When was the video taken?.. early morning, lunch time, closing time, on the last day?
NRF 2017 Exhibits Traffic Weak
The 'retail apocalypse' is not sparing the security industry. The National Retail Federation's Protect 2017's exhibit traffic is weak, notably worse than last year, based on our attendance both in 2016 and this year.
Below is a video of the entrance:
Inside, we share booth videos for Axis, Hikvision, Genetec, Avigilon and more than 10 others:
*** ****** ** **** ***** *** clearly ***** **** ***** ********* *** do ****** *** *** **** ******* exhibits ******* ******* ********** ** *** overall ****** ** ******** ** ****** security.
Almost all the videos were taken mid to late morning first day (of the two) so it actually reflects generally higher traffic times.
It should also be known that NRF runs break out sessions that overlap with the expo hall hours. This could have been a time where there was sessions that retailers wanted to see. I (retailer) was there and spent a ton of time on the expo floor and it didn't look this empty.
We exhibited and had moderate traffic throughout the show. I believe video of our booth was taken early Tues. Almost all of our largest customers were in attendance, though many only brought Sr. level staff
In speaking with both customers as well as a couple LP media folks, they said the main factors affecting attendance were:
1. Travel cutbacks due to the current retail financial environment
2. The dearth of training related sessions beneficial to Jr. LP staffers
3. Location - DC is difficult trip for Mtn & Pacific based companies (2 days of travel in addition to the show) and united has a lock on Dulles (not a lot of carriers into Regan). Add in the traffic to get to National Harbor and it's an expensive and time consuming proposition.
I anticipate next year in Dallas to be substantially better