Retail Summit 2017 program: Digital transformation drives the change of the retail market
Published 12/5/2016

Retail Summit 2017, taking place on 30. 1. - 1. 2. 2017 at Clarion Congress Hotel Prague, will focus on no-line retail. Main attention will be given to the forecast of retail trade and to innovations, changing shopping pattern and retail business itself. The program highlights the dialogue between the leaders of brick&mortar and internet trade. In that context, topics like customer experience, seamless retailing or e-Commerce consolidation will receive the biggest space in the program.

Retail market just goes through another massive change – digital transformation has finally installed on the throne new king – The Customer. And he or she behaves in a way, not so well anticipated by many retailers and manufacturers…There is not enough respect to borderline dictated sofar by companies and politicians. The customer wants to communicate and to shop within and across all channels, using all opportunities offered by the digital era. At the same time, he or she is far from resigning from many good all things offered by traditional retail trade. The sharp line between brick & mortar and internet trade is vanishing, as the consumers do not want it. We see also other borderlines evaporating – not just those geographical but also ones between suppliers and distributors or between individual “silos” within companies.

The future has thus new name „ONE. One Customer. One Market. One Commerce.” And that is also the topic of 23rd year of the largest meeting of retailers and their partners in Central and Eastern Europe - Retail Summit 2017, taking place on 30. 1. - 1. 2. 2017 at Clarion Congress Hotel Prague.

Program of the Summit, just published these days, introduces long line-up of more than a hundred ofexperts and leaders invited to discuss technological revolution and its impact on demand and supplyside of the market. Principal space in the program is reserved for visionsand forecasts of retail developments. Opening presentation by Petra Průšová and Bronislav Kvasnička from the research group Kantar will set-up the scene for further discussions on connected life and its impact on changing shopping patterns. New consumers obviously ask for new marketing. Tim Mason, representing UK based digital agency Eagle Eye Solutions, will explain its core parameters. What the change of market conditions may mean for the future of our retail trade – that is the question to be answered by Tomáš Drtina and Zdeněk Skála from GfK. Brand new Retail Vision 2020 study, based on interviews with key players of the Czech market, will help them with answering the question.

Retail Summit 2017 will also concentrate on inovations changing the shopping patterns and retailing itself. Several key presentations will introduce the participants to what is cooking in that area. Roman Janovič (CISCO) and Michal Tomčík (Pygmalios) will explain how Internet of Things and other technological innovations will enrich the consumer understanding possibilities. Stanislav Zrcek (Wincor Nixdorf) will present the concept of connected commerce, supporting the demand of consumers for shopping “anywhere, anytime and anyhow“. New technologies will be presented also “live”, not just within theoretical speeches. CISCO and Pygmalios will install in the congress center latest systems supporting the analyses of aggregated data on visitors´activities and will show online the possibilities of their use for proximity marketing and generation of customer insights. Participants will receive mobile application with several essential functions, networking feature included. Retail Summit 2017 app can be downloaded from GooglePlay or AppStore, after registering for the Summit.

Retail Summit will in its 23rd year strengthen its character of the platform supporting the connection between different types of market players. The Summit program thus creates enough room for the dialogue between the leaders ofbrick & mortar and internet trade. The organizers expect that most of all, the following topics like customer experience, seamless retailing or e-Commerce consolidation will resonate. As for the consolidation, it will be covered by one of the leaders of this process - Jitka Dvořáková, representing newly established Mall Group. At the same time, Retail Summit 2017 will host large number of representatives of small and medium sized companies. This is driven by the fact that the Ministry of Finance will use the synergy with Retail Summit 2017 and organize the retailer´ seminar on electronic evidence of payments in the Clarion Congress Hotel Prague. Minister Andrej Babiš will also present the key facts within the plenary session of the Summit.

Retail Summit 2017 will resonate with innovations, new technologies and hot news on the changing retail scene – nevertheless, its core mission stays unchanged, compared to previous successful years of this prestigious social and expert event. The organizers will do their best to enable to participants to establish new and fortify old contacts, get new business and, last but not least, to recharge batteries and gain the new energy.
 

Basic facts on Retail Summit 2017

  • Retail Summit 2017 is prepared by Comfederation of Czech Commerce and Tourism (Svaz obchodu a cestovního ruchu ČR), Economic University (VŠE Praha) and by Blue Events. It follows 22 years of traditional conference on Czech retail development. The Summit keeps its focus on the Czech and Slovak market, the international character of the event is nevertheless strengthen again.
  • Retail Summit is accompanied by award ceremony of Mastercard Retailer of the Year, taking place with the Gala Evening of January 31. 
  • This top meeting is organized with the help of tens of commercial partners – the biggest support has been provided by Mastercard, PlzeňskýPrazdroj ,Cisco a Pygmalios, followed byKofola, Nielsen, Deloitte, BEL SýryČesko, GS1 and TCC. 
     

About Retail Summit 2017
When: 30. 1. - 1. 2. 2017
Where: Congress Hotel Clarion, Praha

More info: Barbora Krásná, Blue Events
barbora.krasna@blueevents.eu

Media contact: Lukáš Koutník, Blue Events
lukas.koutnik@blueevents.eu

Contact for commercial partners: Jiří Beneš, Blue Events
jiri.benes@blueevents.eu