As the doors of the New York City Javits Center open today for business, the retail and technology industries will merge together again for the start of the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual convention and technology expo.

Retail’s BIG Show 2016 is poised to be a great year for discovery and change. With technology advancing so quickly, the opportunities for retailers to do things they’ve never been able to do before is tremendous, and retailers are looking to harness its power where it can have the most impact.

Microsoft believes 2016 will be a pivotal year. The year that physical and digital experiences blend together for a new, enhanced customer journey where they experience the best of both worlds. The year when intelligent solutions empower more personal, unified commerce. The year the power goes back in the hands of the shopper.

And at this year’s NRF, we’ll be showcasing this unified commerce in action.

On the show floor, we’re unveiling new solutions and retail customer implementations that bring these modern shopping experiences to life, including a brand engagement tool from L’Oréal and an app that enables a whole new way to shop for groceries.

You can read about these new innovations and retailer showcases on display at NRF from our Worldwide Retail General Manager Tracy Issel over on The Official Microsoft Blog.

There’s a lot of exciting things to experience at this year’s show. We look forward to showing you the future of unified commerce and helping you transform your business with intelligent solutions that empower more personal shopping!

Come see us in Booth #2803!

Follow us: @msretail

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We’re pleased to be a 2016 Chairman’s Circle Sponsor for this year’s show, where we will be demonstrating how we are Empowering Retail in the Digital World. We’ll showcase solutions to help you accelerate growth, embrace customer centricity, and empower your people to maximize business impact.

Microsoft believes 2016 will be the year that physical and digital experiences really blend together. It will be the year when intelligent solutions empower more personal shopping. In the past, shoppers have had to choose whether to access all the great information available to them online, OR enjoy the physical experience of in-store shopping. Now, the physical and digital experiences are blending together for a new, enhanced customer journey.

Empowering retailers to think about the much broader digital experience means focusing on three things: creating modern shopping experiences with connected things, empowering workforces for a new level of customer service and smart business management, and moving retail businesses to the cloud.

To bring these concepts to life, our booth #2803 (at the main entrance to Level 3 of the Jacob K. Javits Conference Center) will showcase the newest and most innovative customer solutions that empower retailers.

Here are five exciting showcases that you won’t want to miss!

1. 1. Check out modern shopping experiences in action to see how we are helping to make shopping more personal. Sensors and screens, connectivity to devices and the cloud, and vast networks of data are customizing experiences for people. Computing power is digitizing nearly everything around us and is giving us insights from all of the data being generated by interactions among people and between people and machines. In our booth, we’ll be showing how Windows 10 can enable agile and secure POS, assisted selling, and store operations capabilities that are flexible, secure, and personal.
2. Understand what it takes to empower workforces for a new level of customer service by connecting them to information that can help them make better management decisions and better serve customers. Leading retailers will show you how they are supporting mobile workstyles and dashboards to help employees access and understand all the information they need to run the business.
3. Get the scoop on how moving to the cloud can fast-track digital transformation for retailers. Cost savings from moving to the cloud can help you free up budget to invest in innovation that can help you create special experiences for customers in your stores and modern day personalization across channels that meet today’s standards and expectations.
4. See how the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud and big data enable increased customer insight and interaction. The latest intelligent solutions allow customers to engage with products in-store using their mobile devices, while retailers can capture every product interaction as well as make relevant offers and suggestions.
5. Learn directly from our customers during our Big !deas Sessions. During our Experience Retailing session, you’ll see COOP Italia’s digitally enabled Supermarket of the Future that shows you how retailers can fuse digital and physical to deliver pioneering shopping experiences that create seamless, social, and immersive retail experiences. Our Inspiring the Innovative Customer Experience panel will showcase best practices around how retailers are using mobile and the cloud to transform into digital businesses.

I also encourage you to schedule time to meet with Microsoft executives to discuss your transformational journey and see how we can help you. Go here to learn more and request an executive briefing or hosted booth tour with the Microsoft leadership team.

Retailers, be sure to pick up your free NRF Expo pass here, courtesy of Microsoft.

And while you are in New York, don’t forget to visit our new flagship store on Fifth Avenue (between 53rd and 54th Streets) to get your hands on our latest devices!

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