A quick note from me to say: "I'm off." After three and a half years and overseeing thousands of news stories, features and interviews as editor of Essential Retail, it's time for me to move on to take up a new opportunity away from the world of retail technology.
We established this online magazine to bring you fresh analysis, breaking news, big interviews and unique content from this fast moving sector of the retail industry, and as I look back on my time here I feel we achieved that. Alongside our sister event, RBTE, we've become the platform for retailers to find out about the latest solutions, trends and people transforming their industry, and we've become a hub for the tech companies themselves as they look to learn retailers' direction of travel. Long may that continue.
The last week was a microcosm of my entire time here, really, as the publication hit NRF's Big Show in New York to cover all the major retail announcements, the on-stage big interviews and news about the innovative retail tech on show.
Among it all was content on the Internet of Things, the digital store, conversational commerce, back-end tech, front-end tech, loyalty schemes, online payments, the growth of eCommerce, mobile's role in retail, virtual reality, robotics, digital marketing, supply chain pain, retail jobs and retail tech strategy: there really is a lot going on at the moment, and it's been a privilege to have been given a chance to try and make sense of it all for our readers.
It was a fantastic way to go out, and I'm sure I'll be hearing similar themes and seeing a lot of you around in my new adventures in the world of travel retail.
Following my departure from Essential Retail, the hugely talented Caroline Baldwin will be taking on my editorial responsibilities. I look forward to watching how the content, voice and brand develops under her leadership – for those looking to contact her, she can be reached on caroline@essentialretail.com.
I'm probably expected to sign off by offering something witty, but all I can say is I'll miss this industry and its perpetual flow of innovative ideas. The contacts I've made, the figures operating at the heart of retail tech and the team I've worked alongside here at Essential Retail and RBTE have made it a challenging and thought-provoking – but thoroughly enjoyable – place to be. Just, please give me a call on the day the retail channels finally merge!
Ben Sillitoe (founding editor, Essential Retail)