About 1,000 retail business professionals from throughout the nation are anticipated to descend on downtown Bentonville for Retail Innovation Week, which begins Monday.
Ten partnering organizations have deliberate a collection of 12 occasions to showcase Northwest Arkansas’ retail, logistics and tech communities for attendees from shopper packaged-goods hubs equivalent to Austin, Texas; Chicago; and New York.
Kathryn Carlisle, director of networks at Fieldbook Studio, mentioned Northwest Arkansas’ potential as an innovation alternative is underestimated, particularly by enterprise capitalists and founders.
“The area’s small-town ambiance facilitates connections and entry to expertise, making it a gorgeous location for startups,” Carlisle mentioned.
And “the numerous presence of shopper packaged-goods corporations within the space additional enhances networking alternatives,” she mentioned.
Among the rising retail tech companies that hosted occasions all year long determined to collaborate on one huge occasion that might add worth for folks touring into the realm, maybe to see Walmart’s new campus, or who journey globally to all such occasions.
For Retail Innovation Week, “every occasion is separate however strategically aligned, designed to interact completely different audiences throughout the retail worth chain with an curiosity in innovation,” Carlisle mentioned.
One of many week’s anchor occasions, hosted by Fieldbook Studio, known as Embark. It features a welcome reception on Monday at The Ledger; an all-day summit on Tuesday; and smaller, extra intimate gatherings known as “community properties” round Bentonville.
These assembly will embrace leisure and a cheerful hour within the evenings and low and networking within the mornings.
Carlisle mentioned Fieldbook Studio is the enterprise that is “main the cost” in planning Retail Innovation week.
“We’re organizing our personal occasions,” Carlisle mentioned, “however we’re sort of serving to all people collaborate on a scale as effectively.”
Fieldbook Studio is backed by VentureWell; the Walton Household Basis; and the Arkansas Improvement Finance Authority, Carlisle mentioned.
Its guardian firm, Alloy Companions, relies in Indianapolis, she mentioned.
The roster of Northwest Arkansas organizations apart from Fieldbook which might be presenting occasions this week embrace: Dunnhumby Ventures; Endeavor; Bentonville Space Chamber of Commerce; New Street Capital Companions; Plug and Play; Startup NWA; College of Arkansas’ The Collaborative; and eighth & Walton.
Jeff Clapper, president and chief government officer of eighth & Walton, has labored since shopping for the corporate in 2014 to assist suppliers change into higher companions with Walmart Inc.
By providing consultations, coaching and sources, eighth & Walton has labored with 1000’s of corporations, from decades-old world suppliers to upstart, disruptive entrepreneurs.
Whereas the corporate is amongst these collaborating in Retail Innovation Week, Clapper mentioned eighth & Walton’s Client Influence Summit will run on the similar time, with the bigger occasion serving as a type of umbrella for it.
eighth & Walton could have analytics and insights corporations, retailers, traders — “everybody from the patron packaged-goods house,” Clapper mentioned.
For the summit, Clapper mentioned, eighth & Walton will convey collectively shopper product corporations to share each “methods they’ve grown their enterprise and hopefully had a constructive impression on the surroundings.”
Corporations might be each extra worthwhile and fewer wasteful, Clapper mentioned.
This comes from enterprise leaders asking such questions as “how will we take away plastic from our packaging and in addition achieve extra space on our cabinets,” he mentioned.
Carol Spieckerman, a retail advisor and president of Spieckerman Retail, mentioned that with Walmart, J.B. Hunt Transport and Tyson Meals as “anchor tenants” in Northwest Arkansas, plus a continuing stream of consultants and tech corporations making pilgrimages right here, “you’ve got obtained all of the components for a serious innovation ecosystem.”
Spieckerman mentioned Northwest Arkansas has moved past being “simply ‘the place Walmart lives’ to changing into a legit vacation spot for showcasing cutting-edge know-how.”
“Right here, the main focus is not simply on cool know-how, however on know-how that may instantly rework trillion-dollar provide chains and buyer experiences,” Spieckerman mentioned. “It is a highly effective play.”
Spieckerman mentioned Walmart is not only a retailer anymore, however “an enormous know-how platform that occurs to promote groceries and merchandise.”
At that stage of sophistication, “innovation occasions right here aren’t about impressing Walmart, however about maintaining with them.”
“The most effective occasions right here will convey real thought management that challenges even Walmart’s spectacular expertise bench,” she mentioned. “However, not like SXSW’ inventive chaos, Northwest Arkansas innovation occasions have built-in enterprise objective.”
“Each dialog right here has potential business software,” Spieckerman mentioned, “which makes the networking exponentially extra helpful.”
