Paris Retail Week?-?The Latest Digital and Physical Store?Trends

DISCLAIMER

The following review is based on the author attending Paris Retail Week and listening to discussions.

Event - Paris Retail Week

Location - Paris Expo Porte de Versailles

Date - 19, 20 &21 September 2023

Purpose - Provide leaders, technology innovators, and retailers the chance to come together and share their latest challenges, trends and success stories, to motivate audiences and promote learning with others.

Day 1:

Fireside Chat - Interview with Walmart , US, Executive Vice President, and Chief Revenue Officer Seth Dallaire.

Keynote Discussion – Interview with Bambuser , Sweden live shopping platform (E-Comm to V-Comm), Chief Marketing Officer, Qabil SHAH.

Video Experience - GK Software

Video Experience - ?cWATCH

Key Takeaways:

• Consumers in France are comfortable with shopping for products online, and merging digital with physical purchasing capabilities. This is greatly due to a rise in online grocery shopping during the pandemic, involving curbside pickup and click & collect. Walmart have adapted to these changes, by offering a range of delivery options for groceries; while trends show shoppers are increasingly using mobile devices – resulting in Walmart integrating the digital in nature of baskets with physical home delivery.

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• Consumer basket expectations are shifting in line with omnichannel experiences, offering Walmart and other grocery retailers a chance to provide something new from a brand perspective. For example, observing behaviours both online through purchasing history, and in-store associates, can build a level of trust, and convenience, placing emphasis on employee storytelling.

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• Retailers are concerned about managing inventory and optimising supply chains, turning to data for driving future sales. It is important to understand the product lifecycle, whether in-store, back of the store or displayed on shelves, while investment in smarter tools to communicate with suppliers and products is necessary as businesses expand their network.

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• Swedish live streaming shopping platform Bambuser, is transferring ecommerce capabilities to ‘vcommerce’ through demand for hyper-personalisation, and deeper connection with information flow from consumers about products they are promoting.

• Ecommerce to vcommerce, aims to illustrate how video technology can meet these consumer demands and contribute to the development of a sustainable and profitable business. Bambuser has been successful in working with many household brands globally, providing technology to stream videos live to a variety of different communities and sectors including fashion, grocery, and footwear.

Video Experience (GK Software) - https://www.afsretailguide.com/blogs/blogger-review-part-2

GK Software, is currently running in stores in Germany, and provides cloud software to retailers in sectors including grocery, fashion, hospitality, and mass merchandising among others. In the above-mentioned video, GK guide us through its ‘OmniPOS platform’ , which can be seamlessly integrated into the self-checkout process, via a self-scanning app, managed by retailers. GK take care of the hardware of the trolly and backend servers. The application communicates with the control weight management and product scale, operating both Android and Linux systems, helping to combat in-store theft.

• cWATCH, uses technology to enhance employee experiences (a.k.a. watch-as-a-service). The wearable devices can connect employees together, based on teams assigned through its online dashboard, accessible by store managers. Customers can connect to employees through Q&A, with employees required to enter a 4-digit unique login pin, before being able to send both SMS messages and voice recordings. All data is backed up in the cloud, and can be monitored through the dashboard, such as percentage of staff using text to video, and login / logout entries. cWATCH is responsible for the software and keeping it updated, with some retailers already looking at this technology in-store.

Day 2:

Keynote Discussion – Interview with Bright Data , (harnessing AI and web data for future of retail), Chief Revenue Officer, Gunja Gargeshwari.

Keynote Discussion – Interview with Monoprix / Naturalia , France (re-bringing people into stores), President, Guillaume Seneclauze.

Commerce Omnichannel Review – Retail Future Drivers 2025 Trend Analysis with the Retail Institute Italy. ? ?

Video Experience – Fosfor

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Key Takeaways:

• Cloud solutions provider Bright Data, leverage AI for price optimisation, providing consumer value by finding the best prices, promotions, and discounts to decrease overall consumption. Consumers want better transparency from retailers, and open communication about products. This can protect the smart shopper experience and express gratitude for loyalty.

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• It is important to consider ‘emotion vs rationalisation’, when using technology to support data-driven processes, and invest in sharing this / gaining feedback from customers, and creating sentiment analysis of web browsing, and purchasing history to convert sales at checkout. How customers perceive your brand is crucial in retaining loyalty, and how Large Language Models can be optimised this way may provide ethically sourced data.

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• Retail Future Drivers 2025 focus on trends we are seeing currently and future expectations, with generative AI, uncertainty in the economy, regulations, and sustainability being the main topics pertinent to retailers. Currently, online marketplaces account for the majority of ecommerce spending globally, with Amazon leading the way for product viability, while physical and digital solutions help reset the in-store experience, underpinned by digital influencing, and researching consumer needs. The average human attention span is 8 seconds , with retailers needing to adapt to different generations, such as new consumer buying habits through Gen Z and soon-to-enter the retail space, Gen Alpha, ?while still attending to millennials, Gen X, and boomers.

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• Re-bringing people into stores through the lens of French brand Monoprix identifies monetary aims for customer satisfaction, specifically, how will customers not struggle during inflation – with product prices a key component. Innovating in terms of customers, means retailers should think about what they want in 15 minutes from now, and meet expectations of customers; think locally in terms of location of stores, region, and impact on products sold for example. ?

Video Experience (Fosfor) - https://www.afsretailguide.com/blogs/blogger-review-part-2

• Fosfor, offers new technology, through hologram press imagery, and interface capabilities / scanning QR codes linking to whichever campaign is being displayed on screen. The visual graphics, software, and updates is supported by Windows, Linux, and Apple devices, while the interface is managed by a third party provider. In the above-mentioned video, you can see scalability, being able to go straight into the interface, and start building a campaign for your brand. Accessible to customers via the QR code, with the camera changing the clothes and backlight of products including led lights inside the physical product.

Day 3:

Keynote Discussion – Interview with IKEA , France, (mentoring commerce omnichannel, blurring boundaries to offer greater complementary), General Manager, Emma Recco.

Keynote Discussion – Interview with Estee Lauder Companies , France, President, Franck Besnard.

Conference Talk – Interview with Ecommerce Nation , France (Top 100 ecommerce 2023).

Fireside Panel Debate – Interview with Shein , China, Head of Strategy, Peter Day, Founder of 1083 fabrics Thomas Huriez, and Entrepreneur speaker of Forces Francaises de l’industrie Laurent Moisson.

Key Takeaways:

• IKEA was founded 80 years ago in Sweden, with the company priding itself on having a vision, relating to positioning improving daily lives through three components; more affordable products, develop and design own products to help upstream.

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• IKEA turned to omnichannel experiences years ago, with it accounting for 5 percent of turnover when developing online presence – now it has increased to 25 percent, showing huge convergence. However, physical shops are still attractive, so IKEA continue to invest in them. Omnichannel approach is the way to get what you want, and it isn’t about pitting one against the other, physical, and digital should merge and work together, integrating brands and having fluidity. Logistics also matters and having sustainable development in corporate social responsibility (CSR) must be part of how retailers structure operations, such as focus on eco design, consumption, distribution, and energy transition.

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• Ecommerce nation provided educational content developed with partners, looking at traffic online – showing key data points such as duration people spent on websites, and bounce rate. Overall, 73 percent of websites lost traffic in first half of 2023, with an 8 percent drop for all stakeholders in top 100. For sector analysis, not considered as important and showing a decline include DIY, and homeware. Travel, multi-category - including marketplaces and fashion/footwear remain the top sectors.

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• Estee Lauder Companies have adapted its retail strategy to meet expectations. The cosmetic industry is a key part of retail, with Estee Lauder operating in 150 countries, occupying 60,000 employees, and having a particular focus on luxury cosmetics, wellness, fragrance, and makeup. The main aim is to offer high quality products and serve consumers the best you can. ?Retailers should look at their design retail strategy, and focus on people who are fans of fashion, fashionistas, urban people living in countryside, age demographic (Gen Z and Gen Alpha), alongside market strategy to help launch brick & mortar and omnichannel online together.

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• Shein, China’s fast-fashion brand has a business model with strong revenue growth. Shein’s return rate is low, with the brand hoping to adjust with trends in real time, managing returns aggressively, continuing to diverse its customer base. On average, cost of garments ranges between USD$7 - $20 dollars to make products, marketed in 150 countries, while fabrics brand 1083 counter this claim by stating costs to manufacture range between USD$100 - $130, because of a rise in raw material prices and energy prices.

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• Shein is the third largest retailer by sales, however, they do not have fully owned factories, with a presence in Turkey, China, and Brazil through third-party vendors, hoping to localise operations in 2024 - 2025 as part of its future strategy. The goal is to continue to expand its Turkish base - with the bulk remaining in China. Shein have a strong physical presence as well as online, opening 40 pops up in 2022 - and a total of 6 temporary stores in France by the end of 2023. The company celebrates local designers, and is looking at ways to expand through its existing partnership with Forever 21, while providing end-of-life product recycling support to customers.