Hans Carpels, President, Euronics International

Hans Carpels, President, Euronics International

We asked Mr Carpels where he sees the future of omnichannel sales heading:

“Difficult to say. Companies with existing brick & mortar stores are limiting their floor-space in order to optimise the choice of products and their inventory. They channel sales through their online operation of the long tail. On the other hand, most of them invest in a better customer experience in the store itself, creating more space and a friendlier approach. It is foreseeable that the same trend (enhanced customer experience) will be offered in the online offer as well. Some “pure players” are already going that road.

I expect a certain influence to come from stakeholders who object to the big impact on transportation, environment and mobility from having every single package delivered, let alone remarks of physical stores vanishing from the city centre. Much will depend of the quality of distribution and the embrace by the classical distribution channels of the perfect omnichannel experience. Will a shop floor staff member accept without any negative remark that a consumer comes into a store and drops off the product which was purchased online? An acceptable guess – and a safe one – would be that those countries which are still below the 20% online penetration will grow to that level rapidly.”