OWP liVe REPORT

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person at the right time in a customer- centric way. It entails a large amount of personalization throughout the customer journey. Businesses need to think about creating a flexible operating model that starts with the consumer and expands outwards into the context, product, logistics, talents and data systems. "Retailers need to build new capabilities and operating models to deliver the 'everywhere-anywhere- anytime' shopping experience." A good example of this is adidas. The sportswear company saw an opportunity to develop not only its own presence online but also those of its wholesalers like Amazon and eBay as well as marketplace sites like Zalando. Previously, the company was focused on reaching its consumers through its traditional channels like retail, wholesale and e-commerce. However, by taking a more direct to consumer approach and rethinking its franchising, digital partner commerce and omni-channel, it was able to report a 6% increase in global net sales to 23.6 billion euros in 2019, up from 21.9 billion the previous year. Identify potential growth areas

“Customer centricity is something that we at adidas are putting at the centre,” Parag Parekh, Vice President of Digital Commerce at the company, told the OWP LiVe session. “We saw a huge opportunity with the franchising of the business, which represented a 4 billion business in 2019.” “We also saw that, between our own online presence but also with the online presence of our wholesalers - the Amazons, the eBays, the marketplaces - is where the opportunity is growing,” he added. “We have tremendous traffic, we have new apps which have launched, we have a consumer database of 131 million… but we were not leveraging this into our other channels.” The strategic shift ensured that it connected the experience across all of its channels, including those of its partners. “At adidas, we needed to ensure that wherever we appear as a brand, we appear in the best way, that there was enough information, enough pictures for consumers to make an informed decision,” said Parekh. “We still have miles to go when it comes to integrating our franchises, we still have miles to go in terms of the new capabilities” he added, noting that the company is exploring technologies like virtual showrooms and products.

further double down on, both from a digital perspective, but also breaking down the silos between our channels and putting the consumer in the center of the experience.”

The place where they offer the best experience of their brands is ultimately what will drive their businesses forward and help them to decide which channels they want to be present in, and how much of a difference it will make to their business. One learning that both Girod and Parekh advised retailers to take on board is not to be afraid to embrace innovation and to continuously test, pilot and evolve their strategies. This is the core of agile ways of working.

Play to your strengths

It’s important to note that there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to new retail. Companies that are thinking about how to adapt to new retail must play to their strengths, whether through their physical stores or online channels.

“The journey continues in the next five years. It’s something we continue to

STÉPHANE JG GIROD