We’re just back from the 99th annual National Retail Federation show in New York, and as usual it was larger than life.  Cactus was one of a few select partners chosen to participate with Microsoft at their ‘Connected Experiences for Retail’ booth.

Kicking off the event on Sunday night, Microsoft hosted a fabulous Opening Night Reception at the Marriott Marquis for a several hundred of their closest friends. I haven’t seen any official numbers yet, but in general show attendance did seem to be up from last year.

We showcased the CommerceLive e-commerce microsite solution built for the Canadian Olympic Media Broadcast Consortium (COBMC) and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. It’s a great example of how you can quickly launch a themed and/or time specific microsite to capitalize on an event. (You can learn more about the different types of online store formats in our multi-site retailing webinar).

Unfortunately, I underestimated how well our Olympic themed giveaways would go over! Apologies to those who weren’t able to get a hat or shirt… but please feel free to visit our client at http://store.ctvolympics.ca to purchase these and many other great items :-) 

In the Microsoft booth, digital signage was also a big draw and was called out as “most innovative tech to debut on the show floor” according to RIS News.  For more information on Microsoft’s digital signage, check out http://blogs.msdn.com/shishirs/ or http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/industries/retail/VideoGallery.aspx

For a great wrap-up of the NRF show, including session highlights, visit http://blog.nrf.com/category/events/