On November 24-25, 2021, the 3rd Congress of Modern Distribution took place, an event bringing together the management staff of the trade, processing and distribution sectors. During this year’s edition of the Congress, organized at The Westin Warsaw Hotel and online, 421 participants listened to speeches by government representatives as well as presentations and debates between the CEOs of international trade concerns and FMCG companies, technology companies and market experts.
The conference was officially opened by Renata Juszkiewicz, President of the Management Board of the Polish Trade and Distribution Organization. Then the participants listened to the speeches of honorary guests: Tadeusz Kościński, the Minister of Finance, and Tomasz Chróstny, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). Minister Kościński drew attention to the importance of the commercial sector in the country’s economy and emphasized the essence of dialogue between representatives of public administration and the leaders of the retail sector.
President Juszkiewicz also read a letter from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, in which he wrote to the participants of the Congress:
“Due to the pandemic, more and more companies had to radically change their approach to trade and focus on e-commerce. The latter has attracted new customers as never before and covered many industries that have been resistant to digital transformation in the past. What has been a choice so far must have become a necessity for many; often the determining factor in a business to be or not to be. Today we can be proud of the fact that the Polish e-commerce market is one of the fastest growing on our continent.
Since the pandemic, new technologies also accompany us in stationary purchases. Solutions that bring us closer to trade 4.0 are being tested on a large scale (…). What is particularly important to us, all modern solutions in the commercial industry also translate into an increasingly higher technological level of the Polish economy, stimulating the development of other sectors.”
Keynote Speech “Race to Zero in Retail – is there room for a change with low margins?” was delivered by Mirosław Proppé, President of the Management Board, WWF Poland. He emphasized the course of action in the retail industry, which will help to shape a positive impact on the environment, and indicated areas of the industry that should be given special attention in order to obtain an environmentally friendly effect. During the inaugural panel, experts discussed the future of the retail sector in the context of the most important challenges, in particular the changes taking place during the pandemic and inflation. The debate was attended by:
Tadeusz Kościński, Minister of Finance
prof. Konrad Raczkowski,
Renata Juszkiewicz, President of the Management Board, Polish Trade and Distribution Organization
Włodzimierz Wlaźlak, President of the Management Board, Lidl Polska
Andrzej Skubiszewski, Chairman of the Board, JTI Polska
The discussion was moderated by Karol Tokarczyk, Economic Analyst, Polityka Insight.
Subsequent debates revolved around topics related to innovation, the impact of technology on the development of the sector and trends in the development of e-commerce. As part of the Modern Distribution Congress, the premiere of a new Saule Technologies product, Perovskite Electronic Shelf Label (PESL), took place. The premiere was accompanied by a press conference.
The Consumer Journey block was focused on the needs and changing expectations of customers. Experts also raised issues related to modern trade in the era of digital and mobile consumers. Sales trends in 2022 were discussed – strategies and tools for sales and promotion support.
The second day of the event began with issues related to sustainable development and the pursuit of climate neutrality – the green future of the commercial sector. Experts then analyzed trends and solutions of distribution channels as well as the process of accelerating changes in logistics. There was also a thread on the challenges, digitization and the use of new technologies in the field of logistics. The congress ended with a debate on employee issues and the labor market in Polish trade.
The speakers of the 3rd edition of the Modern Distribution Congress were, among others:
Tomasz Chróstny, President, Office of Competition and Consumer Protection
Anita Błaszczak, Editor, Rzeczpospolita
Mateusz Boruta, Managing Director, ECR Polska, Lean & Green & Navigor
Bartosz Bursa, COO, Saule Technologies
Sławomir Chłoń, Chairman of the Board, Organic Market
Bartłomiej Danek, Sales Manager, Google Cloud Polska
Magdalena Dziewguć, Country Director, Google Cloud Polska
Marta Florczak, Chief Human Resources Officer, Lidl Polska
Piotr Frankowski, Director, SAS Institute
Paweł Grabowski, Director of Maintenance-Free Solutions, Żabka Future
Łukasz Gębka, President of the Board, Farma Świętokrzyska
Guillaume Jonglez, Senior Director Retail Transformation EMEA, Oracle
Renata Juszkiewicz, President of the Management Board, Polish Trade and Distribution Organization
Sebastian Kaczmarski, Central Fulfillment Operations Manager, IKEA Retail
Joanna Kalinowska, Sales & Marketing Manager, JYSK
Joanna Kasowska, Quality Department Manager, Żabka Polska
Krzysztof Korus Ph.D., Legal Counsel, Partner DLK Legal
Tadeusz Kościński, Minister of Finance
Krzysztof Kośmider, Head of SAP Retail, Accenture
Marcin Kowalczyk, Head of the Climate Team, WWF Poland
Dariusz Kowalczyk, Sales Director, Board Member, OBI
Krzysztof Kręcikij, Enterprise Sales Director, Salesforce Poland
Artur Kupczunas, Co-founder & CEO, Saule Technologies
Agata Kwiek, Communication Manager, JTI
Krzysztof Łapiński, Government Affairs expert
Paweł Ławecki, Vice President of the Management Board, Chmura Krajowa
Piotr Łobaczewski, Client Director, Marketing Cloud Solutions, Salesforce Poland
Anne Magré, Board Member, E.Leclerc
Olga Malinkiewicz, Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer, Saule Technologies
Marcin Mendruń, Training and Development Director, Jeronimo Martins Polska
Michał Nowaczyk, Member of the Management Board for Administration / CFO, Lidl
Anna Pawelec, President, JemyEko Foundation
Małgorzata Piekarska, Director of Customer Concepts and Innovation, Auchan Retail Polska
Michał Pieprzny, Co-chairman of the RetailTec Congress, Country Leader, SAS Poland Advisory Board
Beata Podleśna-Gumkowska, Segment Director, Allegro
Łukasz Porażyński, Executive Director for Sales at PKN Orlen
Mirosław Proppé, President of the Management Board, WWF Poland
Prof. Konrad Raczkowski, Director of the World Economy Center, UKSW
Krystyna Radkowska, Chairman of the Board, Polska Izba Żywności Ekologicznej
Dominik Regan, Senior Director, Logistics Applications, Oracle
Barbara Rogala, Climate Journalist, 300GOSPODARKA
Rafał Rudzki, ESG Director, Żabka Polska
Anita Ryng, Country Communication Manager / Communication Director, IKEA Retail Polska
Michał Sacha, Board Member, Marketing, Digital, IT, E-commerce and Financial Services Director, Carrefour Polska
Piotr Sędziak, Member of the Polish Association of Logistics and Purchasing Managers, PSME Expert, Managing Director, Orbico Supply
Michał Siwek, Director of the International Food & Agri Hub Department of the BNP Paribas Group
Aleksander Skałka, Marketing Automation Strategy Director, Salesmanago
Andrzej Skubiszewski, President of the Management Board, JTI
Kamil Smuga, VP & CTO, Limitless Technologies
Olga Sobieraj, Business and marketing consultant
Barbara Sobkowiak, Data Science Manager, Britenet
Mateusz Staniszewski, Director of the Distribution Center – Proxy, Kaufland Polska
Tomasz Starczynowski, Commercial Director, Board Member, OBI
Michalina Szczepańska, Editor-in-Chief of “Handel” Magazine, VFP Communications, VPF
Krzysztof Ślęczka, CG&S Clients Cluster Lead, Accenture
Robert Telus, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Polish Parliament
Karol Tokarczyk, Economic Analyst, Polityka Insight
Łukasz Turczyński, Global Accounts & SME Market Sales Director, Inpost
Jakub Tyczkowski, President of the Management Board, Rekopol
Anna Walkiewicz, Head of Sales, SAS
Wojciech Wieroński, Managing Director Finance, MediaMarktSaturn Polska
Marek Wieteska, CEO, SelfMaker
Włodzimierz Wlaźlak, President of the Management Board, Lidl Polska
Andrzej Wojciechowicz, Sector Expert, FMCG
Przemysław Wójcicki, Global Sales Director, SelfMaker
Karolina Zajdel-Pawlak, Managing Director, NielsenIQ
Marek Złakowski, Digital & Customer Development Director, Jeronimo Martins Polska
Katarzyna Zubrzycka, Head of Merchant and Acquirer CEE, Visa
The full list of speakers is available at https://dystrybucja.pl/en/speakers/
Partners of the 3. Modern Distribution Congress
Strategic Partners: Accenture, Citrix, Demoboost, JTI, Limitlesss Technologies, NielsenIQ
Chmura Krajowa Operator, Saule Technologies, Google Cloud, PFR Portal PPK, Salesforce
SAS, Veritas, VISA
Partners: Britenet, BNP Paribas, dLK Legal, Oracle, Rekopol, Farma Świętokrzyska, Selfmaker, Abak, Profescapital
Main Media Patronage: Comparic
The organizers of the Modern Distribution Congress are the Polish Trade and Distribution Organization, the Modern Distribution Foundation and MMC Polska. More at https://dystrybucja.pl/
We invite you to see the photo report of the 3rd Modern Distribution Congress.
