From September 17 to 19, the major meeting of French and international omnichannel retailers opens its doors for a 10th edition. Meeting with Arnaud Gallet, director of the retail trade fair division for Comexposium, who presents the common thread and the different axes addressed for this edition.
What are the major trends that will be addressed for this new edition?
We editorialize each edition around a central theme. The common thread of Paris Retail Week 2024 is the portmanteau word “Retailigence”. To meet the omnichannel challenges that are at the heart of retailers’ concerns, we recommend considering artificial intelligence as a tool available to distributors and brands, which can have a positive impact at all levels of the value chain. For example, application AI allows you to better understand your customers. By analyzing data in a more relevant way, these tools detect consumer purchasing behaviors and allow for finer segmentation. Retailers can thus push the right products, offers or services to the right customers at the right time.
So this year we are focusing on customer experience augmented by artificial intelligence, which is the new revolution in the market.
How was this common thread uncovered?
In November or December 2023, very early before the event, we met with the mentors of the 2024 edition for a meeting in the form of an editorial committee. Through discussions and proposals that we push, the subject of “retailigence” quickly emerged from the discussions.
What are the highlights not to be missed this year?
As every year, the opening plenary conference is a must. For this one, we have renewed the study that we conduct for each edition with Havas Commerce and this year, we are presenting two of them. The first focuses on the strong consumer trends in France and how to best respond to them and the second focuses on a more international aspect and will be centered on artificial intelligence. This time, Havas Commerce asked retailers and not consumers about their perception of AI and the impact it can have on omnichannel strategies.
Beyond the round table around this study, this year we welcome Olivier Bron who is the CEO of Bloomingdales and will be interviewed by Matthew Shay, the president of the NRF.
We also offer many other interventions from retailers such as Back Market, La Redoute and Café Joyeux. This diversity of brands should allow visitors to better anticipate market trends across all retail verticals.
Does Paris Retail Week 2024 have any new features compared to previous editions?
We want to listen to our audience, which is why each edition presents new features compared to the previous ones. This year, we are providing a Top Buyer team for VIP retailers, which allows them to survey the market. These retailers are also supported before the event so that they can prepare their time on site to find the solutions that match their needs and do not get lost among the 350 exhibitors. In short, this dedicated team’s role is to ensure that VIP retailers leave Paris Retail Week with the answers they needed.
The other big new feature is that we are now presenting a whole section of the show dedicated to the layout and design of points of sale, such as lighting, product display shelves, floors, etc. This allows us to respond even more to the omnichannel expectations of visitors, with a 360-degree offer.
Source: www.ecommercemag.fr
