From the journalist’s notes taken in Berlin

‘Love your shopping data. From a value perspective, data is the new oil.’ (Alastar Bruce, director of Google Germany) • ‘Men simply buy something, while women go shopping. This is worth keeping in mind when decorating stores and placing products.’ (Bob Thacker, marketing director of Office Mac, USA) • ‘A couple of decades ago manufacturers’ position was the strongest, later retailers were on top because of the product oversupply but now that there is an oversupply of stores, so consumers dominate.’ (Lovro Mandac, chairman of the board of retail chain Galeria Kaufhof (Metro Group) and chairman of the German Retail Federation) • ‘Innovations are often copies but these kinds of innovation can only create a short term advantage.’ (Anders Dahlvig, director of H&M and Kingfisher, former Ikea CEO) • ‘All over the world people go to restaurants less often than a few years ago. Our turnover dropped 5 percent in just a few years.’ (Javier Perez, European president of MasterCard) • ‘Retail supply is too big for consumers. We should keep the goods they need instead. Small shops are forced to offer fewer items. This is one of their advantages.’ (Michael Gatti, senior vice president of the National Retail Federation, USA)