2024 Retail User Group Highlights

2024 UL Solutions Annual Retail User Group recap: Building a stronger community and better tools for a more sustainable future

The 2024 UL Solutions Retail User Group, held September 10-12 in Washington, D.C., brought together some of North America’s top retail customers in the WERCSmart® and PurView® communities for an engaging and insightful event. The event focused on product compliance and sustainability, with sessions covering exciting product enhancements, delivery timelines, the latest regulatory updates and strategic partnership announcements. Attendees had the opportunity to participate in interactive roundtable discussions and networking sessions, fostering a collaborative environment for sharing knowledge and experiences.

Key highlights from the event included presentations from subject matter experts on emerging trends and challenges in product compliance and success stories on how to implement sustainable practices effectively. Overall, the gathering was a resounding success, providing valuable insights and a space for constructive communication within the community.

“These events provide opportunities to demonstrate our customer centricity and show new capabilities to our clients to support our growth,” says  Kieran Callahan, director of product stewardship at UL Solutions. “Two sessions jump out immediately. The roundtable discussions that identified common challenges, best practices and potential solutions led to some open dialogue and great insights. Additionally, the deep dive on our product roadmaps helped our clients understand our current priorities and how they aligned with requested features and capabilities over the past year.”

Customer-focused software enhancements

The WERCSmart team kicked things off by showcasing a comprehensive overview of the year’s Voice of Customer highlights. The presentation emphasized customer-driven enhancements to the WERCSmart platform, including Product Suite, Web Viewer, the ItemScan mobile app and PurView. The team demonstrated how the new features and improvements streamline processes and help enhance user experience.

Deb DeBates, product manager of WERCSmart Retail Products, and Andrew Sousa, senior manager of Retail Regulatory Compliance and Sustainability, Supply Chain took the stage to discuss the newly launched Automated Supplier Onboarding feature. DeBates and Sousa explained how the new onboarding feature empowers customers to monitor and manage the health of their WERCSmart programs, automate supplier onboarding communications and save time. The discussion also provided insights into the roadmap for upcoming features and enhancements to further improve the WERCSmart ecosystem. The presentations left the audience excited about the continuous improvements and innovations on the horizon and clearly understanding the current capabilities and future potential of WERCSmart.

Supporting retailers in a constantly changing regulatory landscape

During the regulatory update session, Krystal Spickler, program manager of the Supply Chain team at UL Solutions, provided an in-depth overview of the latest updates and trends concerning per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). She highlighted state laws enacted in 2024 in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota and Rhode Island, emphasizing the increasing regulatory scrutiny and the need for retailers to stay compliant. Next, she discussed battery regulation, including Reese’s Law, which mandates safety standards for button cell and coin batteries, and the importance of state of charge (SoC) data for e-mobility products. Spickler also introduced WERCSmart platform enhancements to support e-mobility registration and SoC data collection, which help retailers meet these new regulatory requirements.

Additionally, Spickler covered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) revision of the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), providing a detailed timeline of implementation dates and actionable steps for retailers to prepare for these changes. She explained how the revised standard aims to improve the clarity and consistency of hazard information, which are vital for workplace safety. The session underscored the importance of staying informed about regulatory changes and adapting business practices accordingly. Retailers left this session with a clear understanding of the upcoming regulatory landscape and how improvements to WERCSmart will help them navigate changes and mitigate risk.

Preparing for the future through strategic partnerships

In addition to the various sessions and roundtable discussions, the Retail User Group showcased two strategic collaborations, one with the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and the other with the Evnia Environmental Compliance Group, that will benefit UL Solutions retail customers.

First, Evnia representatives François Parent, general manager and Paul Gill, business intelligence director, emphasized the growing importance of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in the U.S. and how the group’s collaboration with WERCSmart can support retailers in managing these regulatory requirements. This collaboration aims to streamline compliance processes and help retailers manage their environmental responsibilities effectively.

Susan Kirsch, vice president of Regulatory Affairs at RILA, also joined the discussion to elaborate on the trade association’s collaboration with UL Solutions. She explained how this collaboration is mutually beneficial as both organizations work with many of the same retailers regarding similar topics, which were also discussed at the RILA Retailer Environmental Roundtable, held September 9-10 in Washington, D.C. The sessions underscored collaborative efforts between RILA and UL Solutions to provide retailers with the tools and support needed to thrive in an increasingly regulated environment.