RetailDetail Congress 2017’s incredible international line-up did not disappoint. Particularly “retail prophet” Doug Stephens wowed the audience. Technology and experience go hand in hand in the store of the future.
Effortlessly serve the customer
After our themed introductory programs, sympathetic robot Pepper welcomed the crowd. For a moment, it seemed like host Gino Van Ossel would lose his job to a robot, but fortunately for him, it did not come to that. A remarkable conclusion was that our four speakers more or less entirely agreed. Online or offline, b2b, b2c or c2c, it is all retail and everything comes down to how to effortlessly serve the customer.
Wijnand Jongen, here to present his “Flemish” version of his “Het einde van online winkelen” (the end of online shopping) book, talks about an “onlife” consumer. Insider Trends’ Cate Trotter preached about how one has to have faith in technology to help improve the shopping experience. She feels that “shopping sucks” too often. Stores will have to make a choice: either they will become functional pick-up points, or they can fully focus on the “slow shopping” experience. Zamro’s Eric Croon testified as to how Amazon is also invading the b2b market and how he and Zamro are able to counter that.
#RDC17 was trending
Top of the bill Doug Stephens also had a new book out, called Re-engineering Retail. According to him, we are merely experiencing “the end of the beginning of eCommerce”. We are barely at the end of the first chapter. Amazon’s dominance may impress, but the eCommerce giant’s shopping experience does not. Therefore, we have not seen anything yet. Physical stores will not disappear, but will change dramatically. Stores are powerful media to offer surprising experiences to consumers. “Forget turnover per square meter, focus on experience per square meter”, the retail prophet proclaimed.
If you would like to get to feel what the event was like, check out the many pictures and enthused reactions on social media: the #RDC17 hashtag was trending last night! Also keep an eye on our Facebook page for a photo and video report – coming soon.
