The course “Digital Commerce in B2C and B2B Markets” (Prof. Dirk Morschett) wants to give the students a broad overview and some deep insights into the models and concepts of Digital Commerce, which is a crucial issue for any company in retailing or wholesaling today. Digital Commerce brings dramatic changes and it is highly dynamic. Companies have undergone very dynamic developments in the last years, some made this better, some suffered.
6 Guest Speakers in the Course «Digital Commerce in B2C and B2B Markets»
To give the students very practical insights into Digital Commerce, beyond the theoretical and conceptual contents of the lecture, the Chair has invited high-level experts on this topic to speak about their practical experience and share their knowledge with the students.
In many lectures in this semester, guest speakers were invited and they brought their different perspectives and success to the course. Students appreciated the presentations and in particular the open discussions with those experts. Of course, all guest presentations were done online which did, however, not reduce the quality of the presentations nor the discussion.
Dr. Nicolas Lohr, Alumnus of the Faculty, has founded e-farm.com, an online platform for used farm machinery. Because this presentation was on the intersection of “Digital Commerce” and “Establishing a start-up”, the event was done jointly for the students in the course “Digital Commerce” and those in the course “Entreprenariat” (Prof. Emmanuelle Fauchart). Dr. Lohr presented the story of his company from start to today, he shared his lessons learned and gave insights into his impressive company.
Ann Ström, as Country Digital Manager of IKEA Switzerland, gave a speech on the many digitalisation initiatives that IKEA is implementing and testing globally. The company is working on online retailing but also on different projects to further improve the shopping experience instore. Other initiatives focus on helping the customer to plan his furniture at home and get – e.g. via Augmented Reality – a more realistic picture how the furniture look like in the room of the customer.
As an expert on Digital Commerce in general but in particular on the UK, Prof. Jonathan Reynolds, Director of the Oxford Institute of Retail Management, shared his view on the developments in the UK. The UK is one of the most sophisticated e-commerce markets in the world, far ahead of other European countries. Jonathan Reynolds began with an historic overview on the technological developments of retail companies and he added the current situation, giving examples of successful omnichannel strategies and some consideration of quick commerce – a new breed of start-ups in grocery delivery.
Laurastar, a well-known Swiss brand from the canton of Fribourg, is one of the European market leaders in premium ironing systems. Michael Monney, who is Co-CEO of the company together with his sister, presented the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused for the company and how Laurastar reacted to that. Of course, digital commerce was one way forward in a time when stores were closed. Michael Monney also showed how digitalisation was used throughout the company and he gave some insights into the future strategy and vision. Michael gave a highly interactive presentation, challenging the students and getting involved in discussions for them. company that is one of the market leaders
Dominique Locher was the next speaker and given his multiple activities over the last decade, he had many different topics to talk about. Dominique Locher was a Digital Pioneer with LeShop where is was involved from the beginning. After being Marketing and Sales Director, he later became CEO of the company. After leaving Migros LeShop a few years ago, Dominique was a highly-sought after speaker, consultant and partner across Europe. He helped companies like Edeka in Germany and Ozon in Russia to build up their food online business. Recently, he became an investor and board member of farmy.ch, a fast-growing start-up in the Swiss grocery online market, and an investor and advisor of Luckabox, a “Last Mile Digital Forwarder” that already received awards as one of the most innovative companies. Dominique Locher also described the impressive speed which which he has build up a new start-up in London. Jiffy Groceryis a quick commerce company in the grocery sector and Dominique not only explained their business model but also gave a very interesting conceptualisation of this market. With his insights into so many different business models and companies, Dominique Locher fascinated the students and was a very interesting discussion partner.
Last but not least, the Chair was happy to welcome Lorenz Würgler, Head of E-Commerce, at Coop Bau+Hobby. Lorenz Würgler is another alumnus of our Faculty. Coop B+H is the market leader in Swiss Home Improvement and garden and in this retail sector, online sales have long not been very important but the consumer has still looked for information online before purchasing anything. Thus, an “omnichannel strategy” which links online and offline has become the way forward. Then, during the Covid-19 pandemic, companies that were prepared for an online initiative made impressive sales increases. Until today, the growth in this sector continues and B+H must work constantly on improving its webpage, its online marketing and the linkages between stores and web. Lorenz Würgler gave a detailed insight into the “funnel” and which instruments can be applied at which stage of the sales funnel to attract visitors and to create value for them.
The course “Digital Commerce in B2C and B2B Markets” (Prof. Dirk Morschett) wants to give the students a broad overview and some deep insights into the models and concepts of Digital Commerce, which is a crucial issue for any company in retailing or wholesaling today. Digital Commerce brings dramatic changes and it is highly dynamic. Companies have undergone very dynamic developments in the last years, some made this better, some suffered.