At the European TCG Retail Summit 2014, top decision-makers from across Europe will get together to discuss the future of technical consumer goods retail (TCG).
Picture someone standing in an aisle of a store looking at their phone. Where are they in their shopping journey? Can you tell? Are they doing research, checking prices, sharing an image through social media or getting ready to buy from a competitor? Are they looking for customer service or are they trying to avoid it?
Mobile and social have led to a revolution a revolution in retail and have caused seismic shifts in customer behaviour. It seems to have disrupted the purchase path so much that it is nearly impossible to tell whether that person in that store is there to buy or showroom-- and where they might go next.
At the European TCG Retail Summit 2014, Piers Fawkes, PSFK, will provide an insight on the dramatic changes on retail-- and will be joined by other notable speakers such as Tony Stockil of Javelin Group, Lutz Behrendt, of Google and Friedrich Fleischmann of GfK.
The potentially limitless online selling over the next ten years is estimated by some experts to increase up to 30% of total sales. Omni-channeling requires completely new strategies. And the "new customer" with a new outlook, new consumer behaviour and new technologies in their hands puts many traditional distribution patterns in question.
As Hans Carpels, President of Euronics International, says: “I believe the retailer who does his business the same way he did three years ago, will not last three years more.”
Carpels is one of a number of Presidents, Managing Directors, senior buyers and senior sales directors from retail and industry both on national and international level, who will meet on 7 and 8 May 2014 in the Berlin Hotel Adlon Kempinski for the first European TCG Retail Summit.
Numerous prominent heads of the TCG sector (Consumer Electronics, Domestic Appliances, Information Technology and Telecommunication) from both retail and industry will present their theses to a censorious audience for discussion.
Among the high-level line-up of panelists are: Hans Carpels (President, Euronics International), Thomas Baader (Executive Vice President, BSH Group), Regis Schultz (CEO Darty Group), Doug Gurr (Vice President Amazon), Gerald Reitmayr (Head of Retail Europe, Samsung), Arjen Linders (Head of Markets, Philips CL) and Lutz Behrendt (Industry Leader Retail, Google).
Cornelia Yzer, Senator for Economics, Technology and Research and the official representative of Germany`s capital, Berlin, for this new electronic retail platform andDr. Christian Göke, CEO of Fair Berlin, will both give a personal welcome to this exclusive circle.
The concept of European TCG Retail Summit is more than a pure speakers event: panel discussions, audience involvement and the network opportunities on the highest pan-European level will be equally important.
As another panelist puts it: "A forum to create the possibility to interact and communicate between retailers and manufacturers outside of daily business, and outside of the – let us say – annual negotiation period, is certainly of enormous benefit for the entire sector.“
It is the very first time that a forum of this kind has been set up. Most business meetings are held on a national level. And the major international trade shows provide the upper leadership circle with only a limited scope for networking and the exchange of strategic issues- - beyond product presentations and tight schedules.
This Berlin event (under the motto "The future of retail - the success factors of a reinventing retail") will focus on the transfer of the latest retail know-how, the views of key strategic challenges, the illustration of successful models based on concrete best practice examples, new technology in retail and the changing attitudes of the consumer
"Berlin is, of course, an excellent place for this new international decision-makers summit with exclusive focus on electronic retail," says Chris Bücker, Retail Plus GmbH, founder and organizer of the European TCG Retail Summits. "Berlin is home to the biggest trade show for technical consumer goods, the well-known IFA. And the prestigious Adlon Kempinski Hotel as the first address will offer an excellent atmosphere to the exclusively invited guests."
