At the National Retail Federation BIG Show in New York (Jan. 16-17, 2012), NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) will focus on why retailers need to adopt a converged retailing strategy if they want to remain competitive in today’s market. Virtual deal hunting across online and mobile channels is now an integral part of consumers’ shopping experience, as consumers demand that retailers provide convergence across their physical and virtual channels for a more efficient and enjoyable shopping experience.

“Retailers are rethinking how the in-store experience can be complemented by a consumer’s personal technology and social sharing to deliver better value and an enhanced customer experience,” said Rick Chavie, vice president, retail marketing, NCR. “At NRF, NCR will guide retailers through the c-tailing journey through the eyes of a consumer as well as the retail manager responsible for executing the vision in the physical store. This 360 degree view will highlight how retailers can implement the converged consumer experience today in a real-world environment.”

As we enter 2012, NCR is forecasting the emergence of five key retail trends:

• New types of “experiential” store experiences will emerge that blend digital discovery and exploration with the sensory impact of seeing and touching products. Stores will use media management software to change content on video walls and interactive touch screens in response to celebrity trends, ratings and social media reviews.
• By offering free Wi-Fi, more retailers will enable consumers to price- and feature-compare in-store using their smartphones. A near-match pricing strategy along with a “buy on-line, pick up in store” capability will accelerate convergence.
• Online, personalized portals, based on a consumer to business, or C2B model, will enable consumers to share their preferences for brands, promotional offers and communication channels. In return, they will receive more relevant, personalized offers and information in real-time across online, mobile or physical store channels.
• Collaborative shopping will enable consumers not only to share opinions with friends and family while shopping but also engage in real-time shopping together as mobile and social commerce meets the physical store environment.
• Retailers will reinvent the front-end experience as they continue the shift to personalized self-service, which will give consumers a choice about when and where they want to checkout, improve productivity and disperse checkout experience across the retailer’s own service technologies and the consumer’s personal technologies.

To deliver this vision, NCR will demonstrate in booth #415 innovations in services and self-checkout and its line of NCR c-tailing™ solutions that enable retailers to offer consumers greater personalization and consistency across channels, such as the Internet, mobile devices, social media and in the store. By adopting a converged retailing strategy, retailers are able to differentiate themselves, lower operating costs and attract today’s empowered and elusive consumer.

Additionally, in booth #201, NCR will demonstrate next-generation cloud-based and mobile POS offerings for SMB retailers.

Further information on NCR’s presence at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show 2012 can be found online at: http://ncrpr.ncr.com/web/rsdmkt/landingPages/retail/NRF2012/index.html.

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a global technology company leading how the world connects, interacts and transacts with business. NCR’s assisted- and self-service solutions and comprehensive support services address the needs of retail, financial, travel, hospitality, entertainment, gaming, public sector, telecom carrier and equipment organizations in more than 100 countries. NCR (www.ncr.com) is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.

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