- Commerce Transformation Days (CTD) is an international conference fully dedicated to digital commerce transformation. On September 22 and 23, 2022, the 7th edition of this annual event, previously known as the E-commerce Directors Congress, will take place at the Concordia Design business center in Wrocław.
- After two years of restricted event activity, the conference organized by Unity Group returns with double strength. CTD is a meeting place for European entrepreneurs interested in the latest and most important trends in digital commerce. This year, it will be held in a hybrid format (online and offline).
- The organizers have planned six thematic tracks: Commerce Transformation, Digital Sales, Scalable Operations, Data & AI, Cloud & Cybersecurity and Society & Organization. The event will be attended by key market experts representing top brands, such as: Allegro, Carrefour, Super-Pharm, Euro RTV AGD, BRW, Żabka, PwC, and many more.
Many companies are currently facing the challenge of maintaining business continuity and ensuring a much faster response to the evolving market environment. The recent crises have shown that only those businesses that are flexible and agile on the e-market can escape unscathed from difficult situations.
“The latest study carried out by KPMG in partnership with Microsoft showed that 51% of companies note the importance of digital transformation in their organizations, but at the same time only one in five plans to increase investment in this area over the next 12 months[1]. This demonstrates the scale of unpreparedness for unpredictable developments that may adversely affect operational activities and the overall health of business. It’s unknown what the future has in store, but for several years now we have witnessed a high market volatility that businesses must be able to address appropriately and quickly, while planning wisely. For this reason, in September, during the Commerce Transformation Days, we want to meet with international experts in digital commerce to debate issues relevant to the industry. We hope that by exchanging experiences and cooperating on many levels, we will make it easier for many companies to confront the current – oftentimes difficult – reality.” says Grzegorz Kuczyński, CEO of Unity Group.
Commerce Transformation Days is, above all, a space for sharing knowledge and engaging in valuable networking and expert discussions. It’s been established to cater to the needs of the international community developing the commerce area. The conference provides market leaders, investors and partners with a special opportunity to build relationships and obtain unique business value. This year CTD will be divided into six thematic blocks: Commerce Transformation, Digital Sales, Scalable Operations, Data & Artificial Intelligence, Cloud & Cybersecurity, Society & Organization – with the participation of top brands in the commerce sector. Speakers at the event will represent, among others, such companies as: Allegro, Carrefour, Super-Pharm, Euro RTV AGD, BRW, Żabka and PwC.
Experts in digital transformation vs the challenges of tomorrow
2020 and 2021, as well as the past months of 2022, were undoubtedly a time of turbulent change. The level of digitalization of companies almost determined their market position around the world. For some, proper preparation and years-long transformation have resulted in a significant increase in revenues and an influx of new customers who have changed their purchasing habits. At the same time, for many firms, digitalization has become a necessity for survival of the business and its ability to compete on the market. Many companies took a positive approach to the transformation, and some of them have successfully redefined their business models. Experts make it clear that this is the last moment to invest in digital capabilities to keep up with the market and prepare for a fight that will only become fiercer moving forward. Understanding how digital transformation and the use of data can change business is key to success in the world of tomorrow, which is bound to be virtual. It’s the volatility and challenges of the future that will be the main topics of the Commerce Transformation Days conference taking place on September 22 and 23, 2022.
The Programme Board, consisting of top market experts, will ensure the highest value of the event. Speaking on the main stage of the conference will be, among others:
- Justyna Torres – E-commerce & Customer Excellence Director, Carrefour Italia
- Przemysław Kotecki – Director of Transformation Office, Allegro
- Anna Bogdańska – Digital Development Director, RTV EURO AGD
- Jacek Jaworski – Digital Experience Director & Digital Transformation Lead, UPC Polska
- Izabela Wisłocka, Vice Director, Digital Ecosystems, PwC
- Dominik Janes – Head of Business Development, Unity Group
For the two-day conference, the organizers have planned a 20-hour dose of knowledge in the form of inspiring lectures, engaging discussion panels and practical workshops in small groups. The main topic of the event is: “Commerce transformation in the era of rapid change: How to prepare for the unpredictable?”. Possible scenarios of how companies might respond to change will be discussed by commerce experts from various sectors and countries. In addition, the conference will address the most interesting trends related to the commerce industry, including cross-border, q-commerce, content commerce, green commerce, live commerce and e-grocery, as well as the expansion of marketplaces and new business models, including direct to consumer (D2C), and the subject of safe business scalability based on new technologies. There will also be panels thematically related to changes taking place in society, based on business cases of top brands. The conference will be conducted in two languages with simultaneous Polish-English and English-Polish translation.
Commerce transformation in the era of rapid change
“Changes taking place in trade are the result of not only the economic situation or geopolitical factors, but also the progressive evolution of consumers’ expectations and values. The current trends are influenced by new priorities and beliefs of representatives of generations Y and Z, a change in the work models of professionally active people, a greater openness to innovation, and the readiness to use e-commerce, also by seniors. It’s also important to note the greater technological potential of the available solutions, which make once-unrealistic technologies not only available today, but even used on a massive scale.” says Justyna Torres, E-commerce & Customer Excellence Director Carrefour Italia, speaker and member of the Commerce Transformation Days Program Council.
For several years, Poland has been among countries from the bottom of the DESI (Digital Economy and Society Index) ranking, i.e. the index of the digital economy and society of EU states. This is mainly due to neglect in the area of digitization and an insufficient integration of digital technologies in companies. With a score of 41 points, as of 2021, Poland remains below the EU average (50.7 points). However, we are slowly approaching the EU average – in 2016–2021, the level of digital advancement in Poland expressed by the DESI increased at a rate of 8–11% YoY. Still, according to Unity Group experts (with over 25 years of experience in commerce transformation projects), it should be remembered that digital transformation is a journey that is specific to each individual company. This gives rise to opportunities, but also challenges that have to be faced.
“Shortcuts and beaten paths often expose businesses to high costs and the risk of failure. Why is that so? Because what you see outside the organization that you want to follow does not show the work and the magnitude of change taking place inside it. Careful planning of what’s going to take place in the background is necessary to ensure that your firm enters the digital stage and doesn’t stumble. It’s essential to prepare a holistic scenario that, in addition to technological aspects, will explain how to arrange applications and systems into a coherent, flexible architecture, how to change the organizational structure so that it can support the new way of doing things and how to run a business in the new model. Today, this scenario is often built with the help of external experts with appropriate skills and experience gained in other projects. This is a chance for many companies to jump on the fast track and avoid frequent mistakes.” says Grzegorz Rudno-Rudziński, Managing Partner at Unity Group.
This year’s edition of CTD will be devoted to many aspects of digital commerce transformation, in terms of B2B and B2C. B2B trade is a mature industry where many companies – especially those focusing on expansion – are currently undergoing a sweeping evolution. Contrary to B2C trade, where only some of the firms are traditional players that gradually modify their business, most of them are pure players with an extremely proactive approach towards the market (companies relying 100% on online trade).
“The study ‘B2B e-commerce NOW 2022’, carried out at the request of the Chamber of Electronic Economy, shows that the pace of digitization in the B2B market is constantly growing. Over 90% of companies offering products, services and solutions for business plan to develop e-commerce, with 41% already operating in that market. In turn, one in four companies expects to see a significant increase in revenues from this channel (over 20%) in the coming year. This is a huge, still untapped potential. It’s worth debating this opportunity among CTD experts. This is what the condition and competitiveness of the whole commerce industry depends on. B2B customers expect to have constant access to the offer, and ab efficient and personalized service, similar to what they got used to when buying consumer products,” adds Patrycja Sass-Staniszewska, President of the Chamber of Electronic Economy, which became patron of the Commerce Transformation Days event.
Go here to find out more about the event.
[1] KPMG report “Monitor of Digital Transformation of Business” (link)
