took the discussion point to the audience during his keynote, surveying the audience to find that only a handful were optimistic about Amazon’s prospective arrival. He continued by recalling a conversation with a former Walmart executive, who told him that the ‘moment of truth’ that retailers had built on in the past was dead.  “Amazon is creating a perpetual moment of truth,” Bird said, noting that 44 per cent of all American households are Prime members, including himself. “As you get comfortable with it, you buy everything with Amazon.” “The way I used to feel about Apple is the way I now feel about Amazon.” “Experiences have a social currency” said Fielding. Insights from international retail leaders Various theories were levied about what retailers can do to prepare for Amazon’s entry into Australia. Insights from international retail veterans such as Jim Fielding, president of consumer products at Fox Television group and John Vary, head of Innovation at John Lewis provided clarity. Fielding, pointing to what many economists have called a structural shift away from consumer products and towards services, headlined his keynote by contending that retailers need to combine product and experience. “Experiences have a social currency, they’re sharable – you can take selfies of yourself an Adele concert and that’s more exciting to you than a new handbag,” Fielding said, adding that Fox and Disney are now looking to leverage intellectual property to enhance retail experiences. Aussie retailers have often been criticised for being behind the curve on technology, and according to Vary, it’s not enough to believe that omnichannel blurs the line between physical and digital. UK department store John Lewis has gone beyond click-and-collect and is now embedding digital into stores at an ever increasing rate. He explained that John Lewis has given him the keys to an innovation department where he can experiment with “the art of the possible” and that his only KPI is whether “customers will use it”. “We can do whatever we want with technology, but it’s about that empathy,” Vary said. “We don’t want to have channels; it’s just shopping. So for us, it’s about curating all those experiences for the customer.” That message was echoed by the head of Neiman Marcus’ Innovation Lab, Scott Emmons, who added that Aussie retailers should not be scared of partnering with other retailers to deliver tech-forward programs. “Doing technology from a retail standpoint, the trick is always ‘how do you fund it?’,” he said, pointing to Neiman Marcus’ collaboration with Luxottica on a digitally-enabled mirror. Luxottica footed the bill, enabling Neiman Marcus to roll the product out to 120 stores, rather than six. Aussies should not be scared of partnering with other retailers to deliver tech-forward programs Local lessons While the message from international retailers was centred on technology as an enabler for customer experience, former Target executive Launa Inman offered a local perspective. According to Inman, many retailers have struggled to implement large-scale technological change because of a systemic short-term mentality in the industry. “When Amazon started 20 years ago, they went out to Wall Street and told them they wouldn’t make a profit for five years…They created growth for their share price without paying dividends,” she said, contending that Australian shareholders wouldn’t let large retailers get away with sacrificing earnings for long term investment. Inman’s advice for retailers is to look at replicating a Prime style model to combat Amazon, which she said they can do with the added bonus of a home ground advantage. Adore beauty founder, Kate Morris, who participated in a panel discussion with Inman, added that the next 12 months in Australian retail will be defined by customer communication and how well retailers can connect their staff to customer insights. The marketing holy grail Facebook’s global head of e-commerce and retail strategy Martin Barthel and local head of retail Kate Box, both took to the stage and shared a similar message for retailers. The social media giant is looking to deliver the “holy grail” of marketing to retailers, said Barthel. Essentially, Facebook is looking to partner with retailers to share Facebook’s extensive data pool, which includes information on as much as 60 per cent of Australia’s population, and interface it with retail customer data, providing brands with unprecedented levels of knowledge about their customers. Theoretically, Facebook could help retailers use Facebook location criteria to figure out when and where customers come into stores and what they buy, he added. It’s okay to say no However, while others are bullish on the role of technology and personalised marketing, Google Australia’s head of retail industry, James Boysons, urged caution. In sentiments echoed by Supre chief Elle Roseby on a panel centred around personalisation, Boysons said that retailers need to actually deliver on one-to-one communication, and that for many brands, it is unrealistic. “If there is a consumer need and that’s where customers are, then there’s a reason to be there, but too often, we try to manufacture a need and try to force a channel on customers and then wonder why things haven’t exploded,” Boysons pointed out. Nodding as Boysons delivered his insights, Roseby added that retailers should pick the channels that work best and hone in on them – it’s okay to say no. “Pinterest is of no interest to us, our customer is 17 years old, but Afterpay is, because we are a value fashion brand,” she said.