Note: This article is a first-hand recap of The Big Show: NRF 2012, delivered in four sections by the editors of Retail TouchPoints.

Retail TouchPoints was out in force at the 101st NRF Big Show last week — attending sessions, meeting with solution providers, shooting videos and sharing industry insights with passersby at the RTP booth. Collectively, RTP editors met with more than 100 industry executives including retailers, solution providers, and industry analysts.  In this article, we are sharing each editor’s personal perspective on the show, including insights on industry trends and hot topics.

Today’s mobile technology barely touches the tip of the iceberg in terms of the impact it will have on our lives, much less the retail industry, noted David Gruehn, Retail And Hospitality Industry Managing Director for Microsoft, during a 2011 tekSESSIONS conference presentation on December 7, 2011. Retailers must determine and seize the opportunities being presented ― or become mobility road kill, he noted.

Gruehn told attendees that mobile usage is evolving swiftly, bandwidth is growing, devices are getting smarter and apps are exploding. As they do so, the bridge between the digital lifestyle and digital workstyle is blurring to complete nonexistence.

The phone will become the new browser, Gruehn asserted. Within the next three years, “more people will access the Internet through their phones than through their PCs. Though today web browsing starts in the home, it is extending quickly through mobile devices into other channels…This is why Microsoft spent billions of dollars and made almost nothing on an investment called Internet Explorer: It’s real estate, and real estate is valuable,” said Gruehn.

The RetailROI charitable organization knows how to energize people leading up to the annual NRF convention. In its third year, SuperSaturday again fulfilled its promise of motivating both retailers and solution providers to get more involved in helping children in need around the world.

The day-long event, led by Greg Buzek, Founder and President of the IHL Group, was held on January 14, 2012 at the Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) offices in New York City. Feature presentations covered charitable efforts as well as retail trends. Notable speakers included:

• Dave Finnegan, Build-a-Bear Workshop
• David Levitt, Children’s Place
• Ed Martin, The Hershey Company
• Deborah Weinswig, Citi Investment Research
• Richard Hastings, Global Hunter Securities
• Vicki Cantrell, National Retail Federation