As more than 800 retail leaders from around the world gathered to inspire and be inspired at World Retail Congress 2024, Retail Week highlights some of the key takeaways from the event in Paris
The curtain has fallen on this year’s World Retail Congress in Paris, marking another year of exclusive retail insight and inspiration from leaders across the globe.
The congress heard from retail leaders, including Carrefour boss Alexandre Bompard, JD Sports CEO Régis Schultz and Sephora’s Guillaume Motte, who covered the big themes shaping the industry globally. From AI to customer experience and the importance of creating the dream team, Retail Week explores the key takeaways from this three-day extravaganza.
AI is king
While this year’s NRF conference in New York kept its focus on technology and AI, the range of debate was widespread at WRC 2024. But the message when it came to AI was loud and clear – the technology is changing the game for retailers.
Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard said it will not only change how people work but how they behave.
“We must be prepared to adapt at full speed, continuously, because that is what retail demands of us,” he said. “The ride won’t be smooth but it’s our role to navigate these challenges successfully.”
Kingfisher chief executive Thierry Garnier echoed Bompard’s point and added that retailers need to be careful with how they are using AI and be sure to identify specific “use cases” where they can be confident it will drive efficiency across the business.
He warned that it could be easy to “boil the ocean” because of the innovations coming to the fore every day, but that can be unproductive for retailers. But if AI is applied correctly and used in specific areas of businesses, the only way is up for this technology.
Elevating the experience
Emphasis on the importance of an elevated shopping experience for consumers was a noticeable theme applicable to in-store and online experiences.
It was evident too in the incredible attention to detail seen in the Paris flagship stores visited by Retail Week.
Customers have been craving an all-singing, all-dancing physical store experience and Jean-Claude Sonet, EVP marketing at Geopost, said that shoppers expect more not only from stores, but also when shopping online; he said ecommerce has become a more “resilient” space than ever before.
“Consumers are becoming much more demanding and much more of an expert in the way they purchase online. They want a seamless, transparent, efficient and convenient journey,” he said.
One thing that bricks-and-mortar and ecommerce have in common is that customers want to find good deals, and convenience and flexibility are key. Although these factors are as old as retail itself, they remain as relevant as ever.
Teamwork makes the dream work
At the event, the spotlight was also shone on the people in retail. Southeastern Grocers boss Anthony Hucker said the US grocery giant is “in the people business” that “just happens to sell groceries” – meaning that teamwork really does make the dream work.
Hucker wasn’t alone in his emphasis on people. Sephora head Guillaume Motte highlighted the importance of his staff who celebrate the brand and clap customers as they enter the flagship store, while Ingka chief people officer Ulrika Biesèrt said that giving people “belonging, purpose and meaningfulness” is the group’s “superpower” when it comes to recruiting and retaining staff.
Speaking about building a winning team and organisation, former Walmart boss Judith McKenna told delegates it is “not rocket science”; she highlighted the importance of purpose and communicating that purpose with everybody as a key to success.
“You have to hire and promote the right people and build a whole basis of trust and empowerment with those teams,” she said. “For me, the building of teams is all about finding diverse talent that comes together with different thought processes.”
Trust Gen Z and Gen Alpha
According to luxury leaders from Mulberry, Burberry and EY People Advisory Services, it is the values of the younger generation that will drive the luxury sector moving forward.
This may have come as a surprise to some audience members, due to the apparent conflict of interest among generations Z and Alpha when it comes to sustainability vs price points.
“They [both] have been really interested in the circular economy and choosing to buy something secondhand,” said EY UK and Ireland strategy and transactions managing partner Silvia Rindone.
“On the other hand of the spectrum, you can see the explosion of certain fast-fashion brands. This is the throwaway society of the younger generation, you look at the two ends of the spectrum and they want both.”
The luxury leaders concluded that by having conversations with and tapping into the mindset of the next generation, retailers will understand what they will want from luxury in the future.
Similarly, ThredUp co-founder James Reinhart stated with confidence that the younger generation deems secondhand shopping as “the coolest way to shop”, making them pioneers in truly creating and embedding the concept of a circular economy.
Ever-evolving retail
Another ongoing topic of conversation was the idea of the need for constantly reevaluating, innovating and transforming within retail to guarantee success.
Zalando vice president of fashion Andreas Rödl said he believes “staying on your toes” is the only way for retailers to continue leading and retaining a competitive edge, adding that Zalando is “paranoid” in that regard.
Similarly, Shein head of strategy Peter Pernot-Day said the fast-fashion giant never sees itself as finished and that there is always something else in the pipeline.
With an eye to international dominance, 7-Eleven chief executive Danni Peirce pointed to the speed of change and continuous evolution in China as unmatched when compared with other geographies.
For retailers across the world, it seems that slow and steady might not win the race. Keeping up with innovations and introducing new ways of doing things at a rapid rate is the way forward if they are to remain at the top of their game.
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