Ignite 2019 Had Laser Focus on Retailer Collaboration

We partner with retailers from coast-to-coast (and far beyond) to provide technology across food, beverage, pharmacy, convenience, and micro market verticals. And for several years now, we’ve been assembling this diverse network of retailers together at the Ignite Retail Success Conference.

Ignite 2019: Planned with a Purpose

This year’s conference saw more than 300 attendees, sponsors, speakers, and partners from across North America!

While retailer use of CATAPULT®, ECRS hardware, and services are a key focus of the conference, we want to have a broader focus on the “Retail Success” aspect. While planning Ignite 2019 (held in Nashville from July 29 – 31) we tried to keep our focus on this from the very early stages of planning.

With Ignite 2019’s kickoff video we emphasized the stark contrast between hyperbolic headlines declaring a “retail apocalypse” and the bright future that we envision for local and regional retailers who are willing to build a positive store culture, band together with colleagues, and embrace innovation.

A Community for Collaboration

We aim to help CATAPULT-powered retailers “slay giants” by creating a success-focused learning community.

Many local and regional retailers face the same obstacles, and ultimately, they are squaring off against the same global-scale competitors. If we band together, we can beat back the big box behemoths, hypermarkets, and online giants.

CATAPULT retailers are all harnessing the same powerful technology, but putting CATAPULT in their stores isn’t the end point… it’s the starting point. We want CATAPULT to be the common ground where conversations get started at Ignite.

And conversations certainly happened at Ignite 2019. The buzz and excitement from attendees was palpable, and we were thrilled to see retailers learning, networking, and leading during roundtable discussions, Q&A panels, evening socials, and in breakout sessions.

Inspiring Speakers & Informative Sessions

Ignite 2019’s featured keynote speaker is no stranger to the task of seizing success in retail. Doug Rauch, the former Trader Joe’s President who helped transform the grocery chain from humble beginnings into a national powerhouse, delivered a relevant and timely message to attendees about innovation, purpose, and culture within retail.

Each day, after morning keynotes ended, breakout sessions were offered until the evening. Sessions were roughly 45 minutes each, and were led by a mix of ECRS CATAPULT experts, real-world retailers, and industry players (like Ingenico and Fujitsu). Content in the sessions covered a wide range of retail topics like loss prevention, cybersecurity, perpetual inventory, loyalty programs, reporting, and leadership development.

Innovation Demonstrations

This year’s conference also featured a 4,092 square foot product lab, our biggest ever! Here, ECRS and many of our generous conference sponsors were able to demo their latest retail innovations.

Tying It All Together

At the close of the conference, we recognized seven attendees that we consider to be “trailblazers on the front line of the retail revolution” during our Awards Ceremony. Representatives from Avondale Food Stores, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Marczyk Fine Foods, Co-op Food Stores, McCaffrey’s Food Markets, Date & Thyme, and Harvest Health Foods were invited on stage to be recognized for their involvement and achievements with ECRS and the CATAPULT platform. Read more about each of the winners.

We emblazoned “the best is yet to come” on much of the swag at this year’s conference. And we really believe that. We have an energized, excited network of forward-thinkers who are ready to lean in on innovation and they are ready to challenge the status quo. That puts a tremendous amount of momentum at our back, and at the backs of CATAPULT users. We can’t wait to see just how much our retailers will achieve in the coming year… and for them to share their stories at Ignite 2020.