The Retail Experience Center

Microsoft recently opened the Retail Experience Center (the Center) in Redmond, Washington. The Center is a private, 20,000-square-foot facility housing a fully functioning, interactive store environment, from point of service to receiving dock. Representing a blend of Microsoft's merchandising strategies as a consumer goods company and its solution capabilities as a technology provider for the retail industry, the Center demonstrates Microsoft's ongoing commitment to exploring how technology-driven innovations can enhance consumers' lives and shopping experiences.

The Retail Experience Center features in-store displays of Microsoft consumer products and showcases powerful ways to cut costs, create efficiencies, streamline operations, and promote and sell goods -- within the aisles, in the employee break room, at receiving and shipping, at check out, across the Web, and even at home or on the go.

Through the immersive setting of the Retail Experience Center, retail and consumer goods customers can emerge with an in-depth sense of how software and innovations can help them rise above competitive pressures and industry regulations to create a consumer-driven operation, one that consistently delivers a differentiated customer experience across multiple channels while empowering employees to make every square foot of retail space as profitable and productive as possible.

The Center is a 20,000 square foot immersive experience blending merchandising strategies with the latest retail technology.

The Center currently showcases more than 25 technology innovations from Microsoft and its industry partners that can immediately benefit consumers and the retail industry by:

• Building connected shopping experiences and customer loyalty.

  A hands-on environment with seamless, multi-channel integration, the Center encourages visitors to try out easy, more natural ways to interact with and access digital content. Interactive technologies include digital signage and kiosks plus applications that deliver targeted, real-time information to a shopping cart or on a consumer's mobile phone to help influence buying decisions, sales and customer loyalty. Innovations include Microsoft Surface, Microsoft Advertising solutions, Microsoft RFID infrastructure, Microsoft Tag, Microsoft Commerce Server 2009, and the multi-touch features in Windows 7.

• Improving business insights and decision-making.

  From the employee break room to assisted selling devices on the sales floor to a store manager's workbench, the Center showcases innovations across the entire retail environment. Visitors can experience how technology can empower retail employees with better visibility, support collaboration for increased productivity, and enable a seamless consumer experience. Innovations include Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, Microsoft Unified Communications offerings, Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions, Windows Mobile and Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007.

• Creating operational efficiencies.

  Retailers can cut costs, lower expenses and increase operational efficiencies with technologies for store systems integration, performance management, proactive remote monitoring of a store's environment, virtualization and enhanced data security capabilities. Environmental sustainability is also demonstrated throughout the Center from the design of the building, the management of in-store technology and eco-friendly packaging for products on its shelves. Technologies include Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

The Center is open by invitation only to qualified retailers and consumer goods companies. Tour requests should be directed to your Microsoft account executive.