Last Friday, 16 December, the Jury held a meeting of theVozpopuli's Digital Retail conference at KPMG's state-of-the-art premises, located on the top floor of the imposing Torre de Cristal in Madrid, the tallest building in Spain. After a welcome from Carlos Peregrina, partner in charge of KPMG's Consumer Sector in Spain, Elena Ibañez, Senior Manager, Digital Services at KPMG, presented «It's about the Customer, stupid! In it, Elena highlighted the value of differentiation in channels and products, but justified that we do not compete solely on these aspects, but mainly on the basis of ecosystems. She thus alluded to a broader concept of the current competitive landscape, pointing to digital aspects as determinants in differentiation: “At the business level, we are starting to talk about user experience as a critical element when it comes to generating value for companies”.
Then it was Gonzalo Caselles, Director of Means of Payment, ING Direct, The new video, which was released by Amazon, highlighted payment as a vital part of the shopping experience, highlighting new forms of payment such as hidden payment, a market trend already being implemented by companies such as Cabify, and which Amazon will integrate into the supermarkets that shocked the sector after the viralisation of its promotional video. We no longer need to take cash or credit cards out of our wallet, but enjoy a service that will then be automatically debited from our account. This requires a socially aware society because, as Gonzalo argued, “consumer behaviour is the driver of change”.
María José Barrera, Head of Digital Transformation, L'Oréal Professional Products Division, He stressed the importance of digital to improve the customer experience, a key concept today. He alluded to the possibilities of technology to personalise the message in what he considered to be the new personalisation. Using the experience of his company, one of the leaders in the beauty sector, as a context, he exemplified how digitalisation is changing the sector, referring to current trends and the evolution of the market. He also highlighted social media as a space for brands to improve: «through social media listening we have reduced the time to launch our products».
For its part, Javier Pérez de Leza, CEO of Future Retail in Spain, The new report, which was published by the European Commission, sought to balance the scales of traditional versus digital retailers, referring to social shopping habits as a complement to digital and traditional. «Online sales are growing strongly but not at the expense of traditional sales».». In the necessary complementarity he referred to, he stated that «today, 80% of purchase decisions are made before they get to the shop».
On the other hand, Francisco Ramirez, General Manager B2B, L&G, The communication was used to highlight the most important messages that a brand wants to convey: «You have to communicate well, and if you don't communicate, you are nobody».». He also pointed to the need to generate content, as technology without content is useless.
To conclude the day, Jesús Cacho, Vozpópul editori, wanted to highlight the importance of the day's presentations and emphasise the role of digital communication as a link between consumers and advertisers.
