Jean-Christophe Hermann is EVP, global retailing and consumer goods at Valtech. He will be speaking on the Main Stage at WIRED Retail, our second annual one-day summit focusing on the future of retail, being held in London on November 23.
He plans to share an innovation model used by the world’s most forward-looking retail teams and its impact on retail experiences.
Jean-Christophe will take part in the session, "Retailers won't be the only ones retailing," alongside Steve Callanan of WIREWAX, Si Brown from skignz and Stefan Siegel, founder of NOT JUST A LABEL.
What are you planning to speak about at WIRED Retail?
I’ll be sharing some of our newest, innovative retail customer experiences and the approach our clients took to innovation that helped make this work possible. We believe that success today requires a capacity to cope with a permanent state of innovation. It’s a challenge for many established companies to re-think their company’s operational approach and in many cases their culture.
We’re going to focus on three core projects that highlight the impact of empowering customers and staff within the retail experience, the blurring of the digital and physical worlds and retail within virtual spaces.
All of these innovations in retail provide retailers the edge they need to not only survive but to thrive over the next five years.
Is there anything you’d like to achieve by speaking at WIRED Retail?
I love discussing trends with like-minded people who care about and are working towards the future of retail. I’m always excited to get closer to our retail community and I want to share, listen, and discuss the customer centric trends that are shaping this industry.
Who are you looking forward to hearing and/or meeting at WIRED Retail?
It’s hard to narrow down as all the speakers are amazing but I’m especially looking forward to listening to Ken Denman from Emotient. We have sensors for so many things, but sensing human emotions could add a fascinating level of depth to customer responsive platforms. Very exciting!
What do you think your sector of the WIRED World might look like in five years’ time?
I think the biggest shifts won’t be about any individual technologies, but around the overarching approach and thinking businesses will take to innovation. I think we’ve shifted through the phases of digital awareness to digital literacy to digital transformation. I believe we’re going leave the post digital transformation age into what I like to call the “innovation empowered” age.
At that stage we’ve moved past transformation from the pre-digital era and are living in and embracing a state of constant innovation where the border between physical and virtual reality is completely blurred.
What’s next for Valtech?
We’re firm believers that world-class customer experience will be the defining trait of retailers that thrive in the next five years. We’re focused on navigating the increasingly complex routines of consumers and identifying the experience gap. Companies must anticipate the inevitable connected store experience. I am convinced that, three years from now, stores that don’t will be near obsolescence. We’ve recently shared our point of view in greater detail on our blog.
WIRED Retail returns to London on November 23 at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. Last year’s event sold out, so secure your place now: WIRED subscribers save 10 per cent. We also have a limited number of half-price tickets available for retail sector startups. Click here for more information.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
