How to Conquer Global Markets: Inspirations and Insights from Paris Retail Week
An interview with ui42 CEO Andrej Kajan, who attended the prestigious Paris Retail Week conference, reveals key innovations driving the world of e-commerce. Read about how the world's biggest players are investing in new technologies and what ignoring Eastern European markets means for the future of commerce.
Paris Retail Week, one of the world's largest conferences focused on retail innovation, took place in September and brought a wealth of new ideas and technological trends. Among the main exhibitors, Chinese companies dominated with their groundbreaking technologies, such as delivery drones and advanced sensor solutions. Andrej Kajan returned full of new ideas and shared the biggest news with our clients, as well as why large Western European companies are not interested in expanding into Eastern Europe. In the interview, he also revealed how he established new collaborations and what strategies e-commerce businesses should consider to succeed in the global market.
How would you summarize your feelings after returning from Paris Retail Week?
After three days, I still have mixed feelings, but one thing is clear – Paris Retail Week was absolutely top-notch! It was an incredibly inspiring world-class conference attended by 20,000 participants and more than 370 exhibitors.
What impressed you the most at the conference?
I was most surprised by the Chinese, who occupied almost a quarter of the space and invested a huge amount of money in their presentation. The technologies they brought, especially in logistics, were top-notch – for example, large drones for delivering goods, which are already used in China.
Do you see potential for this technology in our markets?
Definitely yes. Although Eastern Europe, unfortunately, was not very interesting for the exhibitors. When I asked agencies if their clients would be interested in expanding into our region, most said it didn't make sense for them. The French market is so large for them that they don't need to look for opportunities elsewhere.
Did you manage to arrange any new collaborations during the conference?
Yes, I arranged cooperation with a top company focused on SEO. I also negotiated with a Chinese company that wants to start activities in Europe and the USA, and ui42 is an excellent choice for them. In addition, I opened several interesting discussions with other potential clients.
How do you evaluate the solutions presented in the field of e-commerce?
The interest in B2B marketplaces and personalization was visibly the most resonant. I met companies offering solutions very similar to our product AI Recommender, with several times higher marketing budgets. The great news is that despite the differences in marketing, our product is technologically on the same level. They confirmed to me that the way we have built the Recommender, the technologies it uses, and how it works with data is top-notch not only in Slovakia but worldwide.
Why do they show such little interest in expanding to the east?
It's surprising, but at the same time understandable. Their markets are large enough and stable. For example, the French agency SEO.fr doesn't deal with Eastern Europe at all because it doesn't make sense for them yet. They are completely satisfied with what they have. The move to the east is always delayed, we see it even with global players who, when expanding into Europe, first open in Western Europe. Some V4 or CEE open only a few years later.
What does this mean for our local brands and e-commerce?
We can take several things from this, but after talking to big brands, I mainly perceive that the CEE market is ideal for the expansion of local players. In general, it is not as saturated as, for example, France, where the path to success is more complicated and financially demanding. The CEE market is a large and growing market with more than 400 million inhabitants.
What other companies caught your attention?
I met interesting companies like Brightinsights, who scrape data, or Netlinking.fr, with whom I had an interesting discussion about buying backlinks. Booper was also interesting, offering solutions similar to our AI Recommender, but with a greater emphasis on margins.
What did this conference bring you?
Confirmation that ui42 is on a world level with its services and products. The fact that I didn't get lost in conversations with global players and, on the contrary, my insights from our products interested them, confirmed to me that we are doing it really excellently.
We definitely need to attend world conferences more often. It's a great opportunity not only for us but also for our clients, to whom we can bring home world news and mediate topics that move the global e-commerce market.
Follow Andrej on LinkedIn, where he regularly shares news from the e-commerce world.
What is Paris Retail Week?
Paris Retail Week, a leading event in omnichannel commerce with the participation of 20,000 people from around the world, brings together major brands, retailers, and solution providers to help you decipher trends, explore innovations in this sector, and answer all these questions.
In the current context of conflicting demands, retailers must choose their strategy to assert themselves or survive, but at the same time, they must answer many questions: how to rethink their business by transitioning from a linear growth model to a circular growth model? How to offer "Made in France" products while developing internationally? How to differentiate from other brands by offering a strong DNA and a strong promise? In other words, to return to basics and find common sense in a world full of paradoxes.
