What: FIRA organised a virtual gathering to get an update from markets

Why it is important: All presentations from various federations are available here, including the presentation made by IADS as a guest speaker

FIRA decided to organise a virtual meeting due to the impossibility to meet face to face in the current context, and the need to have an update on the evolution of the situation in each country.

• IADS presented its views of the current situation: fragmented, complex, requiring agility to adapt to a ‘permanent state of crisis’. Observing its members’ behaviour, IADS explained that there was a general trend towards organisational simplification, to adapt to new scenarios, leading to new ways to interact with customers (‘from stores networks to retailers ecosystems’), who are increasingly (and by necessity, local). This impacts several operational topics, such as sourcing, margin control and CSR.
• IDV ( Brazil) explained that, in spite of a challenging situation in the country, overall retail increased by +1.2%, lead by grocery, pharmacy and e-commerce. Retail is undergoing a transformation in the country thanks to an increased attention to “made in brazil” ecosystems development (led by retailers) and digital payment platforms (being deployed by the central bank). IDV believes that those 2 aspects will be key for Brazil’s recovery in the coming years.
• ESEE (Greece) gave a presentation on the state of small businesses in the country (which are overrepresented in the country compared to larger retailers). Overall, state support allowed such businesses to go through the crisis, and they are now looking at the domestic value chain due to a complexity at the global level. Retail decreased -3.9% in 2020, while e-commerce grew +25%. Retailers are in majority pessimistic about the impact of the crisis (88%) and it is estimated that 35% of businesses are now at risk (from 18% pre-crisis).
• Alibaba gave a keynote about the ecosystem of businesses and services it has built.
• NRF (USA) explained the supportive measures it brought to its members in the US  : lobbying actions, best practices conference calls, information and idea sharing.
• EHI (Germany) presented the difficulties and hurdles caused by the second lockdown which started in December 2020 and was still in place at the time of the meeting. They had to adapt their business model to provide blended formats of events to their members, precising that in-person meetings are needed in their economic model.
• RCC (Canada), which represents 74% of the retail industry in Canada, described the perceived disconnection between the federal and state/province practices and messages, leading to tension and frustration. RCC had to take on a lobbying role, which gave it visibility and credibility, and replaced in-person events by new partnerships and tools, such as studies co-developed with the Boston Consulting Group, more media-oriented actions and public presence. This led to a +17% membership growth and a +45% revenue growth for the RCC.
• Behv (Germany) introduced a study  co-developed with the Copenhaguen Economics, about the benefits and disadvantages of e-commerce. In Germany alone, e-commerce represents 1.2 million jobs. For every 100 new jobs in e-commerce, 66 are created in the supply chain. On average, large Germany companies sell between 19 and 21% of their total turnover online.

FIRA AM21 Meeting Minutes

Bevh Presentation (Germany) 

ESSE Presentation (greece)

IADS Presentation (France)

IDV Presentation (Brazil)

NRF Presentation (USA)

RCC Presentation (Canada)