Overview: Retail Council of Canada's STORE 2019 Conference

Photo: Huzefa Kantawala

By Huzefa Kantawala

Retail Council of Canada hosted a two-day event of many the retail ‘big wigs’ in Canada at the Toronto Congress Center late last month. It was a remarkable selection of speakers and CEOs of top brands in country. The main session hall was buzzing with retailers from all over the country networking and brainstorming ideas of the next big thing in retail world.

Day one started with Doug Stephen aka ‘The Retail Prophet’ and his views on the industry in Canada. This was my first time attending a talk by Doug Stephens; it was informative as well as entertaining on retail industry’s growth and e-commerce. A great presentation with quiet an insight on simple nuances overlooked by retailers of the world.

One of many key chords that resonated throughout the day was, customer experience, which still remains a department where retail needs to buck up!

There were a lot of speakers at this event and everyone as impressive as the other in their own domain had different words but with the same message “consumers remember how you make them feel and not how many visual or messages they receive.”

Tony Chapman of Chapman Reactions then shared with us a great insight, ‘no doubt the online economy is growing at a speed of light but its only transactional, what is missing is “heart”.

Photo: Huzefa Kantawala

Tony was moderating a panel with Joe Mimran, founder of Club Monaco and Joe Fresh, Joe Jackman of Jackman Reinvents and David Boon, CEO of Staples, discussing the turnaround of Staples in Canada. KPMG’s Willy Kruh was next with his data and brilliant presentation, explaining the nuances of retail and his take on how it’s all connected.

After a brief networking break, the concurrent sessions started. It felt like one was in multiple parallel universes. Expert members with their profound professional experience, discussing on fundamentally essential topics during the core panel discussions. It was very interesting to know so many details of brands and their initiatives vs. results matrix.

One of the consecutive terms that kept popping subtly, but very impactful was Gen Z and its lifestyle. The who’s who of the retail brand is now not only, concerned with millennial but also, centennials aka Gen Z. The exposure to social media of this generation is far more than the latter, thus leading to more investment in digital marketing by retail industry.

Retail Insider Editor-in-chief, left, with Huzefa Kantawala

This thought really got my grey cells working, on the rapid growth of technology and that the current spenders are now being replaced by prospective spenders, even though latter power both wallets.

The day ended on a fashion note from Brian Hill CEO of Aritzia and Joe Mimran discussing the fashion quotient of Canadian Industry.

The second day had the biggies of tech world namely Microsoft and Google, expressing their interpretation of consumer economy and how they are developing solutions to more interactive audiences.

Online and secure payment topics were also discussed shining light on how payment portal or gateway can also set standards for consumer experience. Nonetheless all the tangents of retail were mentioned scrutinized and subjectively solved with a map of “Do’s and don’t”.

Interestingly, the external stalls had some innovative concepts and ideas, one notable was Passen, a digital measuring platform which could represent the future changing rooms, where once measured you just have to choose online what “fits” you and how to mix and match. Another one, with sustainable ideas was eCycle Solutions, who recycle our old electronics and reduce, return clutter for retailers.

One of many impressive and thought intriguing ideas, that left a mark on me which also envelopes the objective of this conference was from Tony Chapman: “Human beings have heart that matters the most in the (brick & mortar) retail industry consumers remember what they feel. Be their Fairy God Mother not Cinderella” i.e. understand their dreams and make it into a reality rather than showing them what they could be. If one gets this, no digitization can be disruptive to our retail world; we only need to revolutionize our mindset.

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.