NEWS IFA NEXT
NEWS IFA NEXT 2018: Innovation Engine Smart Cities, Mobility of the Future, Robotics and Voice Control Virtual media worlds, living in smart cities, the future of mobility, robots in the household, voice commands, digital translators, the next generation of ultrafast mobile networks and digital innovations for a healthier lifestyle – these are all topics that the IFA NEXT Innovation Engine is featuring on two stages in Hall 26. With five days devoted to a range of themes, the German Start-up Association will be setting the tone for young entrepreneurs on every day of the show from 2 pm onwards. At this year’s IFA NEXT, the exhibition area has doubled in size. Parallel with an increase in exhibitors to around 200, the programme of the IFA NEXT Innovation Engine is also expanding. For the first time, it runs on two stages, with Innovation Engine Red featured in Hall 26a and Innovation Engine Blue in Hall 26c. Programme highlights include a presentation of Future Living Berlin, a project in the Adlershof district of southeast Berlin where an entire urban quarter is being set up as a live experiment and an installation that sets standards for interconnected living. Energy management, communications, transport, intelligent mobility – all the topics focusing on innovation from the industries that are exhibiting at IFA are concentrated here. The organizers and their project partners, including Panasonic, Digitalstrom and Schindler, an elevator specialist, will present the project. The presentation takes place on Monday, 3 Sept, 11.00 am, at Innovation Engine Red. Monday, 3 Sept, 11.20 am at Innovation Engine Blue, FoldiMate, a startup from California, is showing how in the future robots will be able to undertake complex tasks. Folding laundry will no longer be a manual chore people would rather avoid, because FoldiMate can do the job with digital precision The programme of the Startup Days, which takes place at Innovation Engine Blue, is as follows: Friday, 31 August: Digital Health Saturday, 1 September: Wearables / Fitness & Activity Sunday, 2 September: Smart Home Monday, 3 September: Future Mobility / Use of Time Tuesday, 4 September: Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality Wednesday, 5 September: Gadgets & Appliances Hall 26 40
TRADE TALK John Olsen Managing Director, Euronics International Brand new Euronics A major brand identity overhaul is in progress, and according to John Olsen, Managing Director of Euronics International, it is showing results already Twelve months ago, IFA International reported on an ambitious plan by Euronics International: the largest EMEA retail group with 29 National Retail Organisations and a presence in 36 countries announced that, to keep up with the constantly changing geo-political landscape of its markets and the rapid evolution of other technology brands, it was launching a new brand identity for 2018. We asked John Olsen, MD, Euronics International, how the roll-out was working: The new brand identity has been picked up quickly by our members and we expect that almost 20 of our 36 countries will be in full execution mode by the end of this year. We have two main brand identity choices for our members: Full Euronics Branding obviously targeted at the members that have used the old Euronics brand identity, and Endorsement Branding targeted at members that are using another name, eg Boulanger, Teknosa etc. The Euronics-branded countries in particular are moving very quickly over to the new brand identity. What are the main growth areas for your stores in terms of sales? Unfortunately, the overall technical consumer goods market within EMEA is not growing, so for us the key growth areas in terms of value and margin are coming within existing categories. For example, in TV, our main Focus is OLED in combination with 4K resolution and in the very near future 8K resolution supported by large screen TVs. In the overall kitchen appliances space, the combination with connectivity will enable consumers to make better and healthier food with less food waste going forward. We see some interesting ecosystems in that space which will be a perfect fit with our retail DNA. We are also positive on the wider health category opportunity. Obviously, we are already selling smartwatches and health trackers, but we see a role for us as the trusted advisor in the wider health care device space. How is the group performing, alongside the evolution of omnichannel? For the first time in several years, the East is leading the progress after some difficult times in the past, but also France is doing quite well. We expect that the consolidation in European retail will also have an impact. Countries which launched an omnichannel approach early now reap the benefits of this. I am looking at France, the UK, Germany, but also Poland, the Gulf region, Czech Republic and Turkey, with many above 10% of their total turnover online. Others, the more buying group structured members of Euronics, have had a bit more difficulty, with the notable exception for Germany and the UK. How important is IFA for Euronics as a networking platform, and why? For Europe, IFA is the main stage before the most important period of the year, so we believe that new innovations and novelties should ideally be launched here, just before the prime season in order to create the most added value. Here IFA could play an important role to convince suppliers that the period from June to August, which is the holiday season for Europe, should be used to clear the inventory so that from October onwards the new products are on the shelves www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday 31 st August 2018 41
