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In the week and a half that's elapsed since the NRF BIG Show, I've entertained several media sponsorship requests from trade associations in the wireless/mobile technology/AIDC (automatic identification and data capture) arena(s). I lump these descriptors together because this is an increasingly gray space, but that's not what's important here. What's important is that I've entertained several media sponsorship requests from trade associations focused on mobility. The retail industry is a bright blip on their radar for the first time in a long time.

Four years ago, a well-known tradeshow producer (whom I'll refrain from calling out by name) approached me with this proposition: If Integrated Solutions For Retailers doesn't jump on the NFC (nearfield communication) bus now, you'll miss it altogether.

As you might surmise, we didn't get on the bus and we didn't miss a thing. If the consumer-facing mobile retail apps world was dependent on NFC (a-la first-gen MobileLime-like apps), we still wouldn't. But mobility in general? That bus is getting full, and we're on it. The fact that AIM (Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility) and CTIA Wireless (The Wireless Association) are focusing on mobile technology in the retail industry is a strong sign of positive things to come, and we're happy to support each of their efforts.

The opportunities for retailers in the mobile arena are far and wide, but they can generally be lumped into three categories — consumer applications, DC/warehouse management, and retail store operations — with some crossover between them. We believe that consumer-use m-commerce applications are promising, but have a long way to go (see my January article, The Decade's Five Biggest Retail Tech Flops). Mobility has been tested, proven, and widely accepted in the supply chain. But where we're downright bullish about the here-and-now promise of mobility is in the realm of store operations. Here, real-time mobile apps bridge a wide and important gap. The gap is between the glut of back-office data (supply chain, customer demographic, pricing and promotion, etc.) whizzing through handhelds on the back end, and the desire for that data at the consumer/store-level, where the need is not yet met by consumer-held m-commerce applications. Enter the device-enabled store associate. With mobile access to the aforementioned data, the associate is empowered with sale-saving inventory visibility, customer-building demographic and sales history information, and pricing and promotion accuracy. In short, she is far better equipped to serve customers than she could ever be without the mobility of those applications.

This is to say nothing of the wonderful mobile applications available to help store managers handle POS exceptions, manage associates, monitor promotions, and get alerts related to everything from merchandise levels to loss prevention issues. Mobility has been around for a while in the back rooms of retail, and mobility has a bright future on the front end as a consumer-held sales enabler. But right here, right now, your best opportunity to leverage mobility is (or should be) literally in the hands of your store leaders.