Category Management & Shopper Insights Associations Introduce New Association For Retail & Consumer Professionals, Announce Changes In Dates And Scope Of Annual Conference

CHICAGO, April 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Category Management Association and Shopper Insights Management Associations (collectively known as CMA|SIMA) have announced a new professional association that will serve as a parent to both organizations: The Association of Retail & Consumer Professionals (ARC).

ARC reflects a dynamic and increasingly omnichannel retail marketplace. Professional roles in this industry are growing and changing, particularly in the eCommerce and direct-to-consumer channels. Like its daughter organizations, ARC will exist to provide a common language, best practices and training for professionals in the quickly evolving retail industry, and will provide an umbrella for future discipline-specific associations.

"The past year has seen an unprecedented amount of change in the retail industry. As we see the COVID-19 vaccinations begin to roll out, we realize this is a turning point moment for the retail industry. It's a critical time for leadership and a perfect time for our team to introduce ARC," says ARC President Michael McMahon. "We have moved aggressively to advance our launch timeline, and we are excited to be introducing the new brand months earlier than originally expected, this coming June."

ARC's new website, targeted toward all professionals in the retail & consumer goods industries, includes a plethora of cutting-edge digital resources for professional development, networking and growth. These include ARC University training, case studies, whitepapers, solution resources, a library of content and best practice models. Equally as exciting is ARC's partnership with world-class, award-winning architects HKS Inc., to design and digitally build the first-of-its-kind, collaborative digital campus and conference venue.

"This cutting-edge ARC platform was also being developed as a means to deliver the content for the 2021 CMA|SIMA Annual Conference virtually. Given this pivotal moment in the retail industry, we have decided to push back the 2021 CMA|SIMA Annual Conference dates slightly to coincide with ARC's official digital launch. We know this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to unveil these state-of-the-art resources to our Conference attendees," McMahon said.

The new official 2021 CMA|SIMA Annual Conference dates will be as follows:

June 15-17 & June 22-24
10AM-2PM CST

As part of the ARC launch, the association announced they would be adding several new marquee speakers and increasing the amount of content. Teaming up with production resources straight out of Hollywood, the Conference will now deliver breakout sessions, keynotes, training, meetings and networking events across six 4-hour days.

"2021 is the perfect time to go big, and these changes to our Annual Conference do exactly that," said McMahon. "This June, we will make the CMA|SIMA Conference THE can't-miss industry event of 2021 – involving and engaging with more professionals in our Conference than ever before."

To learn more about the upcoming conference, visit https://www.catman.global/annual-conference

SOURCE Category Management Association