A mere 7 hours’ flight from London to New York to attend this year’s NRF Exhibition – a first for me – and no sooner than I had arrived and checked in to the 50-storey art deco Millennium Broadway hotel, it was time to get to work.

First off though, drinks and a chat with a VP of Slabb Kiosks who is extremely buoyant about his company’s prospects this year – the demand for informational, including those with wayfinding and interactive advertising features, and self-serve payment kiosks is exceptional; the sheer number of exhibitors at NRF in this sector is clear evidence of this.

We were at NRF 2018 from GLORY to promote our Cash Infinity range of front and back office retail cash recycling solutions – CI-10, CI-50, CI-100, CI-200 and CI-300 – as well as meet with existing customers, seek new business opportunities with potential clients and explore emerging trends in Retail. After meeting colleagues on our own stand and spending time visiting clients and other exhibitors some consistent themes as to where the Retail industry was heading emerged in my mind.

Certain exhibitors have been quick to recognise the changing face of retail and are rapidly responding to the commercial opportunities. Digital e-commerce, e-money and omni-channel solutions (anywhere, anytime, any payment method) are having to evolve and embrace the consumer’s retail habits faster than ever, so it’s especially important that we in the payments industry keep up. Therefore, we’re helping our retail customers automate their cash processes to increase efficiency, enhance security and release staff to focus on the experience they deliver.

Let’s take the mid-range priced, compact cash recyclers as an example of what the retail industry is crying out for right now. The timing of our own announcement of a partnership with leading US software-led cash payment systems provider, Tidel, could not have been sweeter. Not only did it coincide with the show, but it afforded a brilliant opportunity to show-off their new compact mid-range recycler for front and back office cash management purposes.

Software is an area in which I suspect there will be significant growth and was very much in evidence with the numbers of analytics solutions providers in attendance. The opportunity for strategic partners is to merge the Physical and Digital worlds. This is a game changer for the industry and winners are those who are best able to understand the interplay between the two to create the ultimate “Phygital” experience. We’ve seen retailers in the UK recently announcing record performance who have cracked both worlds whilst continuing to keep customers at the heart of the experience. In this vein, there were exhibitors with a reputation for software development displaying solutions which showcase their understanding of redeploying resources and retail trends, such as inventory management and online grocery picking which streamline the processes for customers from order to delivery. There were also convenience solutions allowing those using petrol pumps, for example, to order while filling up ready to collect by the time they pay for their fuel.

So, if retailers want to get “Phygital”, the emphasis for technology suppliers to this industry, like Glory, must be on making sure we assist them on their quest by developing and delivering the most relevant and valuable products.

From my own UK-based Glory OEM perspective, it was clear from visiting some of our customers that everybody benefits from our collaborative approach. Being powered by Glory, bringing a wider range of world-class, hybrid, intelligent retail cash management solutions to the market is one way of making sense of and sharing in the success within an industry that continues to accelerate its pace of change, whilst ensuring that our customers are always best-placed to serve the needs of their own customers.