Overview of the Digital Main Street Forum in Toronto, Spring 2019

Toronto City Hall: Photograph by Jeff Hitchcock/Flickr

By Huzefa Kantawala

One of my many passions besides retail and travel is the world of technology. Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Digital Main Street Forum at the Toronto City Hall, which proved to be informative and educational.

Toronto City Hall is an iconic building with a unique and controversial history — its modernist architecture differed greatly from the more traditional ‘Old City Hall’ next door. What excited me even further was being seated at the same place where the mayor and councilmen sit to decide the running of the largest city of Canada.

The forum started with opening remarks from the keynote speakers from Industrial giants such as Rogers, Mastercard, Microsoft and Google.

They did a deep-dive into how this forum is helping and nurturing the next generation of small business in Ontario, and creating a digital platform helps enhance their businesses.

Some of keys points that struck a chord with my retail side included the citation of Doug Stephen, aka ‘The Retail Prophet’, who has said how Toronto is becoming one of most vibrant and commercially viable cities in the world. Furthermore, no Digital retail forum is complete without the mention of Amazon and Alibaba as the titans of e-retail, they together govern the e-commerce space but that doesn’t mean the end of physical retail. Consumers still require a personal experience even though the digital space offers mixed realities like augmented or virtual.

Digital Main Street Manager Darryl Julott discussed some crucial and impressive take-aways, including:

1) Media is becoming the store,

2) The battle of brick vs. clicks,

3) 50% of the world population is under 30, and

4) If you don’t innovate with time, your time is done. Darryl Julott went on to quote Doug Stephens when he said, “If you’re not failing, your not innovating”.

Next up, Senior Vice-President of Marketing of Rogers, Nyla Ahmad, presented her piece on how she has made her mark on transformation of traditional to digital form of communication.  The informative presentation noted “how smart people are just making things simple.”

Darryl JulotT Addresses guests at Digital Main STreet in Toronto on May 10, 2019.

This led to a very different study by Mastercard on the ‘centennial generation’. Centennial, aka Gen Z, includes everyone born after 1997. They are the ones that will succeed Millennials in the circle of spending and consumption. Interesting points included how social media is as an integral part of their life and how centennials think and grow. A few nuances which really intrigued me were: centennials think and believe that youth is a stage that is preparing them to become an adult, they’re more resilient and serious about life’s bigger picture, and that social media is their mirror and life is all about “you”. Though not having the spending power as yet but interestingly already harnessed by credit card companies for the future of spending.

Similarly, Microsoft and Google showcased digital packages for small businesses digital offerings to help small businesses. Artificial Intelligence, Digital security measures and Quantum Computing were topics introduced to the starry-eyed audience of Ontario-based entrepreneurs.

Digital Main Street provides assistance to local retailers to help evolve to digital age. It provides guidance as well as networking other endeavours to help businesses succeed in the digital revolution that is here today, and will be much greater in the future. 

Huzefa kantawala, based in Toronto has over 10 years experience in Luxury retail, training & communications  . Having worked for brand like DSquared2, Hackett London and Montblanc to name a few, he has created a niche for himself in training, coaching and art of customer experience. Written for couple of fashion blogs and taught in top luxury & Fashion schools he now is a contributing writer to retail and luxury industry in Canada. email : huzefakantawala@gmail.com.