Six takeaways from Coresight:

• The “retail apocalypse” story is “great clickbait,” but it is not taken seriously as an accurate depiction of US retail.
• JD.com’s Richard Liu predicted that the retail industry will be operated at some point by artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, rather than by humans—but he did not predict when.
• Alibaba Group sees Tmall as the “gateway to China” for Western retailers and brands and notes that the platform enables these companies to test products rapidly.
• Premium department store retailers are investing in regionally tailored, boutique-like stores.
• Inditex implemented radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to digitally track its products and, so, improve business operations and the customer experience.
• Investments in technology can be “peanuts” compared with the return they provide for retailers.

The “premium department stores” mentioned are, in fact, El Palacio de Hierro in Mexico and Harvey Nichols in London. The CEO of Palacio, Juan Carlos Escribano described the recently renovated Santa Fe store part of a project to curate stores for specific cities and communities. In this way, the store at Santa Fe has been redesigned around the theme of “wellness” with a 17500m² gym, and organic food. In contrast to the classic flagship-branch store model, each store has a theme which aligns with locations and local demands.

Note: the IADS Store Operations meeting in June 2018 will take place in Mexico and will include a visit of the Palacio de Hierro store in Santa Fe as well as the one in Perisur and the flagship in Polanco.

Harvey Nichols, which considers itself more of a large boutique, prioritises personalised service, style, daring and customer obsession.

Other news and ideas of the conference included:

• The rebranding of Cortefiel as Tendam
• Branding processes have speeded up as illustrated by Buzzfeed
• Speed was also part of the M&S operations where big data is allied with AI to personalise and be smart
• TMall promises a gateway to the Chinese market  for foreign brands
• Amazon is still the main example of frictionless low price shopping experience
• Speed and service once again, this time as the main components for success in the Chinese market according to JD.com
• Information needs to be shared among partners in retail
• Stores are increasingly about the experience, not the transaction, according to Lego
• A US recession is on the way according to Deloitte
• There is a strong need for more women in middle and senior management posts
• “Be bold, brave, test, and don’t wait until you know the answer”, according to Kingfisher
• Sustainability standards in fashion are increasing but there is still much to do
• The future of retailing is all about flexibility
• The example of Ikea shows the importance of company culture and simple values

Reports

Day 1

Summary by World Retail Congress

Summary by Coresight

Day 2

Summary by World Retail Congress

Summary by Coresight

Join the next World Retail Congress on 14-16 May 2019 in Amsterdam

World Retail Congress - website