Cooperation next

It was officially called "DIY next", the motto of the 6th Global DIY Summit in Barcelona mid June, and of course, it was once again concerned with nothing less than the future of the DIY and garden market, this time under the conditions which the new technologies of online trade and big data, right up to artificial intelligence are forcing upon the market.
But the unofficial motto was "cooperation next". What is meant here is the perennial issue "partnership between retail and industry". If we're going by how often the word cooperation was mentioned at the global meeting of the DIY industry this year, the situation must really be critical. Which by no means dampened the spirits of the congress participants, because they were splendid. The framework data alone speaks for itself: more than 1 100 participants came from all corners of the Earth, which is a further record.
In comparison: at the first congress in 2010 in Vienna there were around 300, which was the number of participants this year from retail alone. The retail quota of slightly more than a quarter is not outstanding, but anything other than bad, and anyway, all corners of the Earth were represented by retail and even the very, very big players of the industry. The organisers, the European retail and manufacturer associations Edra/Ghin and Fediyma, have managed to hold and build the attraction of the global congress as networking platform at a high international level. The excellent organisation played a large part - from the punctuality of presentations up to the bus transfers - as well as the manufacturing companies involved as exhibitors and sponsors.
The general theme of cooperation was already set by Edra president and Obi CEO Sergio Giroldi at the press conference on the eve of the congress. "We made a strategic decision: let's start working together," Giroldi said at the press conference. What he meant was: in an era of online trade and increasing regulation of the markets, the sector can only meet consumer demands by cooperation between retailers and manufacturers. "The customer is back in a leading position - as the queen and the king," said Giroldi, outlining the situation as he saw it. Then, in a statement at the opening of the congress, he once again emphasised the strong base that such cooperation has in the international DIY and garden sector.
The importance of the Summit, particularly from this perspective, was underpinned by Reinhard Wolff, president of Fediyma, the association of…