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Port of Thoughts 2016: „It is better to be disruptive than to be disrupted.“

01 October 2016
“The winds of digital change blow through all industries and sectors. And everything that can be digitised will be digitised.“ Kay Julius Evers, Managing Partner at Eversfrank Group, summarized the main challenges of the digital age in his opening remarks at the Port of Thoughts Retail Summit: “You have to destroy and reinvent yourself.”

Digitizing the customer purchasing experience does not only entail addressing the most immediate issues with new technical solutions. Furthermore, it creates an urgent need for companies to rethink and realign their business processes. With a main driver: the customer. All speakers agreed that, in order to be competitive on the market, companies must consider a new, disruptive approach that is centred on the customer.

Prof. Dr. Gerrit Heinemann of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences backed up his arguments with research findings. As the number of smartphone users grows, so do customers’ expectations of a seamless shopping experience and of the range of services on offer. New services, new store concepts, new sales channels, new advertising opportunities, but also new people and roles will be needed in order to meet the increasing customer requirements.

Christoph Wöhlke, Managing Director at Budnikowsy, concurs with this view. The drugstore chain, based in Hamburg, shows that a customer-centred approach does not only work in theory. It is essential to always try to identify ways to create added value. The key to success is to not only develop new sales channels, but to sensibly interconnect them.

Ina Dittmann, Business Development E-commerce Project Manager at Hawesko, revealed her recipe for digital transformation:

  1. design new digital experiences
  2. provide for a new culture with a digital DNA
  3. introduce new technology to your existing infrastructure core
  4. strive for data-driven decisions
  5. co-create and co-innovate with new business partners

She encouraged the audience to stay agile and to find the courage to try something new.

Specific technical solutions and new marketing opportunities were also presented at the Port of Thoughts 2016 Retail Summit. Michael Sinn, Director Category Support at Otto, explained, for example, how prediction models can be used to enhance dynamic pricing strategies or to centralize and consolidate stock supplies.

Ian K. Karan, entrepreneur and Senator for Economic Affairs and Employment (ret.), successfully concluded the day by emphasizing, from a personal perspective, that it is extremely important to try new things. The risk of failure is high, but we usually learn more from our mistakes than from success. „Learn to fail or fail to learn.”


Comosoft Blueprint

Michael Fieg, Managing Director at parsionate, highlighted the challenges of digital transformation from a different, non-technical point of view: new requirements in e-commerce, such as SEO and A/B testing, are radically changing the way master and product data is managed. New structures, concepts and roles are needed, said Fieg.

Comosoft too is evolving: new branding, internationalization and restructuring. At today’s blueprint event the software vendor presents new modules and solutions and provides an insight into future developments.

#POT16HH

 

Eversfrank Group
Port of Thoughts Retail Summit

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