Review: Multichannel Day 2023

This year’s Multichannel Day took place on August 31 at Cologne’s RheinEnergie Stadium, the central and indispensable event for all players in online retail – even bigger than in 2022, with numerous visitors and exhibitors from marketplaces, B2C and B2B retailers and manufacturers, service providers, and consultancies.

eStrategy Consulting was honored to support Multichannel Day as a speaker and panel moderator: Managing Partner Cliff Pfefferkorn gave a presentation in the morning on “Success on international marketplaces: What matters?” and shared the knowledge we have built up from various relevant projects. If you are interested in the presentation, please contact us via our contact form.

In the afternoon, Cliff Pfefferkorn moderated the panel discussion “Marketplaces: Successful in a niche? A real alternative?” With Laura Breiling (CONRAD), Michael Pilzek (Hood), Valerie Heimann (limango), Tobias Strehle (ManoMano), and Stefan Eggert (METRO) at his side, the discussion was highly exciting. Together, they discussed the potential and challenges of niche marketplaces as well as the importance of multichannel strategies for modern online retail.

Hardly any other industry event is as informal and personal as Multichannel Day – which is why it is also ideal for exchange within the industry. These are our most important insights from yesterday’s discussions:

• Prioritization and professionalization are at the forefront of short- and medium-term actions for more growth and profit. They are approached with creativity and enthusiasm.
• Of course, AI is a central aspect of every product roadmap, but with diverse and company-specific priorities. Here, too, there is a clear urge to take a professional approach right from the start.
• Marketplaces want to respond even more consistently – and smarter – to the requirements of their buyers and sellers and become even more user-oriented in the design of their value proposition.
• Manufacturers with a B2B focus are showing increasing initiative in building and maturing their omnichannel marketing and sales activities, including setting up their own e-commerce via web shops and marketplaces.
• Interest in concrete and open exchange of experiences is growing – Multichannel Day, with all its authenticity, was ideal for this.