With ongoing supply chain disruption, retailers should be thinking about taking delays and disruption into their own hands – whether in the form of acquiring a postal service, or buying ships, jets or factories. Doing so gives brands ownership over manufacturers and reduces communication issues in the supply chain as they’ll know about them almost immediately. Taking control and vertically integrating puts retailers in the driver’s seat and enables retailers to rethink every mile of their supply chain.
Existing supply chains have had a negative-poor impact on 75% of companies around the world. 94% of Fortune 1000 companies are seeing supply chain disruption from COVID (Accenture).
Cost cutting is of course a precedence in the rethinking of supply chains, but is not the only factor to be considered. Sustainability measures should also be a priority to drive value, and efforts to localize supplies must be worked towards to differentiate, strengthen relationships and power brands in the post-Covid era.

Key areas of discussion include:
•How can we use granular data and predictive analytics to forecast demand?
•What does re-inventing the last-mile mean for businesses and consumers?
•What role can partners play in optimizing retail supply chains?

Whether brick & mortar or ecommerce, everything in 2022 is one giant store. Consumers now have access to retailers in a multitude of different ways that will facilitate brands being seen as one and the same, whatever avenue the customer chooses to interact with them. The new omnichannel strategy is about real omnipresence – being able to be present everywhere, be it direct to consumer or through 3rd parties.
The hybrid model has been adopted with success across the board and there is no longer the need to fear cannibalization and an ‘us vs. them’ mindset with online and offline LOBs. The need to be in as many environments as possible is real, and we’re watching this develop rapidly through the emergence of new, online marketplaces being introduced by retailers.

Join us to explore the following:
•What does becoming omnipresent mean for retailers?
•How can retailers maximize brand exposure without irritating customers?
•What technologies can be exploited to allow retailers to be everywhere at the same time?
•Is live selling something we should be exploiting?
•Do subscriptions make sense for your business?
•How can social selling contribute to CX and revenue growth?

The eCommerce landscape today is a totally different beast when compared to what it was last year, let alone pre-pandemic. Online retail sales contributed a stunning 35% of total retail sales in 2021, nearing 20% growth from the year before.
Explosive consumer demand has seen the rise of multiple start-ups in the delivery space and brought light to quick-commerce (Q-commerce) in cities and other densely populated areas. This revolution has given consumers the power to choose from a huge variety of local restaurants and grocery stores and have it all delivered in minutes. Q-commerce also has huge potential to raise sustainability standards within retail and eCommerce, namely due to the last mile largely being fulfilled via pushbikes or electric vehicles.
Agility will be key to keeping pace with dynamic changes in this environment, with headless commerce said to contribute heavily to aid this. Ecommerce has emerged as an indispensable retail channel, and an unavoidable factor to future-proof growth. The differentiator now, will be how retailers respond to the varying needs the online shopping era has to bring.

Key areas of discussion include:
•How can we remain agile, continue to meet consumer demand, and thrive in an ever-changing environment?
•Headless commerce: an essential or a nice-to have?
•What role can partner ecosystems play in accelerating innovation?
•How can brands nail the online experience build hybrid relationships?

The phrase ‘data is king’ is bordering over-use, and for good reason: it absolutely is. Data is the driver for why most brands are on some form of digital transformation and investing in data lakes and unprecedented business intelligence. Whilst that may be the case, very few brands are operationalizing all the data being accumulated. So, while no one is denying data is King, it would seem we’ve forgotten about the Queen – the one taking what’s been collected and putting it to good use.
As brands move on from the effects of the pandemic, the time has come to leverage the royal asset being sat on. Data is King, so long as it’s utilized to power decision making across the board.

Be a part of the conversation and explore:
•How can we innovate and incentivise consumers to continue to share data?
•How do retailers remove barriers and attain enterprise-wide data insights?
•Deploying AI in retail – do we have the data we need to unlock seemingly limitless value?
•Do we have the workforce to really reap the benefits and operationalize the data we have?
•How can we use data to generate value and new revenue streams?

•Retailers and brands need to take a new approach to meeting the challenges of building a profitable ecommerce business
•Multi-tier edge distribution network is the "next big thing" in this evolution
•This new network architecture enables retailers and brands to address the risks of ecom growth (high delivery costs) and/or drive new market opportunities (access to new consumers and markets without the high capital costs associated with stores)

Web3 may still be an emerging concept but brands are starting to leverage the opportunity through the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to heighten customer experiences and build loyalty, as they become more mainstream in the market.
Web3 has potential to create real value for DTC, digitally native brands as a way of developing a powerful sense of community with customers. For example, Budweiser stepped into the realm of web3, with the launch of ‘The Heritage Collection’, selling 2000 exclusive digital cans to celebrate the brand’s iconic history.
The metaverse is another world of opportunity as brands endeavour to stand out in a crowded digital marketplace. Creating immersive interactions for curious and tech-savvy customers to transform experiences is a serious chance for retailers to stay ahead of the curve and increase market share. To add, 72% of global retail executives state that the metaverse will have a positive impact on their organizations. However, despite the vast opportunity, a Euromonitor survey indicated investments in retail will first focus on brand engagement before more complex cases.
What does Web3 mean to the retailers post-Covid? Where do organizations start to get a piece of the metaverse pie? How do brands leverage the new iteration of the internet to create new revenue streams? Should we be prioritizing Web3 as a means of gaining a competitive advantage?