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Innovative insights into the future of omnichannel commerce

At the TradeWorld 2016 platform, experts examine current trends and challenges in omnichannel and the age of digitization and highlight solutions for optimizing sales and distribution processes.

   For the third year, the TradeWorld platform will be integrated into LogiMAT, the 14th International Trade Fair for Distribution, Materials Handling, and Information Flow, March 8–10. Occupying a prominent spot in Hall 6 of the Stuttgart Trade Fair Center, exhibitors will present their products and solutions designed to help businesses succeed in e-commerce and across the entire multichannel spectrum. TradeWorld presents its offerings amid the excitement of a distinguished three-day program. Experts from the worlds of manufacturing, trade, media, and research will gather at Forum T in Hall 6 for a five-part series of presentations on current trends and challenges in omnichannel retail, highlighting solutions for optimizing today’s e-commerce sales and distribution processes.

   Dr. Hans-Gert Penzel, Managing Director at ibi research at the University of Regensburg, joins a panel on the event’s first day to examine e-commerce payment options in “Payment in Digital Commerce.” “A highly innovative field in which there are constantly new developments, some of which vary greatly in terms of cost, security, and customer acceptance,” says the payment expert. “Retailers in the multichannel environment in particular face the challenge of integrating the payment processes as efficiently as possible across all channels.” The presentation addresses issues such as risk management, receivables management, and the integration of payment service providers.

   The forum “Urban Logistics – Last-Mile Trends and Projects” on day two looks at current approaches to city logistics and offers an overview of what’s new in last-mile delivery. Representatives of parcel service providers will be on hand to talk about their projects. An expert from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) will deliver a keynote on alternate delivery concepts with an overview of current solutions to the challenges of urban delivery.

   Powerful software is the foundation for secure and efficient processes in omnichannel commerce. Dr. Franz Vallée – founder of VuP GmbH, Vallée und Partner, a consulting firm for the logistics and IT industries – joins representatives of software firms and big-name retailers in the “Software for Omnichannel” forum on day two, highlighting how companies can enhance the quality of their installed software solutions to make projects less complex and achieve an optimal blend of e-commerce and brick-and-mortar business.

   Cross-border sales are a hallmark of e-commerce. International sales are a major source of potential growth for online retailers. Businesses that hope to tap into this potential must pursue the right fulfillment strategy. Business experts gather on the last day for the forum “Fulfillment – Ready for International E-Commerce,” showing how retailers can get around obstacles in cross-border e-commerce caused by excessive transport costs and lead times, for example.

   The presentations place special emphasis on the question of how well-equipped retailers are to cope with the demands of digitization and mobile payment and how they can better prepare themselves. “Retail 4.0 – Is the Logistics Industry Ready for the Trends in Digital Commerce?” – that’s the question dominating this forum exploring the future of trade in 2016. “Retailers will not be spared the consequences of digitization,” explains Dr. Volker Lange, Director of Packaging and Retail Logistics at Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) and moderator of the Retail 4.0 forum. “Omnichannel and mobile technologies will be front and center in the years ahead. That will require many companies to rethink while also forcing strategic, structural, and organizational changes.” Digitization makes consumers into potential retailers, makes retailers into producers, and makes manufacturers take on some retail functions through much easier access to consumers. This requires greater integration of online and offline business. The forum examines emerging challenges and opportunities, looks at which mobile apps will change the commerce of tomorrow, and explains what this will ultimately mean for logistics and packaging.

   The special exhibition “Alternative Vehicles for City Logistics” (Hall 6, Booth 6D41) presents low-emission vehicles that parcel services are already using today. Delivery services face serious challenges in the face of low-emission zones, restricted-access roadways, increased volumes of shipped goods, and gridlock in city centers. Some parcel services have already responded with changes to their fleet. The editors of the magazine LOGISTRA, through the “LOGISTRA City Check” contest for sustainable urban logistics, highlight the concepts and vehicles that delivery services are already testing or deploying. The special exhibition presents a variety of such low-emission solutions, from the electric truck to the pedelec cargo e-bike.

   “The highly targeted presentations of TradeWorld offer industry professionals from commerce, manufacturing, and fulfillment services interesting new solutions and ideas to enhance their performance and tap into the optimization potential in their sales and distribution processes,” concludes Dr. Petra Seebauer, Managing Director of EUROEXPO Messe- und Kongress-GmbH in Munich, who is responsible for the TradeWorld platform. “This, together with the diverse portfolio of exhibitor products and services, makes TradeWorld an exciting program for competitive, forward-looking omnichannel retail.”

TradeWorld is supported by the following partners:

• Bundesverband Deutscher Inkasso-Unternehmen e.V. (BDIU)
• Bundesverband E-Commerce und Versandhandel Deutschland e.V. (bevh)
• Bundesverband Internationaler Express- und Kurierdienste e.V. (BIEK)
• Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML)
• Händlerbund e.V.
• ibi research GmbH at the University of Regensburg
• Institut des Interaktiven Handels GmbH (IDIH)