Introducing RELEX Live: Global retail summit

Sep 9, 2020 • 5 min

On September 23, 2020, RELEX will host our inaugural virtual conference, RELEX Live: Global Retail Summit, bringing together retailers and experts from across the globe to discuss emerging trends and best practice approaches in retail planning. Because we work with companies across so many time zones, presentations will kick off with sessions targeted toward retailers in EMEA and APAC time zones, then transition into presentations for those in North and South American time zones. Group CEO Mikko Kärkkäinen will deliver his keynote address twice to ensure everyone has an opportunity to ask questions and engage with him in real time, but sessions will also be available on-demand for registrants who are not able to attend live.

We’ve pulled together some of our favorite resources on the topics that presenters will engage with throughout the RELEX Live sessions. We hope you enjoy reading our thoughts, but if you’d like to hear from retailers themselves, you’ll need to register for the event.

Keynote Presentation: Survival of the Nimblest – How Adaptation is Key to Success

In his keynote address, RELEX Group CEO Mikko Kärkkäinen will explore how retailers have survived—and even thrived—during the ongoing coronavirus crisis by being nimble and adaptable. He will also share RELEX’s strategic vision for supporting retailers as they evolve their business practices to meet new challenges in a rapidly changing retail environment. To learn more about RELEX’s approach to what we call “Living Retail,” read “The Age of Living Retail: Staying Ahead when Change Is the Only Constant.”

Adapting to Every Future, Faster: Unified Planning for Better, Smarter, Faster Decisions (EMEA Session)

Mike Taylor, Strategic Sales Solution Architect, will share how RELEX’s unified Living Retail Platform is bringing together supply chain, space, and workforce planning to help retailers improve outcomes and cut costs. He will also give a peek into what RELEX has in store for the future. To learn more about the benefits of unified retail planning, read about how Coop Värmland reduced personnel costs by 6-8% using RELEX to take advantage of demand forecasts to optimize workforce planning.

Supply Chain Digitalization: The Importance of End-to-End Visibility and Capacity Planning

Alessandro Cernigliaro, Supply Chain Director for Italian-based DIY retailer Leroy Merlin, will discuss how the company has leveraged advanced planning software into improved visibility that’s driving performance improvements throughout their supply chain. Italian retailers felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic early and hard. Read our blog post, “How RELEX Has Helped Italian Customers Weather the Coronavirus Crisis” to learn how these front-line retailers put their planning tools to work managing unexpected demand increases during the early days of the pandemic.

Panel Discussion: The Future of Retail

This roundtable discussion, moderated by Caroline Baldwin, Editor of Essential Retail, will focus on the steps retailers around the world are taking to address a rapidly changing future. She will be joined by representatives from DIA, a Spanish grocer; Kolonial.no, a Norwegian e-grocer; and Party City, an American party supplies retailer. The panelists will share the strategies they’ve developed to quickly adapt their processes and offer practical suggestions for retailers facing similar challenges. For our own recommendations, check out the blog post “Six Improvement Areas Before the Next Supply Chain Crisis.”

Successful Long-Term Business Development: Key Learnings from a Multinational Growth Company

Panu Hannula, CIO of Musti Group, will lead a discussion about the benefits and key learnings the Finnish pet care company has achieved through a long-term focus on process development and advanced supply chain management. He’ll also share how markdown optimization is helping the company increase efficiency and maximize margins. Learn more about markdown optimization in our recent whitepaper, “Markdown Optimization: How Retailers Can Clear Stock While Maximizing Margin.”

Managing the Grocery Retail Supply Chain: Case Morrisons

Join Robert Jenkins, Head of Supply Chain – Development for Morrisons, one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains, as he discusses how his company manages their complex supply chain requirements across a large number of stores with varying needs. He will share the steps they’ve taken to improve outcomes as well as the company’s plans to continue incorporating the most up-to-date technologies into their supply chain processes. Watch a short video to learn more about the history of RELEX’s partnership with Morrisons.

Adapting to Every Future, Faster: How AI Is Driving Retail Agility in Rapidly Changing Times (Americas Session)

Greg Wilson, VP of Field Strategy in North America, will share RELEX’s vision for where we believe the future of retail is headed and how the company is building AI-based retail planning solutions designed to support retailers every step of the way. Read the recently published The Complete Guide to Machine Learning in Demand Forecasting, which dives into why machine learning is so critical for retail success going forward and how it’s best applied in real-world retail planning.

A Fresh Perspective on the Supply Chain

Henry Chu, VP of Business Development at 99 Cents Only Stores, will discuss how the price-point retailer is improving on-shelf availability, reducing fresh spoilage, and staying competitive in a low-margin environment. Check out our blog post “Managing the Intricacies of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in the Grocery Supply Chain” to learn more about three common challenges retailers face in fresh food management and how they can turn those obstacles into opportunities.

Optimizing Omni-Channel Inventory

Join The Vitamin Shoppe’s Sr. Director of Inventory Steve Finkelstein for a presentation on how this leading retailer of nutritional products is driving improvements to omnichannel fulfillment through a sharp focus on supply chain visibility. Online demand skyrocketed during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and retailers should expect ecommerce to play an increasingly important role in retail success going forward. Read the recap blog for our June 2020 webinar, “Managing the Shift to Ecommerce,” to learn how retailers can integrate and optimize their online channels as they grow.

We hope you’ll join us on September 23 to hear retailers and some of our own retail experts from RELEX dive deeper into these subjects. Attendees will have a unique opportunity to ask questions and engage with industry leaders during live sessions—or enjoy on-demand recordings whenever it’s more convenient to their schedules. To register for the live sessions or the on-demand recordings, click the button.

If you’d like more reading material until then, spend some time with these resources: