Agenda

Morning

09:00 – 09:30

Registration and Welcome Coffee

09:30 – 09:40

Welcome and Introduction

Joe Lynam, Business Presenter and Correspondent, BBC

09:40 – 10:30

Leadership Roundtable

This high-level session will explore the fundamental challenges and opportunities facing the European retail sector. It will look at the how policymakers and the business community can cooperate in proposing innovative ideas and projects to deliver the economic environment necessary to ensure the growth, diversity, and competitiveness of both the food and non-food retail sectors in Europe.

Moderator: Joe Lynam, Business Presenter and Correspondent, BBC

Frans Muller, President, European Retail Round Table
Kenneth Bengtsson, President, EuroCommerce
Colin Macleod, Vice-President, Euro Coop
Ralf Gerking, President, Independent Retail Europe

10:30 – 11:00

The Retail Brief – Trends and Transformations in the Retail Sector

Ian Jindal, Founder and Editor in Chief, Internet Retailing

11:00 – 12:10

The Economic Potential of Retail in Europe

The retail sector is intensively competitive and vibrant, and is a key part of the European economy, providing business and consumer choice, jobs and tax revenue for national exchequers. In politically turbulent times, and with many European countries still struggling with the hangover of the financial crisis, how can the EU work to ensure the strength and integrity of the single market and to provide a innovation-intensive business environment that is conducive to investment and job creation? How do retailers respond to upheavals in their economic spheres and what innovative solutions are emerging? With an increasing proportion of retail sales coming from online channels, what are the cost opportunities and implications of this shift and how can innovative ideas help? How are national rules around tax and wages, for instance, interacting with the growth potential of retail? Are European retailers ready to face down the challenge from overseas players by innovating their business models?

Moderator: Malcolm Harbour, CBE, Senior Adviser, Teneo Cabinet DN

Markus Tkotz, Managing Director, MARKANT
Hans Carpels, President, Euronics International
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive, British Retail Consortium
Sylvia Vana, Deputy Head of Department, Economic Policy and European Internal Market, Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, Austria
Irmfried Schwimann, Deputy Director General, DG GROW, European Commission

Afternoon

12:10 – 13:30

Lunch

13:30 – 13:45

Keynote Speech

Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, European Commission

13:45 – 14:55

Customers’ Needs, Trust and Choice

Trust lies at the heart of retail and in recent years, the importance of a supply chain that consumers can have confidence in has become clearer than ever. Do the considerable transformations the sector is undergoing in the areas of traceability and supply chain security go far enough? As consumers’ shopping habits and behaviour continues to evolve and the omni-channel nature of retail grows, is the sector alive to the cyber threats that this medium poses and how is it protecting consumers? Can the retail sector be called entrepreneurial or is more work needed to enable greater disruption and innovation, driving even greater customer choice? What new consumer behaviours are we seeing around Europe? How are retailers reacting to new trends and how are they communicating and building relationships with consumers? Please note this session will be moderated by Ian Jindal.

Moderator: Ian Jindal, Founder and Editor in Chief, Internet Retailing

Anneleen Van Bossuyt, MEP and Chair, IMCO Committee, European Parliament
Claire Bury, Deputy Director General, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Jolanda Girzl, Director, ECC Sweden / Swedish Consumer Agency
Anna Verga, Head of Export Division, Coop Italian Food
Tobias Kindler, Vice President Multichannel Concepts, MediaMarktSaturn Retail Concepts

14:55 – 15:15

Coffee Break

15:15 – 15:25

Keynote Speech

Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission **

15:25 – 16:45

Sustainable Retail in Europe

Driven by initiatives such as the Circular Economy, sustainability is at the top of the retailers’ agenda. This is in part a consequence of consumer demand for products which carry less of a carbon footprint or that they make a smaller impact on the resource they extend from, and because there is a clear business case for creating greater efficiencies throughout the product life-cycle. This session will analyse the innovative products and services, and existing challenges, faced by Europe's retail sector in delivering the green agenda. In particular, it will analyse how the retail sector is innovating to achieve its sustainability goals and to transition towards the circular economy, and what work remains to be done.

15:25 - 15:35 Opening Remarks: Kestutis Sadauskas, Director for Circular Economy and Green Growth, DG ENV, European Commission

Moderator: Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Senior Associate, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

Kerstin Lindvall, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, ICA Gruppen
Richard Wilson, Sustainability Matrix Manager, IKEA
Veronika Pountcheva, Global Director Corporate Responsibility and Senior Vice President, METRO AG
Signe D. Frese, CSR Director, Coop Denmark
Richard Swannell, Development Director, WRAP
Kestutis Sadauskas, Director for Circular Economy and Green Growth, DG ENV, European Commission

16:45 – 16:55

Closing Remarks

Joe Lynam, Business Presenter and Correspondent, BBC

16:55 – 18:30

Cocktail Reception