On 11 April, for the 5th year in a row, Dagens industri gathered many of the retail industry's key players to discuss the way forward and eXpression and Future Retail Lab were on hand.

The retail sector is a major growth engine for the Swedish economy and is currently facing major challenges in the form of increased competition and shrinking margins. At the same time, there are enormous opportunities for those companies that succeed in transforming and adapting their business to the new reality we live in. A new entrepreneurship based on the creative industries is emerging.

The digital transformation has fundamentally affected the industry's business models, moving from products to services and experiences. The conference discussed how retailers are responding to the increasingly digital customer.

Speakers included Daniel Claesson, Business Development Manager at H&M. He talked about how H&M meets the customer in the digital transformation and was clear that the customer still has the same needs, regardless of channel. Today, we just have another way to measure them. Digitalisation also provides new opportunities to interact with customers as co-creators and to let them and the store staff be part of the marketing process. Today, the hashtag #hmxme can be found in over 200,000 posts. Smart social strategies developed by small but strong brands and entrepreneurs, influencers, that are now being emulated by big companies.

It also concluded that regardless of physical or digital channel, content, experiences and creating emotion and trust with the customer are important. However, not everything needs to look the same across all channels.

Following the customer, analysing, testing new ways and being strategic is important, as Sara Rosengren, professor at the Gothenburg School of Economics, was careful to point out.

In summary, the customer journey today should include, reassurance, inspiration, experiences, emotions, and seamless payment solutions. Of course, everything is mobile friendly!

A customer with a mobile phone in hand spends 40 percent more time in the store.

The Future Retail Lab programme is a joint venture with the Swedish Retail Federation via the Swedish Merchants' Association Foundation and is also part-financed by EU structural funds. In autumn 2019, a pilot will be carried out in Umeå, with a view to opening up the programme to national participation.