Alexander Köth of Minodes GmbH highlighted techniques that retailers could use to present their customers with tailor-made offers – an area in which he predicted huge potential. However, before that can happen, he cautioned that distributers need greater clarity about customers and their behaviour. After carrying out an analysis, distributers would be able to blur the borders between online and offline retail – for their own and for customers’ benefit.
Sabine Stöhr from 1A Retail GmbH then explained how commuters could become customers. The potential of transport hubs has not yet been used sufficiently, said Stöhr, who develops locations for retailers. She provided a number of case studies focusing on companies that have successfully used this market niche in fashion and gastronomy.
Christoph Boeminghaus, Osborne Clarke’s trade expert, explained the current legal position on the distribution of branded goods via internet trading platforms. Basically, brand manufacturers can specify certain conditions when their products are sold by authorised traders but these conditions may not limit internet distribution in any way. Manufacturers cannot demand more from authorised traders than from their own digital distribution channels or from stationary distribution. Boeminghaus pointed out that the legal status of this is currently uncertain as internet distribution is currently being considered by the antitrust authorities.
Ulrich Baumgartner, Osborne Clarke’s data protection expert, explained how new digital possibilities around customer loyalty and customer acquisition could be legally realised at the point of sale. The authorisation requirements for personal data mean that in practice consent is usually required, but pseudonym models could also provide valuable data with no requirement for prior consent.
The event showed that linking retail channels offers huge potential in many areas.
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