A brief review to start the year

2021 is here. To start us off, we have plenty of food for thought in a look back at the topics that interested you most in the past year.

The start of a new year always comes with a review of the past one. And without a doubt, (digital) retail in 2021 would like the stranglehold of the pandemic to loosen its grip soon. 2020 revealed there is significant potential for optimization of processes, customer communication and digitization. This is why we’re presenting you today with the articles that interested you the most over the past twelve months.

The new world of selling using retail tech

Modern technologies and (digital) retail are now simply inseparable. They enable new possibilities for interacting with customers, for (contactless) payments, analysis of customers’ habits and better price-setting using dynamic pricing.

Apps and smartphones are also playing an ever greater role. People are making more and more purchases by tapping their thumbs. The super apps in Asia are prime examples of this. And TikTok will have an even greater say in social commerce.

Marketplaces other than eBay and Amazon are opening up new sales opportunities, but many former pure online players are also opening physical stores.

Management in the digital age

Digitization is also changing the way in which companies (need to) operate. This places special demands on managers who need to get used to the idea of “unbossing”, such as leading with objectives and key results. But the introduction of agile development methods also works in large organizations.

And of course, the coronavirus crisis has had a direct impact on how we all work and and how companies need to organize their working methods.

Covid, covid, covid

The first reports of a puzzling lung disease in China started to appear in January. The country seemed a long way away and nobody could have guessed that it would result in a pandemic. This all changed dramatically as spring progressed and naturally affected how other retailers approached Covid-19 (in German). The question of whether experience with the virus would affect consumer behaviour (in German) and how consumption would change in the post-coronavirus world also played a part.

The pandemic regrettably also affected our Connecta event, which had to take a new path.

Learning from the best

Background discussions were always a firm favourite, be they with Ronald Christen of LOEB (in German), Philippe Huwyler of coop@home (in German), Simon Gfeller of Landi (in German) or Philipp Leuthold of Swiss Post.

We hope you can get some new inspiration and can return to work refreshed for a successful 2021!