The first IREU Top500 Strategy and Innovation Performance Dimension Report is now available online.
The report looks at how retailers and global brands are currently approaching trade in Europe, and at how retailers are currently pursuing international strategies.
Ian Jindal, editor-in-chief, said: “There’s a distinct emphasis on the word ‘currently’, in the knowledge that the UK’s vote last June to leave the European Union may well affect the way that both retailers and shoppers behave in the future. With that in mind, we’re taking a snapshot of current trade that may prove especially intriguing when we look back at this research in years to come.”
The Dimension Report looks at how retailers are pursuing strategies that InternetRetailing researchers consider to be key, including the extent to which IREU Top500 retailers are now internationalising and localising their businesses, and whether they are offering innovative cross-channel services that bridge the gap between the online and the offline worlds in overseas markets as well as at home. It looks at whether they are retreating into domestic territories, focusing on serving home customers, as they defend their businesses, rather than looking beyond national borders for opportunities.
Jindal said: “We’ve already noted in our IRUK 500 work that Brexit could prove a great disruptive moment in the early 21st century, both at home and in Europe, and in this Dimension Report we look for the early signs of that disruption. We’ve also said that disruption can foster innovation, and we look for evidence of this at the same time.”
The report features an interview with Delphine Mousseau, vice president of markets at Zalando on how the retailer learned from experience and innovated as it expanded across Europe, case studies on Asos H&M, Ikea and Zara .
In 12 approaches that work, the emphasis is on international expansion and highlights examples of innovative practice across Europe, while difficulties around breaking down institutional silos are the focus for the emerging practice feature.
Click here to download the IREU Top500 Strategy & Innovation Performance Dimension Report. Click here to explore the Top500 series of reports further.
