Smart Business Meeting XXIV: new paradigm and retail challenges in the face of the unstoppable rise of the online channel.
Since the pandemic broke out unexpectedly and hit hard, the giants of commerce understood that a new era was here to stay, and that the transformation of the sector would come with the same rawness as the global health crisis.
Consumption during that complex 2020 did not cease, it only mutated: it went to the online channel before the closure of all physical stores to contain the spread of the virus.
A change in trend that the global consulting firm McKinsey revealed with a figure: online sales in Spain had almost quintupled during the epidemic. That is, at a much higher rate than in other countries.
And, as expected, all the efforts of the main players in the industry were focused on boosting their ecommerce. First, to survive after the impact of COVID-19 and, later, not to lose competitiveness.
Smart Business Meeting XXIV
A fact that caused movements never seen before in a colossus of the sector like El Corte Inglés, which registered the first negative result in its history and executed an ERE that ended up affecting almost 3,000 people, 3.7% of its workforce.
With all this, the department store group assumed an obligatory pilgrimage to the online with a clear, but not easy, premise: to capture Generation Z, the same one that had been disconnected from the emblematic brand for years.
But with El Corte Inglés the movements do not end. Inditex, a domestic textile giant, accelerated its digital strategy in the hope that stepping on the online accelerator would be the revulsive to weather the bite of the pandemic on its accounts. The operation brought with it an unprecedented commercial withdrawal within the group -1,200 establishments absorbed until 2022-.
Smart Business Meeting XXIV strategies
Strategies have changed, and new competitors have also appeared that threaten to break the status quo. This is the case of Shein and its fully digital business model. An almost perfect gear that moves a staunch legion of followers on networks, who also respond when the company decides to open an ephemeral store, as has recently happened in Madrid.
The path to a new era that will change the direction of the sector, but also the position of small businesses in front of the ecommerce giants, will be some of the issues that will be discussed at the XXIV Smart Business Meeting organized by the source Spain on June 22.
Under the title XXIV Smart Business Meeting: How are we going to buy in the future? Trends, challenges and transformation of the commerce sector, the meeting will be moderated by the CEO of Axel Springer Spain — editor of the source Spain—, Manuel del Campo, and will be sponsored by Havas Media Group and the news aggregator Upday. The following experts will participate:
- Laureano Turienzo, founder and president of the Spanish Retail Association
-Jorge Mas, founder, and CEO of Crearmas, and retail expert
- Luis Esteban, CEO of The Jump
- Fran Marchena, CEO, and founder of HOFF
-David Expósito Cossio, Vice President of Sales for Europe at Truelayer
- Marta Frenna, CEO of Grey Hounders
What topics will be discussed at the XXIV Smart Business Meeting?
Smart Business Meeting XXIV questions
These will be some of the issues to be discussed at the XXIV Smart Business Meeting organized by the source Spain on June 22 from 17.00:
- Towards the new paradigm: from the reinvention of the physical store to the technological revolution through fast-fashion
- New proposals with great purposes made in Spain: differential value, quality, environmental sustainability, and technology
- Present and future of payment systems: buy today and pay... by the face?
- The live shopping phenomenon: the evolution of the teleshopping that is sweeping Asia.
