What: The IGDS’ annual department store summit focused on the experience economy and how it can help department stores reinvent themselves.

Why it is important: Speakers dived into the deep-changing consumer needs and what department stores are doing to answer them, with many real-life examples. Reviving department store names was an important topic, highlighting the necessary shift to building a community and creating experiences. However, in most cases and due to the public nature of the event, this conference was less about sharing truly edgy new initiatives and was more about the opportunity to listen to participating companies' general strategies presentations.

The summit focused on four key areas: The Renaissance of the Tangible, exploring the shift toward experiences; Legacy and Innovation, balancing tradition with innovation; Department Stores as Theaters, highlighting stores as social spaces; and Running a Department Store Business, emphasising technology and empowered teams. Marc Schumacher stressed community-building in the experience economy, while Olivier Bron, Scott Fyfe, and Timo Weber discussed how Bloomingdale's, David Jones and KaDeWe are innovating through enhanced in-store experiences. Eren Camurdan, Kavindra Mishra, and Gemma Lionello highlighted the role of technology and frontline teams. The future of retail lies in blending tradition with personalised experiences and integrating new technologies that can't be replicated online.

IGDS World Department Store Summit