Prof.Dr.B.Hallier welcomes this new field of research of RAU under the headline "Path of Uncertainty". He states that not only the parameters of well-being changed due to the disruptions of Corona but also the challenges for trade globalization due to the Russian invitation for a picnic at the river Dnepr in Feb.2022 and the worsening of the water/harvest problems due to the warming up of the Globe. "Many parameters of our thinking and knowlege/philosophy belong to the past ; the wish for a Global House of Harmony is deminishing" he claims. "We have to create new platforms for holistic research about tomorrow's world ; at the moment we do not have solutions neither for our students nor for the politicians who urgently look for decisions to save the future for the next generations. We need new categories for dreams/visions" he concluded.

The roots of tobacco-products being distributed by wholesales goes back in Germany in the case of tobaccoland till 1845 and in the case of the DTV-Group till 1883.The market-strategies in the 70ies/80ies of the last century then made the difference of its development. While the owners of tobaccoland step by step took over other local/regional wholesalers to become the shooting star in West Germany - other wholesalers wanted to keep their regional exclusivity but needed to bundle their market-power : they did choose in 1984 the model of an cooperation called DTV.

"The one reason was the national growth of food-retail-chains starting in the 70ies : the tobacco-industry did pay high bonuses to be distributed and promoted at the cash-zones on the national level. A similar situation happened after the petrol-crisis in 1974 : the big petrol players started to diversify at the petrol stations by little convenience shops to earn an additional profit. On top they also wanted to participate on the POS activities of the tobacco business. Insofar a competition for national demand and national supply started" Prof.Dr.B.Hallier remembers being at that time responsible for channel-strategy within Rothmans Germany and editing later as CEO of EHI Retail Institute brochures about the history and marketing of those wholesale players

Having the innovation-cycles of retail/wholesale in focus of his research Prof.Dr.B.Hallier summarized for his students visiting the technology fair EuroCIS the Darwinism within the textile sector. In his interpretation in a first phase in Europe it was personal knowledge of traders about sources and processing like the Fugger-family or de Respaigne. In a second wave textiles became a business of mass-distribution with increasing profiles at spots of high frequency like in Paris, London, Berlin or Cologne enlarging the product-ranges by adding life-style components to its marketing. The remains of this prosperous time are the down-town architectural buildings like the GUM at the Red Square in Moscow, Harrods in London, the former big players in Paris or KaDeWe in Berlin.

In the 70ies of the last century the third cycle started with IT as a driver ; the European Article Number(EAN) enabled the identification of products and electronic control of the supply chains, the chip-technology and QR-codes followed - smartphones and mobile data , and last but not least the internet created new channels or within brick-and-stone outlets omni-channel opportunities. The fourth cycle starting now is the mix of shopping, entertaining and mixing the Real World with the Virtual World for example in games with avatares in the Metaversum. (more : PDF ).

In the economic/political crisis 1848/50 in Hamburg/Germany Eduard I Hallier became one of the initiators of a Food Bank serving a cheap cup of coffee and a slice of bread to the workmen in the harbour ("KaffeeKlappen"). In art his invitations for events at his private home are still remembered by letter-exchanges with the composer Johannes Brahms and the Northern German poet Theodor Storm (for example at the museum in Husum). His grandson Dr.Eduard II Hallier travelled in 1890 for one year all around the globe and initiated after his return in Hamburg the first Public Library together with Blohm (wharf-owner) and Mönckeberg (mayor). Later he helped with a major donation the Hamburg Art Hall ("Kunsthalle") and supporting annually six artists a home free of charge. Last but not least he promoted founding Hamburg University.

Prof.Dr.Bernd Hallier travelled during his studies of economics at Hamburg University extensively around the world as an AIESEC-student , later in 1985 as a director of today’s EHI Retail Institute to connect retail/wholesale business globally , promoting the EuroShop exhibition to become world-leader for shopfitting and finally connecting Business & Academia by founding in 2005 the European Retail Academy. (see also : LINK ) At his private home in Rösrath he founded together with his neighbour the artist Mary Bauermeister the Foundation for Art and Art Therapy:( see more : YouTube ) Hallier's Credo is : " The level of Civil Society can be judged by its donors and sponsors"

In 1999 in Cologne/Germany Butlers (a specialist for living accessoires) opened his first stores : in 2021 the company had over 100 own outlets and 30 franchise shops; its turnover is roughly 95 million Euro. - In the online-sector ten years later Home24 entered the furniture sector ; by the take-over of its competition Fashion For Home in 2015 it also became partly a brick-and-stone retailer : since 2019 even with a format of 8.000 square-meters sales area. Home24 has in the end of 2021 a total turnover of about 600 million Euro.

Now the owners of the two companies exchanged shares in a company-merge. For Prof.Dr.B.Hallier of the European Retail Academy this is a good case-study for a cluster of competences : traditional brick-and-stone shops in basically two formats , being able to serve down-town customers as well as industrial areas ; being online visible even beyond the national borders ; being accessable for customers by clicks as well as by physical store-contacts ; upscaling the buying volume in the industry/ wholesale-retail relation ; upgrading the visibility