Q&A with Retail Technology editor, Miya Knights

I recently chatted to Miya Knights, editor of Retail Technology about the magazine, the tech PR community and broader opportunities to create dialogue for clients. Below Miya has been kind enough to share some of her thoughts with us in a Q&A: 

Can you tell us a little about the Retail Technology re-design you did last year and how it's changed the magazine?

Since Retail Technology was first published over 25 years ago, its focus on the benefits and best practices of enterprise IT use in the industry hasn’t changed, even though the world retailers operate in radically has. 

So this latest redesign moves the printed publication from a bi-monthly to quarterly schedule, with bigger 60-page issues, which allow for more exclusive, in-depth project and trends analysis alongside hot-topic features that look at the likes of mobile, integration, payments, warehousing, supply chain and security issues. 

It also includes news in digest, expert advice, case studies, innovations and industry views from around the world, so it is a 'one-stop shop' for anyone with an interest in staying up to date with the latest retail IT developments. 

What's the relationship between the Retail Technology website and magazine?

The redesigned magazine allows us to take a more in-depth look at IT trends and retail projects and is fed by the website, which covers day-to-day news and views in the industry. This allows us to better integrate the two so, where one of our fortnightly homepage polls supported by an Ask the Expert response might prove popular for example, we can revisit it in more detail in the magazine and answer any questions it may have raised among our readers on our LinkedIn forum.

Any advice for PRs out there that want to pitch stories to Retail Techology?

I get a lot of offers of vendor opinion, which we don’t have much room for. I always advise PRs to pitch in opportunities that can demonstrate what their clients’ retailer customers are actually doing with technology, so they can talk about the practical benefits authoritatively. We particularly pride ourselves on following this up by speaking to the retailers themselves.

What is your biggest frustration with the PR community?

I get too many offers of vendor-led briefings and comment articles, when we really look to represent the views and opinions of those retail executives that manage, specify and procure enterprise IT.  

What is your ideal pitch from a PR?

The ideal pitch would be about a particular project, study or trend where we can talk to both their client and a retail customer representative involved.

Do you find that PRs know enough about the tech they are pitching or the issues impacting retailers?

I find they often read from scripts when cold calling, which is why I prefer email pitches. Otherwise, it tends to be that the PRs that know their space hang onto their clients.

Companies often want to do panel discussions but struggle to get the right participants. Is this something you can help with?

Panel discussions are a great way of increasing exposure and sparking debate, but only if they are informative, offering exclusive research or end user case studies, for example. Retail Technology reaches a 30,000-strong readership, which includes leading retailers and IT experts in the UK, Europe and the US. So it has access to the best participants and can really help to raise the profile and attendance of such events, as well as bring their outputs to a wider audience after the fact.