Consumer goods industry leaders discuss how to win globally and look to the digital future

PARIS, Thursday 19th June 2014 – The first day of The Consumer Goods Forum’s Global Summit drew to a close yesterday. Taking place in Paris, the Summit has brought together over 1000 consumer goods industry leaders from around the world to discuss the future of their industry, successful retail models and factors that will affect global growth.  
 
The summit was opened by The Consumer Goods Forum Co-Chairs, Dick Boer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Ahold and Paul Bulcke, Chief Executive Officer of Nestlé S.A., who discussed the issue of trust in the industry. Mr Boer and Mr Bulcke said that renewed trust will only come about with strong actions, and announced commitments from The Forum across Health and Wellness and Sustainability, which aim to implement measures to reduce climate change and enable consumers to make healthier lifestyle choices. In his keynote speech, VVIP Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister, also called for the consumer goods industry to step up to the challenge of climate disruption.
 

The welcoming address was followed by presentations on the subject of ‘winning globally’, where Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman & CEO of L’Oréal and Georges Plassat, Chairman & CEO of Carrefour provided a French perspective on the subject. Mr Plassat encouraged businesses to ‘innovate innovation’ rather than simply revising existing products, while Mr Agon showcased L’Oreal’s recent digital innovations and talked about the ‘silver generation opportunity’ for businesses, with the rise of consumers over the age of 65. 

 
The day was brought a close by two presentations on growth and technology. The first by Nikesh Arora, Senior Vice President & Chief Business Officer at Google, focused on the digital future where he outlined the rapidly changing technology environment and the growth of the informed consumer. Mr Arora said that the rise in technology has created a consumer that is used to instant gratification – for example, 44% of consumers abandon an online sale if the delivery time is more than three days. This is a new challenge for retailers, as logistics not location is now a critical success factor for businesses.
 
In the final presentation Michel Serres, French philosopher, author and professor at Stanford University, gave a holistic view of the challenges of our wired civilization. He explained that reasoning, memory and imagination are now captured outside of our minds in computers and mobile devices, which has brought about a new relationship between consumers and knowledge. Mr Serres concluded with the idea that we are creating a new society, and are entering a ‘new world’ that spans all cultures. 
 
Peter Freedman, Managing Director of The Consumer Goods Forum, commented: “The calibre of this year’s speakers is outstanding and their presentations have already given us much to think about – it is clear that the change we are facing is of greater scale and pace than ever before and this is an exciting time for our industry. As consumer goods businesses, we have the ultimate noble purpose of doing good for the industry, society and the planet. However it is not always easy to collaborate, or to trade short term for long term gain. This Global Summit and The Consumer Goods Forum is here to inspire, challenge and encourage the industry to take action and make a more tangible delivery on our commitments”.
 
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About The Consumer Goods Forum
The Consumer Goods Forum (“The Forum”) is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members.  It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format.  
 
The Forum member companies have combined sales of EUR 2.5 trillion. Their retailer and manufacturer members directly employ nearly 10 million people with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain.
 
The Forum is governed by its Board of Directors, which includes 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs and Chairpersons. 
 
The Forum provides a unique global platform for knowledge and best practice sharing around the following strategic priorities: Sustainability, Product Safety, Health & Wellness, End-to-End Value Chain & Standards, which are central to the advancement of today’s consumer goods industry.
 
The Forum’s mission is, “Bringing together consumer goods manufacturers and retailers in pursuit of business practices for efficiency and positive change across our industry benefiting shoppers, consumers and the world without impeding competition”. 
 
To fulfil this, its members have given The Forum a mandate to develop common positions on key strategic and operational issues affecting the consumer goods business, with a strong focus on non-competitively sensitive process improvement.  
 
The Forum’s success is driven by the active participation of the key players in the sector who together develop and lead the implementation of best practices along the value chain.
With its headquarters in Paris and its regional offices in Washington, D.C. and Tokyo, The Forum serves its members throughout the world. 
 
For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.
 
For more information contact:
Fergus Campbell, GolinHarris International
Mobile: +44 (0) 7799 132 303 / Office: +44 (0) 20 7067 0699 / fcampbell@golinharris.com
 
Lee Green, Senior Communications Manager, The Consumer Goods Forum
l.green@theconsumergoodsforum.com 
 
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