Asia’s single most important global platform to promote world-class retail practices. The focus of the Congress is to discuss and influence the issues for change. The Asia Retail Congress is aimed at company chairs, presidents and CEOs from leading international and national retailers, directors of international and national retailers, and directors of international brands who believe in making change happen.

We’re surely into the online era now but when we talk about the future of retail, we cannot margin out brick and mortar stores altogether! There are multiple reasons for stores beyond the online medium to exist. 

Various studies and observations indicate this:

“Offline is the dominant retail form – for nearly two-thirds of consumers, brick-and-mortar retail outlets are the most important places to shop.” – From a study in Germany

"Two-thirds of Australians reporting that they prefer ‘brick and mortar’ retail stores."

“About half of would-be customers would not order apparel online because they wanted to feel the merchandise.”

“90 percent of sales still happen in physical stores, so there is a huge, compelling reason to think about the physical store as a driver of sales.” - Forrester Research

Therefore, on one hand, we are observing many brick-and-mortar stores opening e-commerce sites; on the other hand, we are witnessing a change of mindset of the eCommerce enterprises.  There are rumors of the possibility that Google will be opening physical stores. eBay and Etsy are also testing temporary stores. 

Asia Retail Congress will discuss more on “The Awesome Future of Retail – Go Global” on 13^th & 14^th February 2015 in Mumbai. For more details, visit www.asiaretailcongress.com