DISTREE EMEA has announced the inclusion of a new Retail-to-Business (R2B) summit as part of its 2014 event agenda. The new session will be hosted by ICT channel tracking research experts CONTEXT and will cover all major European markets. The inaugural R2B summit will take place in Monaco on Wednesday 12th February 2014 as part of the DISTREE EMEA agenda.
“Forming an effective strategy to reach out to businesses through retail channels is a top priority for many ICT vendors,” explained Farouk Hemraj, Director and Co-Founder at DISTREE Events. “The R2B summit will unite the senior executives from Europe’s top retailers who manage and drive interaction with business customers.”
Adam Simon, Global Managing Director for Retail Business at CONTEXT, added: “With revenues and margins under increasing pressure in the ICT retail sector, the unknown and untapped potential of business customers is now a major issue for retailers to address.”
Recent research from consultants VIA International indicates that the average business customer purchasing through retail can be as much as four times more profitable than the average consumer. The R2B summit will cover various topics including the size and value of the R2B channel in Europe, the relative profitability of this segment, and examine how vendors and retailers can improve engagement with business customers.
Hemraj added: “The R2B summit is a powerful opportunity for vendors to reach out to key influencers and interact with the decision-makers that control how a retailer serves business customers and coordinates with its suppliers to define the offering.”
Simon continued: “CONTEXT has a long established track record of providing data and insight in the business-to-business (B2B) channel, and we are now focusing our attention on helping ICT vendors and retailers sell to and support business customers through retail channels in Europe.”
The session will feature a series of expert speakers, interactive discussion groups and give delegates access to the latest market research on the size and potential of the R2B channel in Europe. As well as volume ICT products, the R2B channel offers a powerful route-to-market for vendors offering solutions focused on the needs of small businesses in areas such as software, storage, networking and services.
Gathering together an influential group of delegates, the R2B summit at DISTREE EMEA 2014 will be an ‘invitation only’ event, uniting top executives from Europe’s leading retailers, e-tailers, plus mail order and catalogue retailers.
“R2B is a powerful and fast-growing channel with a unique set of issues and challenges. This session will explore the full range of ICT solutions and services that can be delivered through this go-to-market model and examine the challenges and opportunities for 2014 and beyond,” added Hemraj. “We are delighted to partner with CONTEXT for the inaugural R2B summit at DISTREE EMEA.”
CONTEXT and DISTREE Events are forming an R2B Advisory Board made up of senior executives from major vendors and retailers. The R2B Advisory Board will play a major role in shaping the agenda for the R2B summit and promoting interaction between channel stakeholders to further develop this route-to-market across Europe.
“Major A-brand vendors are putting increased emphasis on reaching the SMB market. This sales opportunity includes a vast number of businesses that are inclined to purchase through retailers rather than from an ICT reseller. The R2B summit will give vendors and retailers a clear picture of what is happening in this strategically important channel,” concluded Hemraj.
Source: Channel EMEA
