What: Key learnings and speakers from Shoptalk according to The Retail Bulletin.

Why it is important: Shoptalk is an interesting conference for anyone interested or involved in retail tech.

The Retail Bulletin takes stock of the most important themes discussed during the London edition of Shoptalk, that was held at the same time than the IGDS conference in Seattle in June 2022. They identified that personalization, building out eco-systems, autonomous deliveries and rich shopper engagement where the key topics this year.

Ahold Delhaize discussed about ecosystems by mentioning how they are merging the data from their food and nonfood customers (something that El Corte Ingles already does well), in order to provide them with easy checkout processes across all channels. Ahold Delhaize also announced the launch of a joint retail media service solution, as well as joint logistics.

Alibaba explained that they were accelerating in autonomous deliveries, with the Xiaomanlv, a logistics robot entirely developed in-house, able to deliver 50 packages at a time. They also discussed the success of their streaming operations on Taobao and how they are able to increase the customer engagement.

Learnings from Shoptalk 

Retailing from the outside-in

The IGDS has held its first annual department store summit since the ease of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, in Seattle, USA, with the support of Nordstrom. The IADS attended the whole event and made a selection of interesting conferences for its members.

IGDS 7th Global Department Store Summit

What: At the annual Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, fashion leaders gathered to discuss circularity, carbon, community, and pre-competitive collaboration.

Why it is important: The overlying message that came from the conference was that the industry needs to work together in order to make any progress.

Individual goals are a great start to approaching sustainability topics, but the industry is limited on how much progress can be made without more collaboration among players. The industry does have several alliances at play, but they are disjointed like The Fashion Pact and the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action.

The Global Fashion Agenda shared the GFA Monitor which is a new report to guide fashion brands towards a net positive industry. GFA also unveiled the Global Circular Fashion Forum, a global initiative to scale the recycling of post-industrial textile waste in textile manufacturing countries. Supply chain transparency and traceability platform TrusTrace released an open-source traceability playbook in collaboration with campaigning organization Fashion Revolution and Amsterdam-based change agency Fashion for Good.

The conference was the opportunity for several major fashion brands to introduce new business models; a common thread was the concept of “timeless design” that is no longer seasonal as a sustainability solution.

While collaboration and exciting progress and announcements were greatly highlighted at the conference, there seemed to be some criticism about the lack of conflict between panelists on stage, remarking that collaboration often involves difficult conversations.

Key takeaways from the Global Fashion Summit: More diversity, more collaboration

What: The webinar 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: Fashion is under pressure to improve its environmental and social footprint as problems including climate change and global inequality worsen, and expectations from investors and consumers are higher than ever. Some of the steepest challenges for fashion — such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and cutting down on garment waste — are at odds with its conventional business model, which depends on increasing production and sales of new items.

Vogue Business Sustainability Forum: Fashion’s next sustainability chapter

What: The FT Climate Capital Live 2022 is a platform for politicians, business leaders and financiers to evaluate the risks and opportunities they face in light of the climate crisis.

Why it is important: The conference provided actionable insights on how regulatory changes, business strategies and innovative financing structures are moving the world forward to achieve net-zero goals and rapidly reduce GHG emissions through action rather than talk.

Financial Times Climate Capital Conference 

Author: Steve Dennis

What: In its first part, the book offers a comprehensive review of the current and changing retail landscape, advocating for branding over store closing. In its second part, the author gets more practical and suggests a method (a compass more than a map) and priorities for retailers to rethink their business taking into account the interweaved stores and e-commerce, and the necessary ingredients to make a store memorable.

Why it is important: Retail is not dead but boring retail is. While it is now obvious that retailers have to change, the problem is that they used to think they have time. While Covid accelerated the need for change, the author sets 8 paths to reach remarkable retail with the idea that experimenting, trying – and failing – is the best, if not the only way to succeed.

Book review: Remarkable Retail

What:  The Robin Report’s take on what to remember from the NRF.

Why it is important:  This year, innovation is not all at all about investing in new tech or new equipment, but smartly utilizing and upgrading the existing one, to optimize capex investments.

Gwen Morrison, former CEO of WPP and partner with Candezant Advisory, gives her views from the NRF Big show that took place earlier this month (and which we also reported). From her point of view, the lack of enthusiasm from big players (be them solution-providers or retailers themselves) left more room for smaller, younger innovators, as clearly visible in the innovation room, which was thriving, compared with the main exhibitor space which was more quiet.

When it comes to leadership she reports the speeches from Brian Cornell (CEO of Target) and Pete Nordstrom (President and Chief Brand Officer at Nordstrom), who both discussed about the supply chain, and the customer-centricity in the case of Target, or the efficiency of the right merchandising and price policy across channels for Nordstrom.

Among the innovations not to be missed, she mentions the metaverse, but more immediately applicable, also solutions allowing to optimize the physical space, not by investing in new equipment but by leveraging the existing one (for instance, by delivering special intelligence to existing security cameras, or adding the understanding of traffic trends in real time to store operators).

Regarding the 2022 NRF themes for the year, it is all about unified commerce, new shopping behaviours, purpose and values, and sustainability.

NRF, come and gone

What: Raynor de Best, Specialist Expert Financial Services & Real Estate at Statista, shared interesting insights about the topic of cryptocurrencies as it continues to develop as a trending topic facing businesses into 2022.

Why it is important: Cryptocurrencies, whilst not new, reached a new level of popularity in 2021 and increasingly got the attention of mainstream audiences across the world. NFTs accelerated this further, as they provide "real world" applications for these digital coins. One of these applications, the metaverse, could continue to grab headlines in 2022, along with China releasing its own digital currency during the 2022 Winter Olympics as a response to unregulated cryptocurrencies.

IADS Recap - The Cryptoverse - cryptocurrencies becoming mainstream

Statista presentation

What: Helene Valade, the director of environmental development for LVMH group, discusses the vision of luxe, how it looks and how it’s made concerning sustainability and reducing the LVMH carbon footprint.

Why it is important: As sustainability and reducing carbon footprints become more and more relevant to companies, it becomes important for luxury retail and fashion leaders to discover ways to lead in sustainability while continuing to inspire.

The Luxury of Engagement – Exceptional encounter with Hélène Valade of LVMH

What: A selection of interesting conferences that the IADS attended for the 2022 Retail Big Show held in New York.

Why it is important: We focused on 2 increasingly hot topics: sustainability, and digital (especially the Metaverse).

This non exhaustive selection of conferences that the IADS attended in New York includes:

• A conversation with the CEO of Target, Brian Cornell, who thinks that the most interesting outcome of the Covid-19 related crisis is the new corporate culture and cohesion that was created, and which is now an asset in the operations of the company,
• A exchange between the new NRF VP for Sustainability and the Senior Director for Sustainability at Walmart, on how to develop a sustainable mindset in companies. 2 hints: at the operational level, go for medium-range targets which are actionable, practical, and emphasize on the business advantages they will create. At the corporate level, consider implementing a Sustainable Board of Director composed of experts from outside the company, if not the industry
• A presentation of a selection of innovative concepts from GDR UK, where she talks about the store becoming increasingly a discovery and e-commerce fulfilment space, the “alt-commerce” replacing e-commerce, composed of entertainment, gamification, community, socialising and collaboration, and the Metaverse which could be very well a new channel,
• A presentation of the 8 top trends in retail as identified by Kantar
• A presentation on the promises of the Metaverse for retailers made by Wunderman Thompson Intellilgence where we have spotted an actionable and quick way for department stores to monetize their real estate assets: why not sell the “airspace” in stores for AR advertising, now that Shapchat has created Arcadia, a new division dedicated to this activity?

NRF big show 2022 - A selection of conferences

Retail Trends 2022

NRF Target CEO’s “vision” started long before pandemic

NRF Rothy’s and Walmart share insights on environmental sustainability in retail

Into The Metaverse

Challenges and promises of the Metaverse

The Robin Report: Nrf, come and gone

What: The webinar is the first of a four-part series that will analyze the outcomes of the recent Conference of the Parties (COP) climate change conference, highlight industry best practices, and outline potential net-zero and sustainability blind spots.

Why it is important: Sustainability keeps climbing higher on company agendas across the globe. Enterprise leaders must wrestle with wide-ranging stakeholder and policy interpretations about sustainable business operations and development.

Gartner Sustainability Strategy to Action

Watch the replay here

Author: Hubert Joly

What: The learnings of a seasoned CEO, who turned around the once-desperate Best Buy, about organisations, people and how to embark them into a new vision.

Why it is important: The book provides hands-on findings and lessons that can be applied quite easily, always with a larger strategical insight, but without the typical pathos and angelism usually found in books claiming to help CEOs to improve their organisations’ social skills.

Buy it on Amazon here: link

Book review The heart of business final

Former Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly Empowering Workers to Create ‘Magic’

What: A conference on how to use the Gartner Digital Disruption Toolkit to evaluate, track and plan for seven major disruptions.

Why it's important: As digital projects move from optimization to transformation, the ability to disrupt becomes critical. To cope with digital disruption, you must be able to recognize, prioritize and respond in the right way.

7 digital disruptions you might not see coming through 2025

Author:  Eswar S. Prasad

What: Prasad shows how these and other changes will redefine the very concept of money, unbundling its traditional functions as a unit of account, medium of exchange, and store of value. The promise lies in greater efficiency and flexibility, increased sensitivity to the needs of diverse consumers, and improved market access for the unbanked. The risk is instability, lack of accountability, and erosion of privacy. A lucid, visionary work, The Future of Money shows how to maximize the best and guard against the worst of what is to come.

Why it is important: We think we've seen financial innovation. We bank from laptops and buy coffee with the wave of a phone. But these are minor miracles compared with the dizzying experiments now underway around the globe, as businesses and governments alike embrace the possibilities of new financial technologies. As Eswar Prasad explains, the world of finance is at the threshold of major disruption that will affect corporations, bankers, states, and indeed all of us. The transformation of money will fundamentally rewrite how ordinary people live.

Book review The future of money

The Economist Finance is changing dramatically

Buy it on Amazon here: link

What: The meeting was organised online on 21 October to get an update from markets.

Why it is important: 27 retail associations from across the world attended the meeting to hear from NRF's chief economist and vice-president, Carrefour’s general secretary and EuroCommerce's general director. They shared various statistics and insights for participants to have a better understanding of the current globel economic situation, as well as an outlook for 2022.

FIRA meeting takeaways

FIRA Participant list

FIRA Meeting Minutes

Jack Kleinhenz

Mark Mathews 

EuroCommerce

What: Organized by Luxury Venture Group, the Luxury Innovation Summit is a learning and networking event for innovative start-ups and senior-level business and creative

professionals from the luxury and fashion industry.

Why it is important: The conference pulls together CEOs, directors, partners, and owners of luxury brands to discuss the next generation of the luxury and fashion industry.

Luxury Innovation Summit

What: Industry leaders share perspectives into how pandemic-induced changes in consumer behavior have created pressure on retail inventory and operations. The webinar covers how day-to-day operations are dramatically improved using item-level RFID and setting the foundation for a new era in retailing.

Why it is important: Dean Frew from SML interviews Johan Strenstom from Stadium about how they use RFID post-covid and what the technology is offering them.

How Item-Level RFID Provides Significant Value for Retailers By Improving Inventory Accuracy

What: The NRF NXT is a webinar series every Wednesday in September covering the future of digital retail.

Why it is important: This week’s topic covered the topic “Artificial intelligence for commerce –Separating the hype from the hip.

Watch replay here

Artificial intelligence for commerce – Separating the hype from the hip

What: Paris Retail Week presents the e-commerce sector, dedicated to solutions for e-merchants, from digital marketing to logistics.

Why it is important: IADS attended the event to listen to key speakers as well as scout out promising solutions for members.

Paris Retail Week 

What: IADS attended two digital talks.

Why it is important: We gathered interesting insights about the sustainability issue in the sneakers market as well as fashion economic perspectives for the French market.

Première Vision - September 2021

What: IADS attended 6 digital talks on the future of retail.

Why it is important: We gathered interesting insights about what challenges retailers are facing after the Covid pandemic and how companies are planning to change for the better.

Financial Times Live 

Retailers have been put under extraordinary pressure for the past 2 years, and forced them to adapt to somewhat irreconcilable constraints, as outlined by David Bosshart, the former CEO of the GDI. How to deal with customers’ expectations of immediate satisfaction while, at the same time, they also expect from retailers commitments toward the environment and the society that are somewhat conflicting with this? What shall retailers pursue: long-term value by emphasizing their brand (but at the risk of running out of cash in the meantime), or compete with the “tech titans” for convenience and speed, not even knowing if they stand a chance?

The guest speakers each provided some insights and elements of reflection to answer this extraordinarily complex question:

• Sucharita Kodali, from Forrester Research, insisted on the fact that retailers had an opportunity to regain control over tech titans, or at least generate a new opportunity, by looking at alternative sources of revenue based on what they know how to do, just like what Amazon, Google or Facebook do,
• The CEOs of Hornbach Baumarkt (German DYI group), Denner (Swiss discount supermarkets) and Tegut (German supermarkets) discussed about power decentralization, trusting teams, considering societal evolutions to predict the future of business, and dealing with innovation with new stores concepts,
• The full e-commerce value chain was also represented, from Obsess which proposes to brands a different experience when it comes to e-commerce with virtual stores, Reflaunt, a resale facilitator, bookshop.org which aims at competing with Amazon on their original markets, books, or the legendary Ben Evans who gave his views on the evolution of tech and how it allowed the retail business to “unbundle”,
• Sustainability was also a topic of choice, with the CEO of Ecoalf (sustainable brand) and Green Pea (the first “green retail park”, opened last year in Turin, Italy) presenting their visions and actions.

The video captions are available here:

-    Link: <https://www.gdi.ch/en/71st-international-retail-summit-password-protected-area>

-    Password: IHT2021_ppa

71st International Retail Summit - full report

71st International Retail Summit website

Crespin

Evans

farinetti

gutberlet

Hunter

Irminger

kodali

What: Erwan Rambourg, author of “The Bling Dynasty” (2014) and “Future Luxe” (2020), shared his view on the current state of the Luxury inudstry with a selected group of professionals, alumni of a French business school. This allowed to have an informal yet meaningful conversation on groups, customers and strategies.

Why it is important: Luxury brands are a significant part of many IADS members’ businesses and today, questions regarding the ability to keep on collaborating with these brands are raising. IADS attended the conference to learn more about this analyst’s expectations and views on the shifts taking place in the industry.

Erwan Rambourg is Managing Director and Global Head of Consumer and Retail Equity Research at HSBC, after having started his career in LVMH and Richemont brands. He has also been a guest lecturer in many institutions (HKUST, Columbia University), columnist (Business of Fashion, Jing Daily) and has written two books on luxury, The Bling Dynasty (2014), Future Luxe (2020).

The key learnings of this conference are:

• Even though luxury as an industry is doing well so far (as in every crisis), the picture is less homogeneous at the regional level, and the situation is different in China, Europe and the US, with different dynamics with different factors,
• Female customers are empowering themselves and represent, according to Rambourg, the growth reservoir for luxury brands in the coming 10 years, especially for jewellery, cosmetics, accessories, wines and spirits,
• The negotiating power will remain in the hands of the larger brands, which are poised to become even larger and powerful, while the other option for smaller brands is to be either super specialised and good at what they do (Moncler) or totally disruptive. Days are counted for mid-sized traditional houses. None will disappear, but they will end up being eaten up by groups,
• Stores remain central in the luxury experience, even more at a moment when so many new customers are making their first purchases now. As a consequence, there is no doubt that brick & mortar business will remain a key component of the luxury groups strategies as a whole, and they will use digital to increase adherence between brands and customers, to be visible in virtual territories, as well as to ease customers journeys, but at the same time, they keep on investing in boutiques to enhance the experience,
• CSR is long, painful, costly and luxury groups are not there yet, but are under pressure to adapt, and fast.

IADS - Erwan Rambourg HEC

What: The WRC London Summit was held on 14 September

Why it is important: The guest speakers and retailers reflected on the past months to better address the future. Talks were also about digital transformation and how to take advantage of it by converging both online and offline. A fair share of the day was dedicated to the urging question of sustainability.

•    Retail and the post pandemic global economy from the European point of view

•    Winning consumer loyalty in an age of digital transformation by converging online and offline while favoring creativity

•    The industry leader’s forum: what was at stake when Covid happened

•    Rediscovering the magic of retail by mixing the best of department stores and AR

•    Winning retail business models for a post-pandemic world

•    The sustainability opportunity

•    Google and Alibaba insights

World retail congress