Estonia, Forum, Markets and Companies, Retail, Technology
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Thursday, 25.04.2024, 15:39
Baltic Retail Forum: people don’t want to spend their lives in stores
Mikhel Nestor. Press photo |
The trend of self-service in Estonian stores
should continue to grow. However, Estonian retailers show more and more
interest into more innovative solutions that increase efficiency, e.g., smart
shelf edge, e-commerce logistics options to mention a few. ““When it comes to
e-commerce we have to keep in mind that logistics and delivery and picking
point will become the only contact point for the client with the retailer, so
the process should be seamless to ensure positive customer experience,” said
Budvilaitis. He added that when innovating their processes and sales, retailers
should keep in mind that they would reach the break even point as soon as
possible.
“Baltic Retail Forum 2018” conference brought
together experts of retail industry from the region but also from further. The
conference focused on the future of retail industry and the discussions concentrated
on how digitalization and new technological solutions will influence the retail
business in coming years. The conference is organized by StrongPoint, retail technology company. In addition to 25 years of
experience in the Baltic States, StrongPoint
is also operating in 15 other European countries and in South-East Asia.
In her presentation, Google’s Associate Account
Strategist Greta Pudan focused on online trends in retail business. “The
consumer is constantly online, looking for answers and inspiration through web
channels and social media,” said Pudan. She noted that most successful are
advertisers, who know how to use their client data and tailor their marketing
messages accordingly. “If the retailer has decided to launch e-commerce they
have to consider that their mobile interface would be user-friendly and that
their marketing strategy would be client oriented instead channel oriented,”
Pudan added.
SEB banks macroeconomist Mihkel Nestor gave an overview about Estonian economic situation. According
to Nestor, retailers have mixed feelings this year. “Employment and salaries are
on the rise and consumer’s purchasing power in Estonia is higher than ever,”
said Nestor. Nestor also said that the competition is getting increasingly
tough and the e-commerce is pushing it even harder. “In coming years we see the
growth of turnovers, however the margins will be under increasing pressure.
Finding workers will also remain as a challenge for the retailers - getting
clients to visit the store would not be such a challenge compared to finding
people to work there,” said Nestor.
Baltic Retail Forum took place on 12th of
April in Apollo Cinema attracting experts and retailers all across the Baltics.
According to the survey conducted at the
conference, all of the participants were either planning or considering
investing into e-commerce in coming years. Conference was organized by StrongPoint in partnership with NCR,
Zebra, Datema, Verifone, Partner Tech, Google and Estonian Traders Association.