"This is where the heart of Polish retail beats!" - was the slogan of the eleventh edition of the Poland & CEE Retail Summit 2019 Congress. This exclusive event which took place on 3-4 April 2019 at the Hilton Hotel and Convention Centre in Warsaw every year tightens cooperation among all the players on the market and make the heart of Polish retail beat faster. Read some of the highlights from the Congress and find out what is the future of the retail industry.

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The first speeches at the conference presented the changes that retail trade has to prepare for due to the evolving technologies. Agnieszka Sora (GFK Polonia) highlighted trends concerning the simplification of the payment process for purchases (scan&go), development of interactive store flyers and automation of logistics processes.

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Michał Pieprzny (Deloitte) discussed the impact of digital tools on making purchase decisions and the implementation of the purchase process. Shopping habits, especially of the young generation, are constantly evolving and retailers have to adapt quickly to these changes and keep up with them. Customers who do the shopping in stationery stores with a smartphone are becoming more and more aware of the characteristics of individual products, as well as of substitutes and prices of competitors.

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An interesting point in the main panel of the conference was also a speech by Carolina Garcia Gomez (CEO, Ikea Polska) about the importance of today's digital transformation. The speaker highlighted the growing awareness of Polish customers (and brands) regarding environmental protection and non-discrimination as well as equal rights in employment.

She also presented IKEA's plans to reduce waste during the manufacturing process. She stressed the importance of the use of renewable energy. An important aspect in this area is also establishing cooperation with educational institutions, e.g. schools. An example of this is a contest organized on the initiative of IKEA in cooperation with, among others, the Katowice City Hall. The winner will be this school which succeed in involving children and young people in environmental activities the most. The winning school will receive a photovoltaic installation and assembly funded by IKEA. The award will allow the facility to operate more ecologically and reduce its electricity costs. Looking for solutions for a closed-loop economy as well as for a better climate is one of the most important challenges and areas of sustainable development in IKEA.

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Jarosław Sokolnicki (Head of Industry Solutions Retail & Consumer Goods, Microsoft) and Alicja Koleśnik (CEO of DOZ SA) described the digital transformation in the retail sector on the example of cooperation with the network of online pharmacies Dbam o Zdrowie. Their speech focused, among others, on the presentation of plans to launch the first stationary pharmacy, which will be supported by Microsoft with intelligent technological solutions. Thanks to the implementation of new technologies in the retail trade, the process of exchanging information, e.g. on health and medicines reservation can be much more streamlined. Patients will be able to order medicines directly using the app and then pick them up at a pharmacy or receive the delivery to home. Thanks to the application it will be possible to receive notifications reminding about taking the pill. Such an app will also allow contacting the patient to recommend a visit to the doctor.

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An interesting panel was Krzysztof Stern's speech - "Logistics 4.0 Ariadna's thread for supply chain". The panel focused on how to improve transport accessibility. Logistics 4.0 means improved quality of drivers' work and less empty mileage. Over 33% of transports in Poland are either transports without goods or vehicles not fully loaded. Useful tools may be, for example, applications alarming about traffic jams, problems or for example too narrow streets where the truck will not be able to pass through.

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The next panel was focused primarily on the issue of artificial intelligence and algorithms, which today are already around us. Aleksandra Przegalińska (PhD in the field of Artificial Intelligence Philosophy) emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) for the digitalization process. The speaker also pointed out that it is important to deepen the knowledge about AI, as well as its potential and effective usage in everyday life. She also stressed the growing importance of bots and their use in automation processes. It is also expected that the use of mobile devices will continue to evolve, with more and more intelligent assistants, with whom we will communicate in natural language.

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Sebastian Starzyński (President of the Management Board, ABR SESTA) also talked about the growing importance of AI in the context of how technologies help the retail industry to optimize individual business processes (e.g. in logistics) or process huge amounts of data in Big Data systems. Machine Learning (ML) and artificial intelligence, which are becoming increasingly popular today, are not only the automatic directing of us to our home or favourite restaurant via the map application, but also ordering our favourite juice by Alexa (Amazon's virtual assistant already present in tens of millions of American homes). Today, an interesting trend is to combine different systems in order to achieve such a synergy that will make our daily activities as easy as possible (e.g. partnership project of Amazon, Ford and Starbucks, allowing allows us to get in our car and expressing out loud our willingness to drink coffee, consequently, car navigation will lead us directly to the nearest café of the popular chain). Sebastian Starzyński in his speech also predicted that the progress of robotisation and artificial intelligence is so fast that soon such professions as the accountant will be replaced by algorithms.

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The current trends in the industry can be described as "total digitisation". Retail and FMCG, as well as other sectors of the economy, are constantly looking for tools to minimise operating costs and optimise business processes. IT solutions automating work and allowing for full control over data will continue to gain popularity. In the era of such a fast-changing reality, IT can no longer block business development.

The Retail Summit 2019 congress focused on the future of the sector - it gave participants an opportunity to learn more about trends that affect the shape of Polish trade, it also introduced the topic of digitalization and familiarized participants with the specifics of the future customer. The first day of the conference ended with the presentation of the Retailer of the Year 2018 award, which this year went to the Żabka chain, for dynamic development. The formula of the last edition of the Congress was enriched with additional opportunities to broaden knowledge as well as build, develop and tighten relations.

The above highlights from the selected speakers' speeches are only a part of what could be listened to and discussed at this year's Poland & CEE Retail Summit 2019. It was a huge dose of knowledge and analysis of the most important trends in the retail industry as well as a unique chance to talk and share their experience among the key players on the market.