NZACS

Tim Fulton represented New Zealand and Mobil when presenting at the NACS Show in Chicago in October.  Tim’s presentation covered how the use of technology could help businesses grow sales, such as through the use of social media to research and understand customers.  This is what Tim had to say about his experiences....

"I was lucky enough to win the Peter Jowett award for a retailer at the NZACS Industry Night and got to represent NZ at the 2011 NACS show in Chicago.

In short, going to the NACS show was an awesome experience - words can’t really do the event justice.  The sheer size and scale of the event was mind-blowing, with booths ranging from being the size of a small house complete with water slides and spa pools to booths that had complete working car washes.

The Peter Jowett competition was very competitive with countries all over the world competing and competitors taking it very seriously as you would imagine.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to see many of the other presentations as I was towards the end of the bill but after talking with people who did see them it sounded like there were quite a few really good ideas discussed meaning the future is looking bright for the convenience retail sector.

From left to right Exxon Mobil Vice President Retail Sales, Mark Shores, Tim Fulton and Global Retail Network Advisor Russ Ritenour

When all was said and done I was fortunate enough to the win the Global ‘Retailer’ Award, but really the show and the competition itself was just a fantastic opportunity to network and to meet people and see and hear about new ideas from all over the globe.

I would whole heartedly recommend entering the competition / going to the NACS show as it really is a fantastic opportunity and event.

I would also like to say a big thank you to Kathy and Roger from NZACS, Peter Glass and Ian Blomfield and Jacqueline Hickey for all their support and who all helped make the trip a memorable one.