RetailNOW 2009 Draws Near-Record Crowd

RSPA's RetailNOW 2009, held July 11th - 16th in Las Vegas, NV, drew over a thousand attendees from all markets of the retail technology industry. With 131 exhibitors and a near record number of attendees, RetailNOW 2009 was a huge success.

Keys to the show's growth include:

• Serving as the retail IT industry's leading cross-vertical show, featuring the leading vendors and distributors in the grocery, food service, convenience store, retail, and in-store marketing markets.
• 23 education sessions within 4 different tracks and 2 Keynote Presentations.
• RSPA providing free space to vendor-members to hold their annual dealer meetings. Over 23 member-companies took advantage of this money saving benefit by holding their meeting in conjunction with RetailNOW 2009.

"We are very satisfied with the success of RetailNOW. The fact that both exhibitors and attendees were equal to last year's event speaks volumes about the resiliency of the retail technology industry. The relevancy of RetailNOW being where the industry meets is clear," said Joseph Finizio, RSPA President & CEO.

Additional show highlights included the RetailNEXT pavilion where emerging technologies were featured along with prime time sessions where companies could present product specific demonstrations, both directly on the show floor. RSPA also held its annual General Session meeting where members voted on new Board of Directors (see complete list below).

During RetailNOW 2009, RSPA held its annual Awards Banquet. Presented were the RSPA Awards of Excellence along with the RSPA/VSR Innovative Solution Awards. The Awards of Excellence are the only awards in the retail technology industry where dealers vote for their favorite vendors. RSPA dealer-members can vote on the best hardware provider, applications software provider, distributors, consumables, electronic payment provider, and reseller support/customer support services. The RSPA/VSR Innovative Solution Awards recognize outstanding achievements in technologically advanced multi-vendor solutions serving SMBs. These awards are open to any dealer/reseller of retail technology with a solution that falls under one of the following markets: Fine Dining, Quick Service, Specialty Retail, Credit/Processing, Supermarket, and In-Store Customer Touch Points.

During the RetailNOW 2009 Awards Banquet held on July 14th, the following companies received an award:

RSPA Awards of Excellence:
Gold Medallion - Posera

Hardware Provider
PowerVAR – Gold| APG – Silver| CRS – Bronze

Applications Software Provider
Posera – Gold| StoreNext – Silver| Future POS – Bronze

Distributors
Ready Distribution – Gold| ScanSource – Silver| Ingram Micro – Bronze

Consumables
California Ribbon and Carbon Co., Inc. – Gold| Heartland Label Company – Silver| Paper Rolls Now – Bronze

Electronic Payment
Mercury Payment Systems – Gold| Merchant Link – Silver| DataCap – Bronze

Reseller Support/Customer Support Services
Quality Retail Systems, Inc. – Gold| Business Solutions Magazine – Silver| Hayman Consulting – Bronze

RSPA/VSR Innovative Solution Awards:
Credit/Processing Category
ShipRite Software for their Merchant Warehouse BINsmart Solution

Fine Dining Category
Computer Visions for their SoftTouch Touchless Sign-On

In-Store Customer Touch Points Category
SpeechGear, Inc. for their Nuance Speech Solutions Software

Supermarket Category
SNCR California for their NCR SelfServ Checkout

Quick-Service Category
Freedom Shopping/The Danby Group for their Fast Track Convenience

Specialty Retail Category
WavePOS/Rinpak Inc. for their WaveSoft Mobile POS Platform

Best of the Best Category
WavePOS/Rinpak Inc. for their WaveSoft Mobile POS Platform

RSPA Board of Directors
2009/2010 Board of Directors:
Officers: Brad Holaway (Chairman), Jason Cowan (Chairman-Elect),and Dave McCarthy (Secretary/Treasurer).

Board Members:
Scott Berkshire, Dean Crotty - Past Chairman, Les Farrance , Robert Foster, B.J. Maynard, Jim Janke , Bill Kisse , Michael Kress, John Lohr, B.J. Maynard, Lynn Skurla , Mark Olson (Vendor Board Member), Tom Reichart (VBM), and Brad Tracy (VBM).

"It is astounding to me to witness how strong our association has grown in just the past 4 years as we have transitioned into and industry association. I would encourage anyone sitting on the sidelines watching to get off the bench and join us in the game. Our strength is in our involved members. We don't just want your dues; we want your active participation to help us grow this industry. I'm convinced you will be shocked by the return-on-involvement for your own business," said Brad Holaway, RSPA Chairman of the Board & Copperstate Restaurant Technologies President.

About RSPA
The Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA) is the only association dedicated to the retail technology industry. RSPA members include resellers, hardware manufacturers, software developers, consultants, finance companies, and distributors bringing retail technology products and/or services to the marketplace. The RSPA provides education, industry advocacy, benefits and information that assists member companies in expanding their business. For more information, visit www.GoRSPA.org

SOURCE: The Retail Solutions Providers Association