your profit goals, learn how to effectively use pricing psychology to increase markup and uncover how cost based pricing can limit your profit potential. Before you price your next batch of inventory, you’ll want to know this information! What are acceptable, necessary and healthy markdowns and how to avoid unacceptable and excessive markdowns in your store? How to properly reduce price on merchandise to maximize profitability. Learn when to take markdowns and what the root causes for excessive markdowns are. Understand the 8 Truths of Markdowns to improve your bottom line. |
| 12:00pm | Lunch |
| 1:30pm | RICS Training: Mobility
Speaker: Darren Kemper, Product Manager RICS Software Are you ready for the future of retail? Your customers are constantly on-the-go. RICS Software is adapting the RICS Enterprise solution to the mobile world. Learn which features will be transformed first and how we are making this happen. |
| 2:15pm | RICS Training: Know Thy Customer
Speaker: Meaghan Hoffmann, Trainer RICS Software Learn about built-in CRM features that already exist in RICS Enterprise. You will learn how to analyze the wealth of customer information that you already possess for targeting marketing based on consumer behavior (customer type, number of transactions, average unique items per transaction) and customer profit (average sale amount, total sales amount, average margin). |
| 3:00pm | Networking Break |
| 3:45pm | RICS Training: Salesperson Motivation
Speaker: Denise DeHamer, Lead Trainer RICS Software Learn how to motivate your retail sales staff and manage it in RICS Enterprise. We will go over the different ways to generate reports that track your employees’ performance. Take away actionable techniques to help you be a better sales manager by motivating and coaching employees. |
| 4:45pm | RICS Training: eCommerce: Integration & API Options
Speaker: Darren Kemper, Product Manager RICS Software The world is moving to the Internet at a fast rate. Don’t miss an opportunity and increase customer satisfaction by offering your products online 24/7, as well as in your brick-and-mortar stores. RICS Enterprise now offers a real-time eCommerce integration solution. Come learn how it works and what options are available to you. |
| 5:00pm | Close of Day One |
| 7:00pm | Dinner Reception at Pier 424
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| Wednesday, May 16 | |
| 8:30am | Opening Remarks |
| 8:35am | Playmakers: Peer 2 Peer
Speaker: Kate Urbane Playmakers Award-winning retailer, Playmakers, discusses how their implementation and use of RICS Enterprise has helped them succeed in their retail business. |
| 9:30am | RICS Training: Frequent Buyer/Loyalty Programs
Speaker: Meaghan Hoffmann, Trainer RICS Software Find out how to create the best type of Frequent Buyer Plan to increase customer retention and create customer loyalty. Learn the different types of frequent buyer plans available in RICS Enterprise; such as buy X # of items, get X% off. You can also set up |
| 10:30am | RICS Training: Merchandising
Speaker: Denise DeHamer, Lead Trainer RICS Software Merchandising is the heart of your business. In this session, you will see the advanced inventory features and tools in RICS Enterprise that manage this process for you. Learn how to create model stock, generate automatic purchase orders and transfer stock between performing and non-performing stores to help keep you cash flow positive. You will see how to build reports you can use to negotiate better terms with vendors. |
| 11:30am | Lunch/Networking |
| 1:00pm | RICS Training: Advanced Reporting and Data Import/Export Options
Speaker: Brian Olesen, Support Director RICS Software RICS Enterprise has an infinite amount of reporting capabilities. This hands-on session will explain best practices for what RICS Enterprise reports you should generate for actionable items. We will also concentrate on how to use the data export functions and how to set up batch reports for defined periods. |
| 3:00pm | 1 to 1 Training
Still have questions that need answered on a topic that we did not present? RICS Software has devoted this afternoon to offer 1 to 1's with a RICS Staff member. Bring all your questions, comments and concerns to a private meeting and ensure that you're getting the most out of your RICS system. |
| 5:00pm | Close of Conference |
