The IADS attended the 2023 mid-year meeting of the FIRA, as the Federation of International Retail Associations has been a crucial and powerful tool during this past year to establish contacts with retailers and gather insights about markets.

19 delegates from 12 federations attended the event organized in Athens and hosted by Institute ESEE, the Greek federation of retail.

Read the full report below.

FIRA 23 MID-YEAR MEETING REPORT

FIRA MID-YEAR Meeting 2023 AGENDA

Fira mAY 23 meeting participant list

SPEAKER BIOS

AI, Forced Labor and Complications for the Retail Industry by David French, NRF

The future of retail is now by Dominique Michiel, Comeos

Altex Overview by Konstantinos Alexiou

Plaisio Overview by Konstantinos Gerardos

Commerce Trends in Greece 2022 by Valia Aranitou

e-fresh overview by zina mavroeidi

photo album

What: WIDE Agency supports brands that are committed to the digital transformation of their marketing. They hosted an event to share an exclusive selection of startups that are impacting the retail space.

Why it is important: Advanced technology such as Web 3 and AI are impacting retail businesses and customer experiences as we know them. WIDE Agency presented cutting-edge solutions that could help brands and retailers take on these new trends.

Wide agency: the 20 society

What: Following recent study trips to China, NellyRodi offers the latest trends and insights observed in the country.

Why it is important: The conference helps to understand post-Covid societal impacts and new Chinese consumer trends, in China and abroad.

Nelly Rodi: what's up china?

What: WIDE Agency supports brands that are committed to the digital transformation of their marketing. They hosted an event to share an exclusive selection of startups that are impacting the retail space.

Why it is important: Advanced technology such as Web 3 and AI are impacting retail businesses and customer experiences as we know them. WIDE Agency presented cutting-edge solutions that could help brands and retailers take on these new trends.

Wide agency: the 20 society

What: Vogue Business invited fashion and retail leaders to address covers how brands can future-proof their business models and what the future of sustainability will look like for the fashion industry.

Why it is important: The webinar aimed to uncover fashion’s steps to circularity; explore the challenges facing those on the frontline of garment production; envision a future where fashion approaches sustainability in novel ways; and hear from fashion and sustainability’s biggest players to map out what comes next.

Vogue Business sustainability forum 2023

What: The World Congress Report has identified six questions that are challenging retail leaders around the world.

Why it is important: Retail CEOs across the globe concur that there has never been a more challenging time to be a leader in the industry during the past three turbulent years.

The past three years have been a disruptive international stormfront for the retail industry. From Covid-19 and its collateral damage to the invasion of Ukraine, retailers have dealt with a multitude of disruptions to their operations.

CEOs have had to deal with supply chain bottlenecks, “the great resignation” employment crisis, and inflation while figuring out how to serve their stakeholders and move the business forward in unprecedented times.

The World Retail Congress has sat with its Advisory Board and spoken to multiple senior retailers to identify the biggest issues that retailers are facing. The core business issues that drive success or failure are consistent and similar across sectors and countries.

The Congress has extracted a year of research, filed reports, and extensive conversations to identify six questions that are challenging retail leaders:

1. When can I be uncertain that uncertainty is over? 

Uncertainty makes planning and forecasting virtually impossible. The post-pandemic period has proven to be even more challenging given the economic, geopolitical, and social uncertainties. Retailers have had to accept that they can’t influence external factors and have to work around and through whatever conditions existed.

Retailers must plan and build with the anticipation that something economic, social, or geopolitical can suddenly change things. Successful retailers will build a new level of resilience to meet short- and long-term challenges while not sacrificing the needs and demands of consumers who call the shots.

2. Where should I be focused? 

Given the fast pace of change over the last three years with challenges coming from all directions, leaders shouldn’t be faulted for not knowing where to focus their time. Being stagnant isn’t an option in our digitally connected world and placing core, big investment bets on the future are critical.

The key is to focus equally on extinguishing the immediate, medium-term, and long-term issues. Building resilience through the balance sheet, investing in delivering value, and never letting up on accelerating change throughout the business are all vital and critical to the success of the business.

3. I really do believe in sustainability, but let’s get through today’s problems

Many retailers have yet to implement meaningful sustainability actions due to costs that would lead to massive operational disruption to the organization. However, starting a sustainability strategy is now expected by consumers, legislators, stakeholders, and the media, giving these retailers no choice.

Winning retailers understand that sustainability can improve the bottom line and gives a strong sense of purpose to deliver sustainable goals for the environment, their customers, employees, communities, and investors.

4. I need to understand the TikTok Generation. In fact, I’m not sure I understand my customers anymore!

Multiple senior retail leaders noted that one of their biggest worries is not understanding younger consumers who live in a digital world. They are still apt to shop and purchase products, but in ways retailers above the age of 30 can’t fully grasp. The shift goes beyond younger generations, with all consumers now having the ability to control from whom, when, how, and where they shop.

Retailers need to blend art and science to meet the demands of these digitally engaged consumers, which involves the smart use of data and personalization. Mastering how customers come into the retailer’s ecosystem is key; identifying which partnerships, products, or services can be offered to target customers to bring them closer will be beneficial.

5. E-commerce growth has slowed, so where do I place my bets for the future? 

Online business has slowed as footfall returns to stores. The key operational concept is now omnichannel, which will lead to a new wave of digital transformation with new technologies such as AI tools, the metaverse, social and voice commerce, live streaming, and short-form videos.

Future bets must include a refocus on the customer experience and investments should be made in an omnichannel future that includes tech and experiential solutions that follow the customer journey.

6. Do we have enough of the right people with the right skills?

The big focus of 2022 was the loss of millions of people in the workforce. While the employment rate has increased, retail needs to attract and retain a workforce of diverse skills and experiences to grow the industry.

The best retailers already know that this means making their business attractive, open, and forward-thinking if they are going to succeed.

While the biggest issues are shared by most retailers around the world, the difference between great retailers is that they are the ones trying to find solutions and ways to move forward. The retail industry is driven by the need to serve customers and find growth, which should be considered as the world enters a new digital landscape with changing consumer behavior.

World Retail Congress presents six major issues facing retail leadership

Authors: Peter Fader and Sarah Toms

What: This book intends to provide readers with a 360-degree analysis of all the elements that support customer-centricity in an organization.

Why it is important: The authors deep-dive into developing a customer-centric strategy, understanding the right way to think about Customer Lifetime Value, making informed investments based on the customer life cycle, and understanding CRM systems, as they are a vital underpinning for all these areas through the valuable insights they provide.

The Customer Centricity Playbook

What: Bain & Company held a conference in Paris with OpenAI to discuss the disruptions they see in the value chains of various industries, with Nicolai Skabo (EMEA go to market team, OpenAI) and Cyrille Vincey (Partner, Advanced Analytic hub and utilities, Bain).

Why it is important: Bain & Company started to closely work with OpenAI in 2022 and recently doubled-down by announcing a strategic alliance with the AI-specialized company. OpenAI is considered a leader in the field of AI, thanks to its new models, which went public and generated considerable attention at the end of 2022. Bain and OpenAI have already started to work with a number of companies in order to explore the possibilities offered by the technology and Bain has also worked on specific use cases.

OpenAI x Bain & Company: is AI the next business game-changer?

What: Financial Times partnered with PayPal to host a webinar panel discussion with Cameron McLean, SVP of Europe, and Australia Enterprise at PayPal; Sandra Alzetta, VP and Global Head of Commerce & Customer Service at Spotify; Gabriele Griesbacher, Global Director of Payments at Entain Group; and David Pitt, UK VP at SilverRail Technologies.

Why it is important: The webinar discussed how major global organisations are approaching e-commerce in an economic downturn. Executives from PayPal, Spotify, Entertain Group and SilverRail Technologies discuss how they are adapting to changing consumer behaviour in a digital economy. The overall theme of how big retailers are planning to persevere through economic downturn is by providing a secure, seamless, and frictionless payment process for customers.

Financial Times x PayPal: E-Commerce: Building resilience in a downturn

What: CES is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association. The event typically hosts presentations of new products and technologies in the consumer electronics industry. NRF Big Show features the latest retail solutions to highlight breakthrough technology, and introduce the ideas, people and partners that are shaping up the retail industry.

Why it is important: IADS’ partner, Retail Hub, was asked to share the key topics and takeaways from the 2023 CES and NRF conferences.

CES and NRF are two events where you can find everything connected to innovation. Some major topics addressed that have been sparking innovation were:

-    Labor shortage

-    Experience

-    Smart cameras (autonomous driving)

-    Supply chain transparency

While innovation continues to accelerate, the money to back innovation projects dwindled in 2022 compared to 2021. These investments are directly linked to the health of the financial markets, therefore the 2022 strain has impacted retail tech. But technology will continue to be a major piece in how companies will compete to have an edge in the future retail space. The only technology that was not receiving less money in the 2022 is everything connected to tech, climate tech, and sustainability.

The top funded business models over the past year were multi product marketplaces, financing platforms (BNPL), B2B horizontal marketplaces, e-commerce rollups, social reselling platforms, B2B e-commerce software suites, CPG brands e-commerce software suites, e-commerce storefronts, CPG brand analytics, and marketplace software suites.

The key technology themes found at CES were: enterprise tech innovation, metaverse, Web 3.0, transportation, mobility, heath technology, sustainability, gaming and services.

Finally, it was noted that when it comes to emerging markets, Africa is starting to become a hub for innovation.

Watch the interview here 

What: Financial Times partnered with PayPal to host a webinar panel discussion with Cameron McLean, SVP of Europe, and Australia Enterprise at PayPal; Sandra Alzetta, VP and Global Head of Commerce & Customer Service at Spotify; Gabriele Griesbacher, Global Director of Payments at Entain Group; and David Pitt, UK VP at SilverRail Technologies.

Why it is important: The webinar discussed how major global organisations are approaching e-commerce in an economic downturn. Executives from PayPal, Spotify, Entertain Group and SilverRail Technologies discuss how they are adapting to changing consumer behaviour in a digital economy. The overall theme of how big retailers are planning to persevere through economic downturn is by providing a secure, seamless, and frictionless payment process for customers.

Financial Times x PayPal: E-Commerce: Building resilience in a downturn

What: Bain retail and technology experts sit down with industry leaders, Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel, CEO of Arianee, and Stéphanie Zolesio-Roux, Executive General Manager of Casino Immobilier, to discuss Web3 and its impact on retail.

Why it is important: Understanding Web3 and where it fits in retail strategies today, such as its impact on new business models, and the adoption process and potential barriers, can help retailers capitalize on the opportunities brought by Web3 technologies.

Forge Retail Showcase: Web3 in Retail

watch the recap here

What: Retail Dive hosted a webinar with guests Julie Mall, VP of Global Solutions Consulting at Elastic Path and Brenton Sellati, Senior Director of Product, Catalog Data Platform, at Wayfair, discussing how an agile can provide a simple path to modern merchandising success.

Why it is important: An agile catalog allows brands to respond to trends and customer preferences immediately by segmenting and updating their merchandise mix on the fly. Modern merchandising techniques also allow brands to optimize their assortments and offerings with the goal of delighting customers and boosting revenue throughout 2023.

Industry Dive Webinar Takeaways

What: Bain & Company introduced their Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study in collaboration with Fondazione Altagamma.

Why it is important: The global luxury market has fully recovered from the COVID-19 crisis, having grown between 8-10% over 2019. With a +15% growth vs 2021 (at a constant exchange rate), luxury goods proved to be resilient and strong against macroeconomic indicators and global uncertainty. The outlook for 2023 is more cautious and anticipates slower growth, between 3 and 8% vs 2022.

Bain & Company 2022 luxury study

Bain & Company Conference Takeaways

Author: Guillaume Poitrinal

Formerly the Unibail-Rodamco CEO and the youngest CAC40 boss, Guillaume Poitrinal founded and runs WO2, a start-up real-estate company replacing concrete with solid wood, which is pioneering low-carbon real estate. Now accounting for EUR 400 million in turnover, the company built 300,000 sqm of offices around Paris and is building 1,000 new flats per year.

What: Poitrinal is de facto a player in the ecological transition, he shares his thoughts on the debate around the notion of modern ecology: on one hand, a sterile vision of ecology based on de-growth, and on the other hand, the hope of a fruitful positive ecology.

Why it is important: Condemning politically correct ecology and actions, he offers an entrepreneurial, clear-headed defence by choosing to combine ecology, consumption and growth. Eco-modernism is a winning model here. Low-carbon prosperity is possible and environmental responsibility is compatible with the profit motive as it is another form of profit. However, the angles taken and the lack of deep arguments for some of his positions make that book more of a political platform than a truly operational tool for CEOs and C-Suite.

Pour en finir avec l’apocalypse, Une écologie de l’action 

The IADS attended the 2023 edition of the NRF, including the annual FIRA meeting, as the Federation of International Retail Associations has been a crucial and powerful tool during this past year to establish contacts with retailers and gather insights about markets. For that reason, our goal is to maximize the value of the FIRA membership (€1,400 a year).

This year again, the session was fruitful, both in terms of learnings and persons encountered.

Also, contrary to the 2022 edition, this year the event went back to its normal attendance size, with 29 federations attending, represented by 55 delegates (vs. 15 federations last year), with the notable absence of the IGDS, who joined FIRA last year.

This document sums up the FIRA meetings. The NRF conferences we attended are summarized in a separate document, as well as the store visits. Also, our comments or plans for future actions are written in blue.

FIRA 23 MEETING REPORT

FIRA Meeting 2023 AGENDA

Fira Jan 23 meeting participant list

SPEAKER BIOS

The India retail Transformation by Kumar Rajagopalan

Democratising Digital Commerce by Kumar Rajagopalan

Cross border implications of EU policy on digital commerce by Maike Jansen X Alien Mulyk

Retail Cybersecurity Risks and Opportunities for International Collaboration BY Christian Beckner

Giving customers a voice in a world full of numbers by Alexander Genov

photo album

What: The conference held in Brussels on 29 November covered embracing transformation and uncertainty for retail and wholesale to continue their essential role.

Why it is important: A triple transformation is currently happening. It’s about sustainability, digitalisation and the skills which will be required to deal with both topics. 600 billion euros will have to be invested by 2030, as well as a total of 1.5 million people per year to be recruited.

Eurocommerce x McKinsey conference

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

Why it is important: The conference pulls 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 that are offering solutions to these trends.

Tech for Retail

Author: Maxine Bédat

What: Entrepreneur, researcher, and advocate Maxine Bédat follows the life of an American icon- a pair of jeans- to reveal what really happens behind the scenes of the entire lifecycle of our clothing, from production to their end of life.

Why it is important: The story uses a pair of pants to share the story of our global economy and the role that consumers play in it. The book pushes the audience to challenge their relationship with everyday consumer goods to reclaim their role as citizens so that we can create a more holistic society that benefits all people across the world, with the preservation of the planet at the core of our practices.

Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment

What: The Financial Times welcomed the audience to London with all panels and speakers focusing on the subject of Sustainability, Innovation & Customer-centricity

Why it is important: The point of the conference was to examine how the retail industry has fared following a period of high inflation, rising energy prices, a cost of living crisis and ongoing geopolitical volatility.

Financial Times Future of Retail 2023

What: GDI held the 72nd International Retail Sumbit in Zurich to discuss flow commerce and how shifting the boundaries is reshaping retail.

Why it is important: Smooth process flows have never been as important as they are now. Yet they have also never been as challenging. How does commerce stay in flux? A new poker for procurement has begun; new bets are being made on customer preferences.

GDI 72nd International Retail Summit 

Author: Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein, Penguin Books

What: The Nudge theory, which was released in 2008 and adopted by many regulators across the planet, has been updated by its authors and applied to contemporary issues, among which the climate change.

Why it is important: Retailers already used nudging techniques in the past without labelling them as such. Having a clear and complete understanding of what it entails and how it works can help them to fine-tune their approach and potentially apply these techniques to encourage customers to buy in a more sustainable manner.

Nudge, the Final Edition

Author: David Fubini, Wiley

What: A very practical, exemplified and detailed set of advice for CEOs based on the experience of a seasoned McKinsey executive.

Why it is important:  Unlike many management manuals, this book tries to go behind the scene thanks to an impressive set of real-life examples of CEOs that the author has worked with in the past. As a result, the reading is extremely enjoyable, in addition to being crystal-clear and full of great ideas for anyone interesting in team management.

Hidden truths, what leaders need to hear but are rarely told

Author: Yves Morieux, Peter Tollman, Harvard Business Review Press

What: A new approach to complexity in organizations, based on “smart simplicity”

Why it is important:  It is easy to answer to the world’s increasing complexity by more “complicatedness” in organisations. Reviewing the organisations from IADS’ members and their evolution in the 2021 White Paper is a living proof of this easy temptation. The authors argue that actually, it is possible to achieve more, and better, by simplifying the structures, based on the knowledge that every human behaviour has a strategy. Understanding and leveraging this strategy is therefore crucial in order to simplify organisations.

Six Simple Rules, how to manage complexity without getting complicated