Taken a cartoon from the German Lebensmittel Zeitung about the EuroShop exhibition and Prof.Dr.B.Hallier most viewers would confirm that it covers well EuroShop 2020 and its halls 3 - 7 with the topics of robotics, AI and IoT (Internet of Things).

But the fact is that this cartoon was published more than 25 years ago! "There is a time-lag between the vision and the prototypes on the one hand and the transformation towards products applicable for use in the main-streams" Hallier explained in an interview. His thesis is that the 25 years-innovation-cycles in retail/wholesale show the mental disability of HR to change quicker due to traditional education and social habits. "For Universities, Universities of Applied Sciences as well as Vocational Training Institutes Change Management should be the top priority !" he demanded.
 

According to Prof.Dr.B.Hallier the world-leading exhibition for store-fitting and retail technology EuroShop proved in 2020 its unique competitiveness by an increase of its total exhibition area, by a record number of exhibitors and growing internationality on the level of exhibitors as well as on the level of visitors. Its USP are emotions kicked off by booth sizes never seen at other exhibitions and the transfer of emotions by lights and all other POS media. Another root of its robust situation is the reliability of its longterm scouting for technical innovation and the intertwine between products and applications. The next EuroShop will be organized in 2023 from February 26th to March 2nd.

The triannual EuroShop will be supported in 2021 and 2022 again by its segment EuroCIS as stand-alone exhibitions, which meanwhile demonstrates its European leadership. For Hallier this part of the exhibition is driving the innovation of retail by tools like the Internet of Things (IoT) and Automated Intelligence (AI). Traditional definitions of store-formats will decline versus the growing impact of processes along the total supply chain. Third Parties like logistics, IT-suppliers, market research will merge together with retailers in new forms of Retail Knowledge Consortiums (RKC).
 

At a welcome for the Russian Post at the DHL Innovation Center near Cologne/Germany Prof.Dr.Hallier explained the future of retail as a Consortium of Partners where the traditional retailers contribute their assortment-competence, while market-research or distribution could be headed by Third Parties. B2B and B2C will merge - and Cash & Carry could become just a platform depot; and also the size of the retail store will no longer dominate the academic definitions of store formats (discount, supermarket, hypermarkets).

Hallier pointed out that already now the digitalization is increasind the factor speed in competition: either concerning assortments on the in-store shelves or in delivery to the consumers. In Germany according to EHI-Research about 56 percent of food deliveries are organized on average within 24 hours - in Hongkong Foodpanda delivers already short-distance within 15 minutes!
 

Already since his PhD-thesis Prof.Dr.Hallier is involved in Sector Analysis versus Macro-Economics (berndhallier.de). In 2011 he was honored by the VSE Prague/CZ for his research about the 25-years-cycles of trade since 1800.

His latest observations focus on continents as global innovation hubs: Europe in the 19th century with the Commonwealth and Sea Ports, the USA in the 20th century with self-service and mass-data-mining and now in the 21st century Asia with grab-and-go cashless stores and the Internet of Things as a driver behind. More from Philippine Retailing (Link) .
 

Town Planning has changed its focus in Europe all 25 years: after World War II the hot topic was New Homes, followed due to mobilization in the 70ies by Suburban Living/Shopping Centers; while in the end of the century City Marketing was searching for an update of downtown in balance with Regional Marketing. Now new technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) enable town-planners to create Smart Cities.

At www.european-retail-academy.org/AEUC a research-project accumulates international studies in a reader with the titel of "Smart Cities" - and in April in Aachen/Germany the reputated international congress of CORP is offering a broad range of new insights: see forecast of presentations (Here).