We are just returning from an incredible three days reconnecting with customers. After a three-year hiatus, Blue Yonder returned to an in-person National Retail Federation’s Retail’s Big Show – and the first time appearing as Blue Yonder since changing our company name back in February 2020. 

Watch a recap video from Blue Yonder’s senior vice president Jon Carson

The three days were highlighted by hundreds of meetings and face-to-face discussions with customers, two incredible customer events at our NFL Playoff Watch Party and Retail Executive Exchange Dinner & Panel Discussion, and the amazing effort of the Blue Yonder team to demonstrate why we are the leader in powering supply chains and commerce.

NFL Playoff Watch Party with two-time Super Bowl Champion Eli Manning (middle) and Sean O’Hara (left) emceed by Blue Yonder’s Vince Beacom (right)
Retail Executive Exchange Panel featuring RILA, PVH, Tailored Brands, and Urban Outfitters

In addition to the Blue Yonder booth, we also had a satellite location within the Microsoft booth. Visitors had a chance to see our technology in action through live customer websites, demonstrating Blue Yonder’s Commerce solutions in real-time.

Blue Yonder’s Erin Halka demonstrates the company’s Commerce and OMS microservice solutions at the Microsoft booth

Big Ideas!

Blue Yonder’s theme of Supply Chain Powered Commerce stood out on the showroom floor and was validated by our two Big Ideas sessions. The first was the Microsoft Big Ideas session where Blue Yonder customer Walgreens’ Roxanne Flanagan, Chief Supply Chain Officer, joined Microsoft’s Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President, retail & consumer goods industries, on stage. Roxanne discussed how Walgreens built resiliency into their supply chain and stores with the help of Blue Yonder and Microsoft technology. The focus of their discussion was how technology can help retailers improve the shopper experience, support frontline workers and strengthen supply chains. Roxanne credited Blue Yonder’s order management solution (OMS) solution with enabling them to do curbside pickup within 90 minutes. Watch their session here.

During the Blue Yonder Big Ideas session, Senior Vice President Jon Carson presented with Foot Locker’s Danny Knopp, Vice President, Global Technology Solutions – Merchandising & Supply Chain, to discuss the shift from being a product-led to customer-led company and how that resulted in expanded market share. Key takeaways from the presentation were how they improved the digital experience for shoppers, grew online penetration and brand preference, increased fulfillment flexibility to reduce time to serve, and reformatted stores to tailor to changing market needs to build their reputation as an authority on sneaker culture and deliver the best selection and service in the industry.

By the Numbers

The Blue Yonder booth had thousands of visitors to the booth, hundreds of on-site meetings, over 400 attendees for the two Big Ideas sessions, and nearly 1,000 attendees for our off-site events. This means that we had ample opportunity to connect and build relationships with our phenomenal customers, prospects, analyst, press, and partners.

Special thanks to all the Blue Yonder associates who worked the event and to the customers, prospects and partners who stopped by the booth to speak with us. Planning is already underway for NRF 2024!

If you didn’t have a chance to meet with us at NRF, check out the other upcoming events we will be at here and be sure to meet us there!

See you next year, NRF!