PLMA is actively starting the year

Retailer focus

More than 260 retail companies, including around 600 executives and buyers have registered to attend Private Label Week 1-5 February. The big U.S. retailers, such as Walmart, Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, Target, Walgreens, CVS and Aldi, visited exhibitors. Some important European retailers, including Waitrose from Britain, Colruyt from Belgium and Migros from Switzerland also have registered. More than 600 exhibitors were scheduled to participate, including a number of international manufacturers.

Retailers played an important role in the daily PLMALive! video programming that took place during the entire week of the event. Senior executives from leading retailers gave presentations on industry trends, and retail winners of PLMA’s annual U.S. Salute to Excellence Awards were announced. Many executives from the winning retailers accepted their Awards, which honor innovation in store brands, during Private Label Week.

Online Roundtable

“The Private Label Partnership: Now and Future” is the theme for PLMA’s 2021 Online Roundtable Conference, to be held 17-18 February. The conference will examine key aspects of partnerships, including the supply chain, online retailing, cybersecurity and changing consumer behaviour. PLMA will examine the private label partnership today and in the future. How well is the partnership working? How is technology changing relationships between retail buyers and private label suppliers? How are they able to improve their ways of doing business?

First day 17. february

The conference will start off with an examination by Maria Bogdanova, Senior Research Analyst at Euromonitor of today’s global retail landscape under conditions that are remarkably different than they were a year ago. The impact of Generation Z as the newest generation of consumers in the marketplace will follow in a presentation by Mintel’s Richard Cope. PLMA will offer a special retail case study that focuses on latest challenges and opportunities. Then, Chuck Brooks, an international thought leader on the topic of cybersecurity will identify emerging threats, latest research, and key safety measures to inform your company’s cyber security strategies. To conclude the first morning, PLMA will present an industry panel of manufacturers and retailers who bring real-world experiences to problems and recommendations that were discussed in the preceding sessions.

Second day 18. february

The programme on Day 2 of the conference will be devoted entirely to the examination of retailing today and in the future. Organized by the highly regarded Institute for Grocery Distribution (IGD). IGD Retail Analysis provides intelligence for over 400 grocery retailers operating in more than 100 markets. The series of individual sessions will focus on the accelerated growth of e-commerce and its impact on private label, address the vulnerabilities and strengths in the retail supply chain; and the importance of sustainability. In an interview with Paul Stainton, former Aldi UK executive, best practices in sourcing, product development and private label marketing will be explored.