Aug 2, 20223 min read

How was Future Retail Summit 2022?

Updated: Aug 17, 2022

First of all, it was LIVE and we had the long awaited chance to see each other again.

It's been about a month since the biggest tech event in the CEE took place right here, in Bucharest.

We took some well deserved time, so we can internalize everything we saw, heard and learned. Now it is the perfect time to share with you some highlights from Future Retail Summit.

Many thanks to our Future Retail Summit Partner this year – Romanian Business Consult – for supporting us!

Well, a good day starts with coffee, right? Let’s take a short moment for the appreciation of our partner L’OR, who was responsible for the good energy around here.

Andra Imbrea and Bogdan Gross opened our Future Retail Summit and gave the audience a short introduction into the technologies they are using in order to develop the following steps in the retail business, which they have been doing for years.

As Tomas Petovsky from Meta said…future of Retail is happening now! Shopping won't be omnichannel anymore, as we were talking in the last years. It will be hybrid – a definitely new way of shopping. Physical stores remain the dominant purchase destination, but online channels take up a large share. And if you want to reshape your retail business, take these into account:

1. Discovery is happening on social-media

2. The roles of stores and online have blurred

3. Shopping in VR.

4. New Virtual Markets.

Marco Guastamacchia from Microsoft showed us an (almost) practical guide to read through Metaverse’s lines and not get lost. Basically, Metaverse will connect the physical and the digital world we already live in. Just think about gamers who are currently hanging out more in game worlds. At a technological level, Metaverse only combines technologies we already know about: IOT, XR Reality, gaming, blockchain, social virtual worlds, cognitive services & AI.

Then we had a very cool squad on our stage to talk about retail in Romania: Adrian Toma from RBC, Alex Balea from Totalsoft, Marius Vasile from Samsung, Vasile Voicu from Orange Business Services and Andrei Sârbu from certSIGN.

DeAnn Campbell from Armstrong Alliance Group taught us how to win the struggle to align technology and customer experience. She really had a point in how to reduce costs through retail tech while increasing revenue through customer experience: from digital cooler doors to digital menu boards and self check-out.

Prof. Dr. Katelijn Quartier came to remind us that no matter the technology, retail is still about experiences, which must be engaging, co-creative and immersive, elasticising and boundless and the real output for the customer is time, not a budget.

Dimitar Kralev from The Fabricant showed us how can you sell a dress you'll never touch for €9500. No matter how crazy it sounds, Dimitar outlined the technologies enabling web3 and the Metaverse while showing practical examples of some currently available virtual worlds, based on digital assets only.

Pierre-Yves Paslier and Rodrigo García González from Notpla came with an exceptional solution to replace disposable plastic in day to day life. From Notpla pearls, made for single use doses of liquids (coffee, shampoo, sun cream and so on) to Notpla coating, which is designed to naturally biodegrade, the sky is the limit.

Christine Nikolaou from Diageo emphasized the relationship with the Consumer of the Future. This relationship will only take place if we fully embrace the digital environment: phygital & omni, data experience & personalization and innovation.

And then we had Yogith Krishna from PepsiCo talking about a much more tangible subject - supply chain management: importance, issues and the future – with focus on the technologies that will influence the modus operandi.

But let's not talk too much about ourselves, let them tell you what how they feel about Future Retail Summit experience ⬇️