The proposed merger of Tesco and Booker comes at an interesting moment for InternetRetailing, in the same week as the first InternetRetailing B2B Summit, which was held in Berlin for a pan-European audience of B2B businesses. All are considering how they meet the challenge of digital transformation in their B2B businesses. Many are behind the UK’s retail businesses in the level of service they now provide to their business customers, since the sector started later and is working at a scale of complexity and volume of transaction that makes the move to digital so much more difficult. These are challenges that will now also to affect a new Tesco Booker, if the deal goes ahead.
Here’s our multichannel take on the Tesco/Booker deal, and here’s our coverage of the key Views that emerged at this week’s event. Today we’re also writing about Travis Perkins whose group spans B2B retail and B2C, and looking at its approaches to new technologies focused on the customer experience.
Today we’re also looking at what Dixons Carphone and WH Smith said about multichannel strategies when they put their Christmas trading figures out this week, and what to transform the way its IT teams work.
Today’s IRX preview investigates the event’s open theatres, and today’s guest comment comes from Alibaba’s Meifang Chen, who considers the opportunity that Chinese shopping festivals offer to UK retailers.
Webinars
Click to visit the Internet Retailing webinars page to catch up on the latest webinars.
Events
The first InternetRetailing Events B2B Summit will be held in January in Berlin. Click here for more information.