Magazine: Optimistic mood at ECR Europe’s conference (part 1)

ECR Europe’s 17th annual conference was organised in cooperation with EuroCommerce and took place on 14-15 May in Brusssels.

The optimistic title ‘The Future is Bright’ was reflected in the dynamism of presentations. More than 30 countries were represented by 600 participants, including heads of NGOs, politicians and retail executives. Heads of ECR member companies emphasised that the time had come for real, long-term cooperation, concentrating on competition-neutral domains. So much so that every participant was given a copy of ECR Europe’s ‘Anti-trust caution’ form, in which organisations can declare that neither they nor their members will engage in activity that infringes competition law. ECR Europe’s new managing director Vincent Carton welcomed participants and gave the floor to the two co-chairs, Carrefour Europe’s executive director Thomas Hübner and Unilever Europe president Jan Zijderveld, who spoke about reasons for optimism. The FMCG sector’s goal is to attract the best graduates and to use the achievements of the digital revolution for improving the shopping experience and reaching consumers with greater efficiency. They also told that FMCG manufacturers have to start innovating again. Since soon 9 billion people will have to be fed on planet Earth, long-term thinking, sustainability, cooperation across the value chain, social integration, comprehensive information providing and involvement, the using of technological inventions and taking individual, social, political and economic responsibility are all of major importance. (To be continued)