Switching to digital

The June meeting, which was led by Ewa Andrzejewska, the editor-in-chief of ‘Eurobuild Central & Eastern Europe’ at the Regent Hotel in Warsaw, started with a discussion between experts on the impact of the retail sales tax on the retail and logistics market. The panellists included Piotr Szfarz of Dentons (the moderator), Maria Andrzej Faliński of the Polish Trade and Distribution Organisation and Aleksy Miarkowski of the Centre of Analysis of the Jagiellonian Club, agreed that the introduction of such a burden is controversial and raises many questions, such as over the equal treatment of all business entities. Even though the exchange of opinions came thick and fast, there was the recurring issue of whether there was anything concrete to discuss since this governmental proposal has recently been absent in politicians’ statements, leaving the fate of the tax open to question. However, such confusion does not create favourable conditions for business development, particularly considering the fact that the physical shop segment is increasingly being gnawed away by on-line retail. “The e-commerce sector has been growing at a rate of app. 20 pct per year. However, looking at it in terms of its share in the GDP, e-commerce contributes around 5 pct of the total growth. I think that maintaining the development pace of the sector at around 17–20 pct is possible,” emphasised Łukasz Kiczma of eCommerce Poland, who presented a report on the growth of the e-commerce market in Poland. However, he is not painting a black scenario for shopping centres in Poland, “because consumers still want to visit them but developers building new centres and owners should learn to meet the needs and fulfil the requirements of the modern ‘digitalised’ consumer,” believes Łukasz Kiczma.

The experts present at the discussion on the demand for warehouse space generated by e-commerce chains/companies and logistics operators were also convinced that we are destined to succeed. Why? “Firstly because of Poland’s excellent geographical location in Europe, ideal for servicing not only its large local market but also neighbouring countries,” argued Tomasz Mika of JLL; while Maciej Madejak of Goodman added that e-commerce focuses on human resources, so before opening a logistics centre an investor always looks at the local unemployment rate and the average salary level. A discussion moderated by Katarzyna Pyś-Fabiańczyk of BNP Paribas Real Estate featured a logistics operator discussing the issue of rent rates and the length of leases. “Five-year leases could be a barrier for e-commerce. Firstly, companies from this sector do not have a long history but they have been experiencing dynamic growth – starting out from small premises, a few months later they are leasing a few thousand square metres. This requires great flexibility,” emphasises Zbigniew Gawęda of Fiege. Do retail chains or e-commerce companies (sometimes it is difficult to separate the two business types, as one can operate in both fields) have special requirements when it comes to warehouse space? Tomasz Mika mentioned the need for creating a mezzanine for the large number of small parcels, as well as improved infrastructure allowing for the increased use of electricity needed in automated facilities. All this was said in the introduction to another panel moderated by Alicja Kostecka of ‘Eurologistics’: it is crucial to adapt the premises to the requirements of e-commerce. On top of adding to the height of the warehouse, Marek Dobrzycki of Panattoni Europe added that there has to be suitable air-conditioning to provide comfortable working conditions for the staff. Tomasz Lubowiecki of 7R Logistic concluded that there are many such ideas and amenities to choose from: the sky is the limit, but on just one condition – that the tenant is prepared to accept higher rent charges to help cover the investment needed. After the coffee break, which those attending had waited three hours for (since 9 am), it was time to discuss how long customers are prepared to wait for the delivery of the goods they have ordered. Adam Tomczak of X-press Couriers repeated an old but still valid saying: the appetite comes with the eating: just ten years ago customers were prepared to wait even as much as a week for their goods, but now expect delivery in a mere 4–6 hours. The logistics and warehouse sector has to face this challenge. In order to successfully serve an impatient consumer, you need warehouses near to them, preferably within the city limits – and this was the main topic of the next discussion. The development potential of small business unit facilities was explored by Piotr Skoroszewski of Sharman Church (the moderator), Waldemar Olejnik of Segro, Paweł Sapek of Prologis and Michał Błoński of Damco. Artur Olejniczak of the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing was the moderator of the next discussion, which was entitled ‘Together or Separately’. The panel, which included Przemysław Klich of Arvato and Krzysztof Wieczorek of Cursor, among others, took the audience on a journey to a futuristic world populated by robots. In their discussion of logistics models for online stores it turned out that IT specialists are the key ingredient in the recipe for their success. Monika Hapter of DB Schenker admitted that they sometimes employ their knowledge of start-ups, where it is the proverbial 15-year-old whizz kid that is often the quickest to pick up on the latest trends. Such people do not remember a world without online shopping. And while we are on the subject, the speakers of the discussion entitled ‘Cross-border On-line Sales’ (Tatiana Spencer, Aspenn Retail Partners; Anna Rak, Trusted Shops; and Piotr Kreft, Fashion House Group) explored the different needs, ranges of goods and approaches to operating virtual shops in various counties in Europe. These experts emphasised that the reports of the death of the shopping centre were exaggerated and somewhat premature, but to survive they still need to learn to combine two worlds: the virtual and real. What should be the right way to treat shops in shopping centres: as places for shopping or as showrooms? Can goods ordered online, collected and paid for in shopping centres generate the required turnover for tenants? Robert Szczepanek of Causa Finita, Renata Kusznierska of Cushman & Wakefield, Michał Bogaczyński of AEW Europe and Emil Piszczorowicz of Surge Cloud navigated this tricky topic during the panel. And how to attract customers to shopping centres, keep them and persuade them to buy things? Is technological innovation enough, wondered another group of experts invited by ‘Eurobuild’: Marta Usielska of CBRE (the moderator), Emil Piszczorowicz of Surge Cloud, Wojciech Grendziński of IMS Sensory Media and Adrian Zawadzki of Metro Properties.The latter reminded us that new technology appears every few years or even months, it then seems to be a great success (e.g. beacons), only to be completely forgotten about just a few months later. Wojciech Grendziński emphasised that we should keep a cool head and remember that human beings are sensual animals who use all their senses and want things to be pleasant. Winning customers’ loyalty is a hard job these days – and this last topic was covered by Roman Baluta of Orba (the moderator), Lidia Piekarska of Beyond PR, Andrzej Jarosz of Mayland and Łukasz Stebelski of EStore-Media.com, bringing the meeting to a close.