71st International Retail Summit

Uncertainty, vulnerability and ambivalence: welcome back to the world of risk. But just how long can we keep going? Employees are suffering from screen fatigue, members of the public are fearful for the future, and customers are demonstrating ‘trip consolidation’: visiting fewer shops, but buying more from them.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created a longing for closeness, not only in terms of contact with other people, but also when it comes to consumption: regional products, local shops, delivery services. Even brands are moving closer to their customers with the successful direct-to-consumer model.

At the GDI’s 71st International Retail Summit, we explore the implications of these developments for people and companies alike, and present potential success factors for retail during these vulnerable times.

• What does leadership involve when managers and employees are working from home while, at the same time, ‘essential services’ continue to be provided in logistics and supermarkets?
• What will remain online after pandemic shopping, and what will go back to ‘bricks and mortar’? What will our shopping experience look like in the future? Will it also become purely virtual?
• Will the heavyweights continue their crusade of consolidation?
• Will there be a renaissance in the restaurant industry, retail’s little brother?
• Organic and vegan, local and regional products are making great strides at the moment. But what will happen to sustainability after the pandemic?
• What will our shopping experience look like in the future? Will it also become purely virtual?

Twitter-Hashtag: #iht21

Thursday, 9 September, 10.00 – 17.45

09.30
Welcome coffee

09.00 – 12.00  
Introduction
David Bosshart (CH), Executive Advisor, Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut (GDI)Moving Closer: Retail in Vulnerable Times

• Why security fades and we must assume responsibility.
• Are we people of space or of time?
• Customer relationships: What we underestimate and what we overestimate.

via livestream
Sucharita Kodali (US), Retail Industry Expert, Forrester
Tech Killed Retail: Here’s How It Comes Back

• What research tells us about shifts and trends in consumer demand and behaviour.
• Why retailers need to step up against big tech.
• The emergence of brand manufacturers in retail.

Erich Harsch (DE), Chairman of the Executive Board, Hornbach Baumarkt
All About People: Lessons From The Crisis

• Have social distancing and home office changed the principles of leadership?
• Customer service during the pandemic.
• From the DIY store to the living room shelf: striking new paths on the last mile.

12.00
Networking lunch

13.30
Mario Irminger (CH), CEO, Denner
In the Neighbourhood: Discounters as Local Suppliers

• Why the format benefited from the pandemic and what will happen next.
• Fresh, organic, baking station: How does the discounter win new customers, and what happens to cost leadership?

Thomas Gutberlet (DE), Managing Director, tegut
Courage to Take Risks: New Concepts in the Niche

• How customer proximity can be redefined in stationary food retail.
• Fully automated shop and e-commerce with Amazon: The unconventional path of an unconventional supplier.

via livestream
Neha Singh (US), Gründerin und CEO, Obsess
Rethinking the Online Shop: Making E-Commerce Beautiful

• How the monotonous grid of webshops can be replaced by an immersive virtual experience.

Javier Goyeneche (ES), President and Founder, Ecoalf
From Plastic to Fantastic: Recycling Waste for Fashion

• How new textile technologies help to fight ocean pollution.
  

15.30
Coffee break

16.00
via Livestream
Stephanie Crespin (GB), Founder and CEO, ReflauntResale as a Service: Extending the Life of Luxury Products

• Reconnecting brands with their customers by helping them sell their pre-loved fashion items.

via livestream
Andy Hunter (US), Gründer, bookshop.org
David vs. Goliath: Grosser Auftritt für kleine Buchläden

• How a platform with a social mission rivals Amazon.
• Allowing sellers to get a fair share through an alternative business model.

Benedict Evans (GB), Independent analyst
The Great Unbundling: Strategic Trends in Tech

• How retail, brands, TV and advertising are being overturned.
• Is there a future for platforms?
• The second 50 years in tech: An outlook.

from 18.00 

Indian Summer Dinner
A pleasant evening on the beautiful GDI terrace with late summer delicacies, drinks and good company.

Shuttleservice: transfer to Hotel Sedartis and Thalwil train station

Friday, 10 September, 09.00 – 14.00

09.00 

Duncan Clark (CN), Chairman, BDA China
Going East: How to Win the Chinese Market

• Latest trends in retail and e-commerce in China.
• Alibaba and beyond: Understanding the shape of the China market - new players, new technology, new rules.
• Where will Chinese consumers spend in the future, and what does it mean for the European market?

via livestream
Francesco Farinetti (IT), President and CEO, Green Pea
Creating the Green Mall: An Eataly of Things

• How to reinvent a doomed shopping format for the 21st century.
• Why a one-stop destination for sustainable services and products caters to today’s consumers.

10.15 
Coffee break

10.45 

A conversation with
Urs Niggli (CH), Agricultural scientist and former Director General of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
The Future of Food: How Will We Feed 10 Billion People?

• Is high-tech agronomy the answer to the destruction of biodiversity?
• Organic, regional, local: The future for all or only for rich nations?
• How fast will we see change, what are the levers, and who are the key players?
  
  

Anna Gawlikowska (CH), Chief Operating Officer, Swiss AI
Better Decisions with AI: Modelling of What-if Scenarios

• Using digital twins of society and businesses to simulate possible futures.
• How retail, from product management and logistics to store location and online activities, can profit from an AI approach to complex situations.

via livestream
Kate Darling (US), Research Specialist, MIT Media Lab
Moving Closer: Becoming Attached to Robots

• Why People Become Strangely Attached to their robot vacuum cleaners.
• Why the treatment of machines can reveal a new understanding of our own history, our own systems, and how we relate to one another.
• Why treating robots like we treat animals will actually serve us better.
  

12.30
Networking lunch

14.00 
End

Date

9 and 10 September 2021

Language

German / English (simultaneous interpretation)

COVID certificate

In order to provide you with the safest and most unrestricted conference experience possible, a valid COVID certificate and official ID are required to attend the conference.

The certificate serves as proof that you are fully vaccinated, recovered or have tested negative. This will allow all participants to move around the GDI more freely and without a mask.

The GDI will offer free COVID tests on both days of the conference. If you test negative, you can get the certificate you need right on the spot. The testing facilities are located directly in front of the institute, please register online for an appointment: ​ ​

• 09 September 8.30 - 11.00 a.m.
• 10 September 8.00 - 10.00 a.m.

The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has published further information on the Covid-Zertifikat ​ ​ and the entry requirements for Switzerland.

Changes to the programme

The programme is subject to change. If an event does not take place, fees will be refunded. Further claims are ruled out.

Cancellation

If you are unable to attend, please let us have your cancellation in writing. The fee will be reimbursed on cancellation thirty or more days before the event. After this term and until five full working days prior to the event we will charge 75% of the fee. In the event of later cancellations we will charge the full participation fee. Substitute participants welcome.

Hotel reservation

To benefit from special rates, please use the following email adresses and refer to the code: IHT2021

Hotel Sedartis, Thalwil: info@sedartis.ch

Hotel Sedartis, Thalwil: info@sedartis.ch

Hotel Alex Lake, Thalwil: Buchungslink

Hotel Belvoir, Rüschlikon: info@hotel-belvoir.ch

Hotel Ibis, Adliswil: welcome@ibiszurich.ch

Transport

There will be a free shuttle bus service between the GDI and the Hotel Sedartis / Thalwil train station. 

From Zurich airport

You can reach the GDI and partner hotels by taxi in around 45 minutes. The cost is approximately CHF 100, depending on traffic. Alternatively, the train is a fast and easy way of reaching Zurich and Thalwil train station (online timetable).

Shuttle bus: Thalwil – GDI

The GDI shuttle bus runs from the Thalwil train station to the GDI. The bus will wait on the lake side of the station. A GDI staff member will be on site to meet you. Hotel Sedartis guests may also use this bus.

Timetable:

Thursday, 9 September

Thalwil station – GDI: 09.00 – 09.45, every 15 minutes

GDI – Thalwil station: 17.45 – 19.00, every 15 minutes; 19.00 – 22.00 on request

19.00 – 22.00 on request

Friday, 10 September

Thalwil station – GDI: 08.00 – 08.45, every 15 minutes

GDI – Thalwil station: 13.00 – 14.00, every 15 minutes

Hotel Belvoir is within walking distance of the GDI.

Luggage

You are welcome to leave your luggage in the GDI cloakroom.

Parking

The car park is a five minute walk from the GDI and located on Zürcherstrasse 4, 8803 Rüschlikon. You will receive a ticket from the GDI to exit the car park free of charge.

 ​ ​

General Terms and Conditions Events and Studies EN (PDF)

GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute

Langhaldenstrasse 21

8803 Rüschlikon

SCHWEIZ

Anreise

2 days, 1 person: 

Full price: CHF 2500

20 % early-bird discount until 15 June: CHF 2000

2 days, 2 or more persons:

Full price: CHF 2125 / person

can be cumulated with:

early-bird discount until 15 June: CHF 1625

1 day, per person:  

Full price: CHF 1500

20 % early-bird discount until 15 June: CHF 1200

Livestream, 2 days:

CHF 1200

20 % early-bird discount until 15 June: CHF 960

Price for startups:

CHF 800 (2 days), CHF 600 (one day), CHF 600 Livestream

(Request for voucher code: iht(at)gdi.ch)

Payment in advance. Reduced fees apply when more than one participant from the same company registers at the same time. Any subsequent participant registered later will be invoiced separately. The conference fee includes all food and beverages (and VAT). Participants registering less than two weeks before the event can pay by credit card only.