GMDC to unveil new initiatives, repositioning of brand at GM Conference

Patrick Spear

ORLANDO, Fla. — As GMDC’s annual General Merchandise Conference gets underway in Orlando, Fla., spirits are running high as the association will unveil several new initiatives and will celebrate the appointment of Patrick Spear as the new CEO during the event.



“It is an exciting time for us for a lot of reasons. … We’ve got a lot of really exciting things happening here within GMDC. A lot of positive energy,” said Spear, who has served as GMDC president since Nov. 1, during a virtual news conference on Friday.



Dave McConnell, CEO, will transfer his role to Spear during the conference on June 1.



Among the highlights of the event, said Spear, will be the announcement of a more expansive partnership with RetailNet Group.



Through its existing partnership, GMDC currently makes available to its members RetailNet Group’s virtual store tours database, which shows the latest in retail innovations from around the world



Now, through the expanded partnership, GMDC members will have access to the entire RetailNet Group database, which takes a deep-dive into retail analytics with more than 1,800 retailers around the world representing over $7 trillion in combined annual sales, said Spear.



“Our belief is that this is relevant for the GMDC membership because, for the first time, our members … will have access to a market perspective of what’s happening both within the United States and outside of the United States,” said Spear. “Historically, this data has strictly been the purview of large companies, both retailers and manufacturers. But today, in our broadening partnership with RNG, we will make that data available via a very affordable subscription to our entire membership.”



GMDC will also be discussing with members the future vision of the association and its commitment to “retail re-imagined.”



“Today, we are really working on repositioning our brand and, as we think about it, we want to represent what we think of as retail re-imagined and that GMDC, plus a focus on innovation, is going to enable what we think of as a connected environment to create, collaborate and ideally drive commerce for our members,” said Spear. “So, we are really going to be driving that message here at the conference.”



The focus, according to Spear, is largely predicated on the pace of change, or disruption, facing the industry —



• The rise of e-commerce and the “Amazon impact” on the marketplace.

• The shift in consumer habits largely driven by millennials.



“So, what we are really thinking about and focused on is how do we drive consumers into a store today? What can we do and how can we help our members inspire their customers to come in and engage today?” said Spear. “We believe it is predicated on the experience that the retailers offer. Give the shoppers a reason to come in.”



Added Spear, “We are spending a lot of time thinking about that and in our work together with RNG and in our work together with other service solutions companies that belong to GMDC we think there is a great opportunity for us to change the conversation and to inspire a lot of our members to do better, to compete, to give their customers a reason to come into today. So that’s what we are going to spend a lot of time here at the conference talking about.”