The Resurrection of Local Retailers

http://ibm.co/BDBytes - Over the past few years, the rise of ecommerce has taken a toll on local brick-and-mortar retailers. Last year, for the first time, online sales worldwide topped $1 trillion -- and that strong growth is expected to continue. As we buy more from the comfort of our home or office, does that spell doom for local retailers? That's what our expert panel discussed.

 

Brian Kilcourse (@KilcoRSR) is cofounder and managing partner of Retail Systems Research LLC, and a recognized leader in retail technology practices. His published research covers topics from omni-channel retailing and customer data security to analytics and mobility. Prior to becoming an analyst, he was named one of the Premier 100 IT Leaders by Computerworld magazine. 

 

Patricia Waldron (@PVWaldron) is IBM’s Global Retail Solutions Director. Her team manages IBM’s portfolio of hardware, software, consulting services and research sciences, to deliver solutions that solve critical business problems in new ways. For over 20 years, Patricia has been at the forefront of innovations in store operations, enterprise systems and analytics technologies in retail.

 

Moderating the discussion was David Pittman (@TheSocialPitt), social media strategist for IBM Big Data & Analytics.

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