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Who's who: Jeff Roster

Jeff Roster has a complicated relationship with the industry he covers as principal analyst of global industries, retail, for Gartner Dataquest. He knows firsthand the grueling hours, nagging customers and challenges of managing hourlies. But he also knows the power of retail, and the industry's well-hidden love of technology. Roster will present new research on retailer attitudes about using technology like kiosks at Retail Systems 2003 in June.

May 28, 2003

Jeff Roster has a complicated relationship with the industry he covers as principal analyst of global industries, retail, for Gartner Dataquest. He knows first hand the grueling hours, tough bosses, nagging customers and challenges of managing hourly employees. But he also knows the power of retail, and the industry's well-hidden love of technology. Roster will present at Retail Systems 2003 in June new research on retailer attitudes about using technology like kiosks (see related story "Kiosks, self-serve pavilion highlight June Retail Systems show").

"There's a misconception that retail doesn't understand technology, or is laggard in adopting it," said Roster. "I challenge that notion flat out."

He said that Wal-Mart, in particular, is a smart and aggressive adopter of technology. "The technology it has adopted for supply-chain automation has led to it having the most advanced supply chain in the universe." Wal-Mart is on the brink of earning $250 billion in sales, and Roster credits to some extent the retailer's use of technology.

Roster also cited Targetand Best Buy as progressive technology users.

"The thing is, retailers don't take credit for what they do right," he said. "If they do something well, they keep quiet for competitive reasons. It has hurt the industry a lot in that retail is viewed as tech-phobic. Kids out of college don't migrate to the industry because they perceive it's not an attractive business. That is a shame."

Kiosks in retail

Roster is a fan of kiosks in the retail industry. "What can I say? Kiosks are an efficient, overnight success 20 years in the making. It's neat technology retailers are embracing."

He calls kiosks the "offensive linemen" of retail. "They do the job, but you'll only hear about them when they get flagged for a penalty."

Actually, the fact that kiosks are becoming so integrated in the retail landscape is a sure sign of the technology's success. "People are interacting with them all the time. When you don't notice you're using something, it's mature technology."

Kiosks will be a topic of the research Roster presents at Retail Systems. The show runs June 9-12. "The research shows that tier-one and even tier-two retailers are moving along in their adoption. Kiosks solve problems," Roster said. He offered examples of gift registry and virtual sales assistance. But even more interesting, Roster noted, is the use of kiosks internally.

"Kiosks are moving beyond customer-facing deployments to solve real business issues, especially in HR," he said. (See related story, "Kiosks aid not-so-human resources").

Roster thought back to his old days as a retail manager of hourly associates. "One of my biggest headaches was figuring how much vacation time and sick time each associate had. It literally took hours of each week. I would have given anything to turn them over to a kiosk and say, `figure it out yourself. on your break time.'"

The Gartner research, in general, is a large amount of quantitative data that will "verify the fact that retail is being radically transformed by the use of technology."

From the trenches

Roster said his career in retail has given him a unique perspective on his data. "Having worked in retail should be a requirement if you're going to cover this crazy industry in any meaningful way."

Roster's father was a meat and sausage wholesaler/retailer. "My six brothers and sisters and I all did our tour in his operation," Roster said. "He was a classic CRM guy; he knew every customer intuitively." But his father was a demanding boss.

"I joke that I started in retail at the age of 8 and have been trying to get out ever since," said Roster.

After receiving a degree in business administration from Chico State University, Roster worked in the internal audit department of Citizens Utility Company in California. He then moved to an environmental engineering company. After that company went the way of too many startups, Roster rejoined retail.

Roster worked in logistics and process improvement for Mervyn's. As an operations manager, he developed benchmarking and total quality management initiatives, as well as operational budget analyses. During this time, he earned a master's degree in business administration from St. Mary's College.

Prior to joining the analyst ranks, Roster was a consultant with GartnerConsulting.

In his current role at Gartner, Roster focuses on what retailers worldwide will spend on technology, including hardware, software and services. He talks with retailers and vendors about key trends in the industry and how they affect spending patterns.

From what he has seen, Roster said, "In the next four to five years, retail will see more change than in any given timeframe in history."