What: The IADS attended Darbyon’s inaugural “AI Breakfast” in Paris, a closed-door event bringing luxury and fashion leaders together to discuss the state of AI. ESL Rivington debriefed the key takeaways from the recent French AI Summit.

Why it is important: Discussions revealed AI's evolution into a strategic, geopolitical asset, as emphasized by the French government's recent AI Summit. The breakfast explored AI's potential to revolutionize luxury marketing through customized solutions, offering a fourfold increase in content production and a significant reduction in cost per lead through Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO). Key discussion also went into the decentralisation of Marketing Operations. Brand asset protection and the evolution of regulatory challenges remain critical factors for the industry to consider.

French AI Summit 2025 IADS report

What: NellyRodi presented the 10 most important trends for 2025.

Why it is important: In a fragmented world, the conference helps to understand the various trends underlying customer expectations.

NellyRodi - Beyond trends, gearing up for 2025 presentation

NellyRodi - Beyond trends, gearing up for 2025 takeaways

The IADS attended the 2025 annual Federation of International Retail Association (FIRA) meeting, of which IADS is a member. FIRA has proved a valuable investment in the past years regarding contacts and insights (membership is €1,400 a year), not to mention the free and reduced NRF passes offered to IADS members.

This year was similarly useful in terms of learnings and persons encountered. 56 delegates (63 last year) from 29 federations (31 last year) attended.

Due to the current context, the most interesting presentations were related to the US economy, what to expect from politics in the country, and a (much contrasting) state of the European commerce.

This document sums up the FIRA meetings. The NRF conferences we attended are summarised in a separate document, as well as the store visits.

FIRA 25 MEETING REPORT

Retail Outlook by Mark Mathews, NRF

US Policy in Transition by David French, NRF

EuroCommerce by Christel Delberghe

Update EU Digital Policy Issues BY Stephan Tromp

What: The IADS was present at the inaugural Retail Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, held January 27-29, 2025. This edition brought together 400 delegates from 29 countries and featured 63 speakers (98% C-suite) to discuss the evolving retail landscape.

Why it is important: The summit was significant because it highlighted the booming Saudi market, driven by a young, digitally engaged, and increasingly female population with high disposable income. Key discussions centered around navigating nationalisation, omnichannel strategies, VAT implications, and the rise of Asian e-commerce platforms. Additionally, luxury retail evolution was addressed, focusing on challenges in the Chinese market, "creativity flattening," and the need to reconnect with aspirational customers. The emphasis on customer experience emphasized the importance of authentic human connection, purpose-driven approaches, and the power of storytelling.

The Retail Summit 2025 provided invaluable insights into both the opportunities and complexities within the KSA market and the broader retail industry. This report offers a curated selection of the most relevant takeaways for our members.

The Retail Summit 2025 IADS report

Authors:Ethan Mollick

What: A comprehensive, accessible and thought-provoking exploration of AI by a prominent researcher on AI and its impact on work, entrepreneurship and education.

Why it is important: This book stands out in the landscape of books on the topic thanks to its unique focus on practical, non-technical insights expressed in an accessible language. Its focus on creativity and how AI can encourage it, not replace it, is based on actual examples illustrating Mollick’s “four rules for co-intelligence”, designed to encourage human-AI collaboration through ethical and practical engagement with AI

Co-Intelligence, living and working with AI

What: Tech for Retail offers a complete overview of digital tools and technological innovations dedicated to the retail industry.

Why it is important: The conference brings together interesting companies and solutions that are showcased over two days. This year, IADS attended the salon in Paris to scout out the key trends and startups that could be of value to our members. We have recounted the major themes and companies offering solutions to these trends.

Tech for Retail

The IADS attended the 2024 edition of the Rarely Heard Voices Conference, a closed-door event where 100 retail leaders gather in strict privacy: no journalists, no publicity, no pushy sponsors. Participants do not even wear badges. Rarely Heard Voices is also a company that researches retail brand data (“data that cannot be scraped” in their own words, including proprietary data from the seven largest social platforms in the world, tracking 500+ fashion brands), and advises retailers to broker deals.

This report is a selection of the most relevant insights gathered for our members. It is kept non-public and not advertised in our newsletter.

Rarely Heard Voices 2024

The IADS attended the 2024 edition of the Leadership in Retail conference, organized by IADS’ partner Retailhub. This event is invitation-only, and gather in a very exclusive and secretive way around 100 Italian CEOs from various retail verticals, with the goal to offer them a confidential and relaxed way to interact and exchange.

This report is a selection of the most relevant insights gathered for our members. It is kept non-public and not advertised in our newsletter.

Retail Hub Leadership in Retail 2024

The IADS attended the first “Re-Retail” summit, a closed-door event organized by the Camera Buyer Italia, which gathers all fashion multi-brand stores nationwide. The purpose was to review the current situation, as market conditions are worsening a structural change, with leading luxury brands increasingly going direct and leaving their historic partners.

This event, which was organized in collaboration with the Lombardy region and featured political figures such as the President of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, and Senator Armando Sieri, was the first of its kind in nearly 25 years. It underscored the importance of collaboration and resilience in an industry navigating significant market fluctuations.

Re-Retail: Camera Buyers Summit 2024

What: The IGDS’ annual department store summit focused on the experience economy and how it can help department stores reinvent themselves.

Why it is important: Speakers dived into the deep-changing consumer needs and what department stores are doing to answer them, with many real-life examples. Reviving department store names was an important topic, highlighting the necessary shift to building a community and creating experiences. However, in most cases and due to the public nature of the event, this conference was less about sharing truly edgy new initiatives and was more about the opportunity to listen to participating companies' general strategies presentations.

The summit focused on four key areas: The Renaissance of the Tangible, exploring the shift toward experiences; Legacy and Innovation, balancing tradition with innovation; Department Stores as Theaters, highlighting stores as social spaces; and Running a Department Store Business, emphasising technology and empowered teams. Marc Schumacher stressed community-building in the experience economy, while Olivier Bron, Scott Fyfe, and Timo Weber discussed how Bloomingdale's, David Jones and KaDeWe are innovating through enhanced in-store experiences. Eren Camurdan, Kavindra Mishra, and Gemma Lionello highlighted the role of technology and frontline teams. The future of retail lies in blending tradition with personalised experiences and integrating new technologies that can't be replicated online.

IGDS World Department Store Summit

Authors: Bernhard Franken and Alina Cymera

What: An encyclopedia of basic knowledge centred on food retail, and some pre-pandemic ideas for the future.

Why it is important: The book explores the future of food retail with a historical perspective and uses pre-pandemic examples. Although the examples are relatively centred on the German markets, and things have evolved quite significantly since the pandemic, the book is good reading for anyone looking for a refresher on fundamental principles in food retail.

Hybrid Food Retail

What: Parent to Shoptalk Las Vegas, Shoptalk Europe is a retail conference dedicated to innovation and digital transformation. The conference brought together 4,000 attendees (1,000 more than last year) from the world's retailers and brands, startups, technology companies, investors, media and analysts to reimagine and build tomorrow's digital transformation.

Why it is important: Generative Al and data were at the centre of all conversations.

Shoptalk Europe Barcelona 2024

What: The IADS attending the 2024 edition of the Retail Summit, held in Dubai on 22, 23 and 24 April, which gathered 790 participants from 35 different countries and 57 different nationalities. The purpose of the conference was to gather brands, retailers and industry leaders to discuss current challenges such as physical retail in the omnichannel business, growth, AI, Gen Z and sustainability. While it addressed pivotal themes, the event was also an interesting opportunity for networking.

Why it is important: The discussions at The Retail Summit 2024 underscored a transformative era in retail, characterised by digital innovation, omnichannel operations, sustainability, and the pivotal role of Gen Z. AI was part of almost all discussions, but the future role of this technology is not clearly defined yet. The insights shared reflect a retail landscape that is increasingly becoming customer-centric, where data strategies are not just supportive elements but central to business operations. Moreover, the summit highlighted the critical role of physical stores in creating immersive consumer experiences. This report is a selection of the most relevant insights gathered for our members.

The Retail Summit 2024 IADS report

What: In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, consumer desires have become more complex, demanding both individual attention and a sense of community, leading to an evolved marketplace where brands must craft unique, immersive experiences. These changing preferences, underpinned by various factors including culture, technology, and nature, push for a shift from traditional transactional interactions to creating deep emotional connections, leveraging hospitality, social media, and cultural trends to foster loyalty and define new standards for consumer engagement.

Why it is important: This shift towards immersive and emotionally resonant brand experiences addresses the modern consumer's craving for authenticity, belonging, and fulfilment, setting a new benchmark in customer engagement and loyalty. By integrating these evolved expectations into their strategies, brands can significantly enhance their competitive edge and foster long-term relationships in a rapidly changing market landscape.

NellyRodi - Hospitality Everywhere presentation

NellyRodi - Hospitality Everywhere Takeaways

Author: Adam Werbach

What: After being elected at age 23 as the national president of the Sierra Club, Werbach left the Sierra Club to start the technology and strategy company Act Now Productions, which was best known for helping Walmart launch its sustainability efforts. Werbach sold Act Now to the Publicis Groupe in 2008 and became the global CEO for Saatchi & Saatchi S, where he helped launch products from the Toyota Prius to wind turbines. He later co-founded the venture-backed online re-use platform Yerdle, which powers the re-use programs for companies including Patagonia, REI, and Eileen Fisher. Today he advises companies on strategies to grow their businesses sustainably and outlines such strategies and frameworks in his book, ‘Strategy for Sustainability.’

Why it is important:  Werbach shares a dialogue around sustainability as a true competitive strategic corporate advantage, and believes that building sustainability into the core of a business is the only means to ensure that a company will survive.

Developing and crafting a company’s strategy that takes into account all aspects of sustainability is key to survival. Included in this belief involves employees and the community in every part of the process. In today’s rapidly changing world, with more changes to be expected tomorrow, developing and executing a strategy for sustainability is critical for business survival. A successful strategy must take into account every dimension of the environment in which the business impacts including social, economic, and cultural, as well as natural.

Strategy for Sustainability

Authors: John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldrige

What: A review of Western government actions early on in the pandemic and the reason for their failure, as well as a set of proposed solutions for the West as a whole.

Why it is important: Department stores leaders should retain 2 key aspects from this book: strong and agile

governance is key to making sure their companies are able to navigate the uncertain times we live in (this means

planification and scenario-making) and, to achieve such a strong governance, should prioritize attracting the best

talents possible. Does this suggest that they should return to the paternalistic approach their founders had at the

inception of their companies?

The Wake Up Call

Authors: Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher

What: A trio of well-respected experts gave their take as early as 2021 about AI, well before it became a mainstream topic.

Why it is important:  The book offers a compelling read for those seeking a broad (and non-retail-specific) understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) at the macro level, particularly for grasping the strategic implications and rising above the prevalent media buzz surrounding this fashionable subject.

The Age of AI 

What: The IADS attended for the first time the Global Peter Drucker Forum, an annual event organized in Vienna, Austria, since 2009.

Why it is important: This event is an international management conference dedicated to the management philosophy of Peter Drucker, a management professor, writer, and consultant, often referred to as a “management guru”.

This Forum gathers a rather varied crowd, from CEOs to top executives being incentivized by receiving a ticket from their hierarchy, students, coaches, and researchers, who represent the largest number of attendants. The conferences aim at making a reconciliation between pure research (systematically based on Peter Drucker’s findings) and practice, by having on-stage academics and executives.

The event was rather interesting for our thinking process, as well as for a selection of conferences that we found compelling.

15th Global Peter Drucker Forum

What: The IGDS organised its annual set of conferences in Dubai, with the support of Al Tayer, last October.

Why it is important: The CEO of Ounass and Managing Director of Al Tayer, Khalid Al Tayer, made an introduction speech insisting on the fact that the only truth about the future we can know, is that we will collectively have to step out of our comfort zone.

This is the reason why, in addition to the usual corporate presentations of IGDS members, some guest speakers were invited to come to the stage and share their experiences of disruption or transformation. They all offered a different point of view, including sometimes conflicting with each other, and therefore brought an interesting variety of points of views.

IGDS World Department Store Summit

What: GDI held the 73rd International Retail Summit to discuss the decisions retailers should make in uncertain times when costs rise and margins shrink.

Why it is important: Money is now becoming scarce. The pandemic destroyed supply chains, and the war in Ukraine is causing energy shortages and high inflation. Consumers are becoming more price-sensitive. And while some companies are downsizing their workforce, others are desperately looking for employees.

GDI 73rd International Retail Summit

What: The Financial Times welcomed an audience to London and online with all panels and speakers focusing on the subject of AI, VR/AR, supply chain, and the employees and consumers of tomorrow.

Why it is important: The point of the conference was to examine how the retail industry is responding to AI advancements and how this has impacted business overall from retail jobs to consumer relationships to operations.

Financial Times Future of Retail: Delivering a more sustainable & seamless retail experience

What: Vogue Business invited fashion and retail leaders to discuss how innovative technologies of today and tomorrow are converging with the fashion industry, and how brands and retailers can best utilize them.

Why it is important: The webinar aimed to cover how web3 technologies will impact the next generation of design talent; new approaches to virtual clienteling; how founders and investors are building the next stage of the internet; and how brands and retailers’ strategies around NFTs have shifted to better suit fashion business models and customer demand.

Vogue Business tech forum 2023

What: Parent to Shoptalk Las Vegas, Shoptalk Europe is a retail show dedicated to innovation and digital transformation. The show brought together 3000+ attendees from the world’s biggest and rising retailers and brands, startups, technology companies, investors, media and analysts to reimagine and build tomorrow’s digital transformation.

Why it is important: Clear directions were made visible during the conferences. The retail organisation has been shaken and is changing to become omnichannel which implies the transformation of the workforce. Stores have made a comeback as a critical part of the omnichannel customer journey. Whether it’s in-store or online, retailers are building outstanding, curated, tech-enhanced experiences to attract the coveted Gen Z. New opportunities are to be seized by retailers: retail media, convenience, quick commerce, sustainability and more, with AI already a game-changer.

Shoptalk Europe 2023

What: With their expertise in China, CXG introduced their latest insights about how Chinese luxury consumption is changing.

Why it is important: Their insights help to understand the Chinese Gen Z, the digital ecosystem and the impact of the new travel landscape. CGX also warned the audience about the rapid and powerful rise of Chinese premium and luxury brands

CXG: decoding china