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This report by the National Retail Federation (NRF) reveals that most retailers have not begun to deal with y2k. Over 75% of the firms are noncompliant. It is also unclear that the supposedly compliant systems are actually compliant. Only one software vendor has submitted its product for certification; sixteen haven't.
In the U.S., some 20 million jobs are provided by this industry.
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Fewer than a quarter of retailers have installed key information systems that are able to handle the switch to a four-digit dating system after December 31, 1999, the survey found. . . .
In a recent STORES Magazine article on the Year 2000, Joseph A. Smialowski, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Sears, Roebuck and Co., and Chairman of NRF's Information Technology Council, said, "Few retailers have formulated Year 2000 action plans, let alone implemented them. Some claim it's too soon; others don't think there is anything to worry about." . . .
Only 24 percent of the 1,150 retailers represented by the survey have upgraded their critical merchandising, inventory accounting and financial management systems.
Just one of the 17 major information technology suppliers in the survey has applied to the Information Technology Association of America for documentation that it has tested its products to ensure they will continue to work properly after December 31, 1999. . . .
NRF members represent an industry that encompasses over 1.4 million U.S. retail establishments, employs more than 20 million people, 1 in 5 American workers, and registered 1996 sales of nearly $2.5 trillion. NRF's international members operate stores in more than 50 nations.
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