Meet the Market a staple of Marketplace

DENVER — The 2012 National Association of Chain Drug Stores Marketplace Conference kicked off Saturday morning with a bang as retailers and suppliers gathered for Meet the Market, a special program designed to provide attendees the opportunity to present and be presented with new products.

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“Meet the Market on Saturday has become institutionalized and is one of the distinguishing factors of Marketplace. … We are using some new technology to help refine these meetings,” Jim Whitman, SVP member programs and services, told Drug Store News.

Over the years, Meet the Market undoubtedly has become an institution within Marketplace, pairing suppliers — including many emerging new companies — and retailers in a series of back-to-back-to-back appointments that are prearranged by NACDS.

According to NACDS, nearly 8,000 appointments took place during the one-day program, which started at 9 a.m. and concluded at 4:30 p.m on Saturday. Supplier participants included first-time exhibitors and any exhibitor who has a new product or service that has been launched since July 2011 or will be launched in 2012.