Retailers will gather to explore new ways of engaging customers with advice from top industry executives and leading academics at a Nottingham Business School conference on Thursday 27 September 2012.   The rapidly changing economic and retail environment, pressure on retail sales, the growth of technology and the new ways in which customers engage with service providers will all be tackled at the event.  

Retailers will gather to explore new ways of engaging customers with advice from top industry executives and leading academics at a Nottingham Business School conference on Thursday 27 September 2012.

The rapidly changing economic and retail environment, pressure on retail sales, the growth of technology and the new ways in which customers engage with service providers will all be tackled at the event.

Guest speakers will include Alex Gourlay, CEO, Health and Beauty Division, Alliance Boots; Sophie Patrikios, senior director, Consumer Services LEGO Group; and Andy Lyon, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Academic perspectives will be provided by keynote speaker Professor Venkat Ramaswamy, Hallman Fellow of Electronic Business and Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Dr Richard Straub, president of the Peter Drucker Societies of Europe and Austria; Professor Moira Clark, director of the Henley Centre for Customer Management at Henley Business School; and Dr Graham Hill of Optima Value Consultants.

The event is part of the wider academic International Colloquium on Relationship Marketing, which is being held at Nottingham Business School, part of Nottingham Trent University, from 25 - 27 September 2012.

Leading the event are Professor Kim Cassidy and Dr Sheilagh Resnick, who are also part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Retail Navigator project, which aims to forge stronger links between the social science community and the retail sector.

Dr Sheilagh Resnick said: “Finding new ways of engaging customers in an uncertain environment is vital. Many traditional methods for engaging customers are now outdated and retailers need to keep up with the latest strategies to survive and grow.”