September 24, 2014
A team of four students from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, representing the United States, is competing in the Future Retail Challenge, an annual international competition that takes place at the annual World Retail Congress, held this year in Paris, September 29-October 1. The FIT team members, who are students in Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology, will be up against teams from Hong Kong, London, Tokyo, and Marche, Italy. The 2013 FIT took first place in last year’s competition.
Paula Cushman is a second-semester student in the one-year program in Advertising and Marketing Communications. She is from Locust Valley, NY. Victoria Kulesza is a fifth-semester Fashion Merchandising Management student from Morris Plains, NJ. Cassandra Napoli is a seventh-semester International Trade Marketing for the Fashion Industries student from Glen Cove, NY. Alison Rebozo is a seventh-semester FMM major and comes from Hillside, NY.
This year, the student teams have been asked to develop a new retail concept for the Samsung Life Store. They must consider the needs of the millennial consumer in order to understand how the “internet of things” — the connected home, the convergence of products and changing lifestyles — will dictate the look, role, and delivery of a store selling Samsung appliances. They will develop a retail store concept that reflects this and includes an explanation of the shoppers’ journey, a basis for their concept, a business model, and an earnings forecast.
Samsung has been working closely with the competing teams to advise and mentor the development of their ideas. While in Paris, they will collaborate with leading design agency Liganova to create displays of their concepts, which will be on exhibit at the World Retail Congress in Paris.
A panel of senior retailers, design experts, editors, and Samsung executives will hear each team present their ideas on September 30 and then select the winning team. The panel includes Ian McGarrigle, founder and chairman, World Retail Congress; Gerald Reitmayr, head of retail Europe, Samsung; Robert Thiemann, founder and editor in chief, Frame; Alexander Salzer, COO, Liganova – The BrandRetail Company; Bernie Brookes, CEO and MD, Myer Holdings Limited; and Nora Fehlbaum, co-CEO, Vitra.
About The World Retail Congress
The World Retail Congress was launched in 2007 to be a platform for senior retail executives to meet and discuss the most important topics affecting retailers across the world. It has been held in Barcelona (2007-9) and Berlin (2010-11) and is attended by up to 1,000 industry leaders from more than 60 countries. The program is developed in conjunction with the Congress Advisory Board which represents many of the world’s biggest retailers such as Gap, Kingfisher, Macys, Reliance Lifestyle, Myer, Alshaya, Netto, Inditex, and Tesco. The co-sponsors of the 2014 World Retail Congress are Deloitte, MasterCard, and Samsung. For more information, visit worldretailcongress.com.
The Future Retail Challenge student competition has become an established and popular component of the World Retail Congress. Now in its seventh year, the Future Retail Challenge seeks to promote the future talent that will enter the retail industry around the world. The World Retail Congress partners with colleges and universities that are supported by the retail industry. It is the aim of the Future Retail Challenge to promote the high level of education provided by these institutions, to support the range of talented students they are preparing for careers in retailing, and to bring the students’ fresh thinking and new ideas on retail into the Congress itself.
About FIT
The Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology at the Fashion Institute of Technology offers ten degree programs that prepare students for business careers related to the fashion industries. The school’s majors are Advertising and Marketing Communications, Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing, Direct and Interactive Marketing, Entrepreneurship for the Fashion and Design Industries, Fashion Merchandising Management, Home Products Development, International Trade and Marketing for the Fashion Industries, Production Management: Fashion and Related Industries, Technical Design, and Textile Development and Marketing.
The Fashion Institute of Technology, a college of the State University of New York, has been a leader in career education in art, design, business, and technology for nearly 70 years. With a curriculum that provides a singular blend of hands-on, practical experience, classroom study, and a firm grounding in the liberal arts, FIT offers a wide range of outstanding programs that are affordable and relevant to today’s rapidly changing industries. Internationally renowned, FIT draws on its New York City location to provide a vibrant, creative community in which to learn. The college offers more than 45 majors and grants AAS, BFA, BS, MA, MFA, and MPS degrees, preparing students for professional success and leadership in the global marketplace.