APLF launched the first Global Foot Retail Conference

Standing Room only at inaugural Conference

There were over 100 registrations before the conference started and the Leather Forum, where the conference was held, was “standing room only” as the conference got underway at 10am.

The GFRC with its by-line The Annual Meeting Place for the Footwear Retail Industry has filled a gap in the footwear conference calendar since retail is very rarely mentioned at current events where production tends to dominate the conference agenda along with profiles of major manufacturing countries and the outlook for the industry.

The uncertain economic and political backdrop ruling at the time of the GRFC has led changes and fresh challenges in the retail environment. For example, a brand can have excellent designers, good quality manufacturing, latest styles and colours and have its target market well-defined and marketing strategy in place; but if the final interface with the consumer is not taken care of, then the new model or collection of a brand could be doomed to failure with the consequential loss of time and investment.

Conference Structure

The aim of the Organisers was to encourage attendees to participate in the post presentation discussions after the keynote speaker of each panel had posed certain questions to the respective panellists. With an interactive discussion and presentation of ideas not only from the expert panellists but also the attendees, it encouraged an interchange of views between the panel and the participants and even amongst the participants themselves with the objective of enriching the discussion of each topic.
The GRFC was conceived so that attendees could learn about what is happening at retail level especially in the world’s two biggest markets – the USA and China and these presentations were then followed by what could be the world’s biggest marketplace in just a few years time – the exponentially expanding e-commerce marketplace.

The Panels

Attendees were treated to three panels – one on the US market with reference to other major markets; the second presentation was the China Panel and the third was a panel with e-commerce specialists explaining the intricacies of this type of “multi-channel retailing”.

      

 

Press release
APLF
05 May 2015