Trend Updates

The last year and a half has undoubtedly left its mark on retail. But what are the trends that emerged as a result? Which of them remain? How has the pandemic changed corporate culture and management concepts? What are the consequences for the West's relations with China? These and other questions were the focus of the 2021 International Retail Conference.

With every passing day, behavioural data will increasingly become the linchpin of medicine. This data will form the basis for the development of new, personalised treatments. It can also be used to create new tools to control and manage individual health.

Max Premium Burgers was already considered a pioneer in climate and environmental awareness before the coronavirus crisis. After all, the chain’s food has been climate-positive since 2018. At the European Foodservice Summit 2021, CEO Richard Bergfors will show how his family business became a sustainability role model.

In December 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, Francesco Farinetti opened Green Pea, the world's first completely sustainable shopping centre, in Turin. Here, and at the GDI Retail Summit in September, he explained how shopping and sustainability can go together.

What makes a country’s armed forces reject robot missions as inhumane? Why do we feel compassion for vacuum cleaners, and how are robots designed to elicit these emotions? Answers were provided by MIT researcher Kate Darling in a Ted Talk and at the GDI Retail Summit on 9 and 10 September 2021.

“We don’t have much consensus on what online privacy actually means, and most of what’s on the table conflicts fundamentally with competition,” writes tech thought leader and GDI speaker Benedict Evans in a blog post.

The dynamic in online retailing has been apparent since before the Covid-19 crisis: there is no retail concept that cannot be digitalised. But what about physical retail space? What should remain, what should disappear, what needs more space?

"All retailers could benefit from being a bit more paranoid and protective of their turf." This is what Sucharita Kodali, Vice President at the American market research company Forrester, says. This means that they should invest more in protecting their intellectual property and lobbying for laws in their favour, just like Google, Facebook and Co. are doing. Read an interview here. Sucharita Kodali spoke at the 71st International Retail Summit on 9 and 10 September 2021.

How do you manage your staff during a pandemic of unprecedented magnitude? What doesn't work at all in such a situation? One person who should know is Erich Harsch. As CEO of the Hornbach DIY group, he is responsible for 23,000 employees. How did his employees inspire him during the pandemic? Harsch discussed it all here in an interview, and at the 71st International Retail Summit.

A large part of our everyday lives is determined by habits. This makes our lives easier, but it also prevents us from simply changing bad behaviour. How do we change our habits for good?