Retail

Whether in the form of neighbourhood shopping or delivery to the doorstep, proximity to consumers is becoming increasingly important, as the pandemic has shown. Mario Irminger, CEO of the discounter Denner, outlines the conclusions he has drawn from this in a video interview and at the GDI Retail Summit, which takes place this September.

With her start-up Reflaunt, Stéphanie Crespin connects luxury brands to the second-hand market using blockchain technology. She recently raised 2.7 million US dollars in funding for her venture. Crespin's ambitious goal is to solve the fashion industry's sustainability problem.

Thirty minutes – that's how long we use a plastic bag for on average before we throw it away. It often ends up in the sea, together with 5 to 13 million tonnes of other plastic waste per year. Javier Goyeneche turns it into clothes. He explains his business model here and at the GDI Retail Summit.

It is no secret that Amazon has been able to increase its profits and its claim to power during the Corona pandemic. But resistance has formed on the long-lost book front: Bookshop.org.

Sales via the online platform Alibaba already account for one-sixth of China's retail volume. They are doing everything right, says founder Jack Ma’s biographer Duncan Clark. In a video and at the GDI Retail Summit Duncan Clark will present the trends shaping e-commerce in China.

Downtown Paris is being protected with public money. Real estate company Semaest buys up space on behalf of the city of Paris and rents it out at at decent prices to retailers who fit into the neighbourhood. Emmanuelle Hoss presented her project at the GDI Retail Summit.

"During lockdown, when people were actually missing public spaces, they still chose not to use the traditional retail spaces. Because they’re not considered to be high quality public spaces anymore," says Kristian Villadsen, partner at urban strategy firm Gehl, in an interview.

The "Belt and Road" initiative is about economic influence and power, contended Bruno Maçães at the GDI Retail Summit. According to the politician, it helped create the landscape for China's e-commerce industry.

What does Covid-19 imply for retail? How do you build a successful urban farming company? And how do department stores hold their ground? Answers were provided by innovators and retail giants at the GDI Retail Summit from 10 to 11 September 2020. A summary.

"Belt and Road" visualises a new Chinese world order in which the US have disappeared, says Bruno Maçães, non-resident Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington and former Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs. Maçães will speak at the GDI Retail Summit on 11 September 2020.