The much-awaited XIIth edition of Poland & CEE Retail Summit took place on 6 & 7 April 2022 at Double Tree by Hilton, Warsaw. As always, the event was very well attended with 1,200+ participants and 160 + speakers, with most participants at a director level and higher with who’s who of the industry represented.

This was the first large gathering post COVID of the sector in a 100% physical format with no online and hybrid elements attached. The participants loved the Face-to-Face interaction which they missed over the past 2 years. For this edition, the format of the event was fully adapted towards the transition and new realities of retail industry caused due to the pandemic. And so, the event was built into 3 stages – Main, Digital and Supply Chain with an additional eCommerce track across the three stages.

The participants really liked the spread of the speeches on the 3 stages providing an all-round trends and overview about the retail sector, which is the prime objective of the event. Additionally, the summit program was proactively adjusted and redefined just a few days before the conference capturing the Ukraine war and its impact on retail trade. Although not much data was available upon the impact as the war was still too fresh, but the speakers and panelist did try their best to address and make predictions about the forthcoming challenges based upon their experiences which was invaluable for the participants.
The Key trends and challenges discussed during the present edition of Retail Summit were:

• MAIN STAGE: Inflation, price rise, changing consumer buying behavior w.r.t. formats and assortments were the key areas of discussion.
• DIGITAL STAGE: Usage of data to leverage sales, innovative instore technologies, Q-commerce, market disruptors and consumer trends were showcased, however the focus of all presentation were primarily to get closer to the customers and enhance the CX.
• SUPPLY CHAIN STAGE: Supply chain transparency, real time replenishment, sustainability in retail and e-logistics were discussed in detail during Day 1 of the summit. Day 2 of the summit fully focused upon the disruptions within the SC being caused due to the Ukrainian war.
• eCommerce TRACK: This track focused primarily upon the commercial aspects of ecommerce trade and showcased new eRetail chains/ brands and formats now existing in Poland.

"This year edition of the conference was opened with a keynote speech by our former Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, focusing upon the key economic challenges to be faced by retail sector and Poland in general. Other key speakers included CEOs of Eurocash, Douglas, Sephora, Lotte-Wedel, Mars, Frisco.pl, Glovo, Danone, Good valley, Kraft Heinz and Perfetti van Melle to name a few. The 160+ speakers represented companies such as: Aldi, Allegro, Auchan, AmRest, BP, Decathlon, Douglas, Duka, Empik, Frisco.pl, GK Special, Ikea, Jeronimo martins, Kaufland, Modivo, Rossmann, OBI, Sephora, Shell, Super-pharm, Storkotka and Zalando amongst retailers.

This was the first time the event had a Retail Village as part of the event allowing participants (specially FMCG companies) to meet purchasers / buyers of Retailers during the 2 days which was a great success looking at the rush on the retail stands and now shall become an integral part of future summits. As always, the summit had an evening gala which was attended by 500+ participants during which Retailer of the year 2021 awards were handed.

To no one’s surprise this year we had a new Retailer of the Year - Frisco.pl (an ecommerce chain clearly demonstrating the impact ecommerce has had for the year 2021).

Post event the feedback received was at a level of 9.2 which is very high even from our own standard clearly reflecting the grand success of the event. And we can once again say “this is where the heart of Retail beats!”. The summit dates for next year 2023 shall be 29th – 30th March and we plan even a grandeur event with 1,400+ participants. Until next year we wish you all the commercial success within your businesses and let’s stay in touch! See you next year!

Casper Haring CEO European Conferences United