The Consumer Goods Forum’s Global Summit: Global Learnings from Local Success

• The annual event for industry CEOs convenes in Berlin on 20th-23rd June 2017
• The face of consumer goods is changing, as retailers, manufacturers and service providers adapt to an evolving consumer ecosystem – join those at the front of this change
• The CEOs of China’s internet giant Baidu, METRO AG, LEGO and Sainsbury’s will join leading politicians and key industry figures to explore ‘Global Lessons from Local Success’.

The opening speaker, Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble, will be joined by industry leaders including Baidu CEO Robin Li, LEGO Chairman Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe, METRO AG CEO Olaf Koch, Nestlé S.A. CEO Mark Schneider and incoming REWE Group CEO Lionel Souque. The distinguished list of speakers also includes Christoph Werner, Managing Director of DM along with political, government and media leaders, including EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, 66th US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Financial Times’ Martin Wolf.

More than 800 prominent delegates, from over 400 leading consumer goods companies, will engage with this year’s theme through sessions focused on stories such as:

• Do We Need Retailers? Millennials have become addicted to the seamless user-centric experience of the digital age. They shop without ever taking their eyes off their screens. Will traditional retailers still be needed when that generation takes over the market?
• Who is Winning, How and Why? No retailer is left unaffected by digital disruption and the rise of new entrants. In this session, you will hear from those who play their cards right in the fast-changing retail landscape.
• Leveraging Technology for a Sustainable Future: The new consumer is mindful of their health and the environment: more consumers support locally-based or fair-trade economic and agricultural models. Often, their purchasing decisions are political statements.

The CGF Global Summit will highlight that retail is a low-margin business that needs to expand globally if it wants to continue to grow. But retail does not cross borders easily. It is still dominated by local players, because the devil is in the details of local execution. Digital or brick-and-mortar, established or new, successful local players have much to teach.*

The European Landscape

Europe represents one of the most mature and diverse retail landscapes in the world. Germany, in particular, has been home to many of retail’s recent innovative successes. Competition is high among supermarkets and discounters alike, while digital is accelerating the trend towards multi-channel retailing – making Germany a fascinating place to share ideas about retail’s future.

Digital Delights

Alongside our prestigious Global Summit Plenary Sessions featuring influential and inspiring leaders from our member companies, the CGF offers smaller-scale event formats for our delegates to connect with experts and expand their networks, including our Special Sessions. These are geared to a CEO audience and provide delegates with new pointers for strategic thinking on pivotal issues affecting the industry. Special Sessions to take place in Berlin include:

• Conquering Connected Shoppers: Maximise Omnichannel Opportunities
• Sharing a 360 Degree View of the Customer: How to Leverage Big Data for Smart Growth
• Making the Digital Connection: In-Store, In-Home, In-Life.
• IBM & Walmart: Creating a New Standard for Food Safety with Blockchain
• The New Norm is No Norm: Throwing out the Old Path to Purchase Rulebook
• Competing with Amazon: How VR & AI Can Deliver Compelling Customer Experiences
• Income Inequality and the Consumer Goods Industries: a Challenge to a Sustainable Future
• The Future Consumer – Affluence vs Influence

The Global Summit brings you an unparalleled opportunity to network with CEOs from some of the world’s most successful companies, and gain key insights into the challenges faced by retailers, manufacturers and their service providers in the consumer goods industry. More: www.tcgfsummit.com

About The Consumer Goods Forum

The Consumer Goods Forum (“CGF”) is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide. 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. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.

For further information, please contact:

Lee Green
Senior Manager, Communications
The Consumer Goods Forum
l.green@theconsumergoodsforum.com