Aberdeen Selects Best Buy, Family Dollar, Stop & Shop, Walgreens and Wet Seal as Retail Industry Excellence Award Winners

Award Winners Announced at Inaugural Retail Leadership Summit, June 17-18 in New York City


BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - June 29, 2010) -  Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), announced the winners of its 2010 industry achievement awards for retail excellence at the inaugural Retail Leadership Summit, June 17-18 in New York City.

Award winners were chosen based on proprietary Aberdeen research conducted over the past several months covering retail process excellence; executive stewardship; business evolution; innovation in technology; and performance excellence. The prestigious winners and nominees by category were:

  1. In-Store Customer Experience -- Award Winner: Stop & Shop
    Nominees: Apple Stores; Stop & Shop; Staples; and Nordstrom.

  2. Cross-Channel & Retail Integration -- Award Winner: Best Buy
    Nominees: 1800 Flowers; Best Buy; New York & Company; Nike Retail; and Staples.

  3. Inventory and Retail Supply Chain -- Award Winner: Family Dollar
    Nominees: Family Dollar; Giant Eagle; Lowe's; and Macy's.

  4. Overall Operational Excellence -- Award Winner: Walgreens
    Nominees: Aeropostale; Apple Stores; CVS; Walgreens; and Wal-Mart.

  5. Emerging Business Process/Technology -- Award Winner: Wet Seal
    Nominees: 1800 Flowers; New York & Company; Pizza Hut; Sheetz Convenience Stores; and Wet Seal.

  6. Retail Sustainability & Green Initiatives -- Award Winner: Best Buy
    Nominees: Best Buy; Carrefour; JC Penney; and Marks & Spencer.

Featuring Aberdeen's Sahir Anand, Retail Practice Research Director, and its retail research analyst team, the Summit convened industry experts, Aberdeen Analysts, business executives and IT leaders and served as a sounding board for new strategic ideas needed to solve retail pain-points and revive the customer experience. The team also unveiled Aberdeen's 2010 retail mantra based on synergistic retailing -- The Integrated Retail Enterprise.

Summit speakers included Vice Presidents and C-level executives from the Association of Retail Technology Standards; Best Buy; Bob's Stores; Chico's FAS Inc.; Crocs; Family Dollar; Hastens; Kenneth Cole; Lowes; Motorcycle Superstore; New York & Company; Santa Clara University; Save Mart Supermarkets; Stop & Shop Supermarkets; Swarovski; Vitamin Shoppe; and Walgreens.

Summit Sponsors and Partners included 4R Systems; ADT Retail Solutions; CrossView; Epicor; Microsoft, Retaligent; TAGSYS RFID; Targetbase; 1010data; Direct Source; iGATE; Impinj; KeyNote; Sterling Commerce; Verizon Business; Apparel Magazine; Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America; Retail Speak; Integrated Solutions for Retailers; RetailWire; and Supply Chain Council.

Visit Research.Aberdeen.com for additional access to complimentary Retail Research.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen or call (617) 854-5200, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748.

(C) 2010 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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