Trade News > Trade Regulations > Retail Industry Groups to Merge

Retail Industry Groups to Merge

William B. Cassidy | Apr 22, 2009 5:36PM GMT

The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story

NRF, RILA will combine to strenghten retail industry voice in Washington

Two retail industry groups with a major voice in transportation policy are merging to give retailers a more powerful, united association in Washington.

The National Retail Federation, the retail industry’s largest association, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association will merge by this summer, both groups say, creating an as yet unnamed group that will focus on government policy, communications and public affairs.

The merger comes as retailers struggle with a host of legislative initiatives and regulatory issues in Washington as well as the recession, changes in consumer in-store and online spending and the need to invest in new technology.

“The challenges and opportunities before our members are unprecedented,” RILA Chairman Robert A. Niblock and NRF Chairman Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, said in a joint statement. “Now is the right time to bring these associations together.”

Niblock is the chairman and CEO of home improvement giant Lowe’s; Ullman is chairman and CEO of department store retail chain J.C. Penney.

Both organizations are active in transportation policy planning and advocacy, working with other business organizations to promote their members’ interest in issues ranging from maritime and aviation security to highway and infrastructure spending.

The merger also will create a one-stop retail policy shop in Washington for state retail associations and business groups in state capitals across the nation, RILA and NRF said. The staff of both organizations will be integrated.

Tracy Mullin, NRF president and CEO since 1993, will retire later this year. She told her plans to NRF's leadership last year, and made them public as the group announced its plan to merge with RILA.

“After assisting NRF through this transition period, I look forward to tackling some new projects and embarking on new adventures,” she said.

This announcement really shows how much the retail industry has evolved. It used to be that the NRF represented traditional, more upscale retailers such as Macy's, while RILA, formerly the International Mass Retailers Association, represented upstart, discounters such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Hostility simmered for years between these two industry segments as the mass retailers with their aggressive discounting strategies backed up by smart and lean supply chains ate the proverbial lunch of the traditional retailers, many of which were forced into the discounting game themselves in order to survive. The extent to which, in doing so, they made themselves hard to distinguish from the mass retailers has steadily been eroding the rationale for two competing trade groups. Now the deal is done, and it's a good thing because, as the article correctly notes, retailers are major players in transportation and logistics, and under this new umbrella they will hopefully be able to speak with clear and convincing voice on issues like goods movement and the emerging crisis on import regulations, that is, too many agencies with too many mandates issuing too many regulations, creating de-facto trade barriers that are denying Americans rightful economic benefits from trade.

- By Peter Tirschwell on 4/23/09