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Paris, Monday 25 November 2019 – World retail digital technology leader SES-imagotag today announced the formation of an International Advisory Board to promote a 21st century approach to Global Retail Sustainability, Transparency and Consumer Protection.
Commerce: the imperative for change. Retail is the world’s largest industry representing over 20% of global GDP and employment. It is among human activities with the highest impact on our societies and faced with critical sustainability challenges: food safety is a growing concern, food waste is exploding, as well as retail’s carbon footprint, driven by an unsustainable upward trend of logistics and packaging needs. Today, consumers strongly express aspirations to a new and Positive Commerce, omnichannel, sustainable, transparent, safe, fair and respectful of personal data.
Yet retail is an industry under pressure, due to flat consumption, increasing labor cost, price wars, online competition and shifting consumer behaviors. The past few years have seen an acceleration of stores closings and bankruptcies, with more looming on the horizon. Retailers’ market capitalizations are under pressure, making it difficult for them to access the capital resources necessary to achieve their digital and omnichannel transformation.
Against this backdrop, there is a major need to put technology at the service of retail and consumers.
Retailers can now harness the power of IOT, Cloud and AI technologies to turn physical stores into high value digital assets, more automated, data driven and connected to consumers and suppliers, able to provide better service and information, frictionless, ubiquitous and personalized shopping experience, while ensuring utmost data integrity and personal data privacy. Retail digitization will also produce real-time accurate instore data analytics, opening an era of enhanced collaboration between suppliers and retailers to improve the overall chain’s efficiency, transparency, safety and sustainability.
“As a global leading retail technology provider, SES-imagotag’s responsibility is not only to help retailers achieve their digital transformation. It’s also about creating long term value for consumers, brands, workers and communities; helping retailers implement higher traceability and data integrity, enter into new collaboration with suppliers to optimize the end-to-end value chain and steer the transition towards higher food safety, reduced waste and a more sustainable agriculture. Fixing retail with technology is a source of many positive impacts on our lives, jobs and societies, and I am delighted and proud that exceptional leaders are joining our Advisory Board to support and guide us in enabling this Positive Retail revolution.” said Thierry Gadou, Chairman and CEO of SES-imagotag.
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of the SES-imagotag International Advisory Board, declared: “There is a great challenge for the physical retail to adapt rapidly to the new digital world and SES-imagotag is in a privileged position to not only help them in this journey, but at the same time for CPG companies to profit more from the 4th Industrial Revolution.”
The constituting members of the SES-imagotag International Advisory Board are:
- Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (Chairman), Chairman Emeritus and former Chairman & CEO of Nestlé, Vice-Chairman of the World Economic Forum; Member of the Board of Liberty F1 and Salt. Former Member of the Boards of Roche, L’Oréal, Crédit Suisse and Exxon Mobile.
- Dr. Viviane Reding, Member of the European Parliament, three-time European Commissioner and former Vice-President of the European Commission who wrote the Constitutional right to data protection into European law;
- Franck Moison, former Vice Chairman of Colgate Palmolive with a demonstrated history of working in the consumer goods industry; Member of the Boards of UPS, Hanes Brands, Somalogic, School of Business of Georgetown University and EDHEC (France)
- Yanshun Chen, Chairman and CEO of BOE Technology, the world leader in semi-conductor displays and IoT solutions for the manufacturing, retail, energy and healthcare sectors.
- Dr. h.c. Candace Johnson, Serial satellite entrepreneur, Co-Founder of SES, Loral-Teleport Europe, Europe Online, Pacific/OWNSAT, Vice-Chair NorthStar Earth and Space, Chair of Seraphim Space Advisory Board, Executive Board Member of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce). Founding President of the German Association of Private Telecom Operators (VATM) and of the Global Telecom Women’s Network (GTWN). Co-founder of the Global Board Ready Women initiative (GBRW). Former president of EBAN (European Business Angels Network).
- Hélène Ploix, Chairman of the Investment Committee of Pechel Industries; Non-Executive Chairman of Genesis Emerging Markets Fund Ltd, a company listed on the LSE; Former Special Advisor to the French Prime Minister and Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and The World Bank; Former deputy-CEO of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations; Former member of the Boards of BNP Paribas, Publicis and Lafarge. Member of the French Technology Academy
The role of the international advisory board will be to advise SES-imagotag’s management and shareholders on trends affecting their strategy and position for doing business in the global economy and society; Monitor the corporation’s implementation of global initiatives contributing to Retail Sustainability, Transparency and Consumer Protection, particularly reflecting the world’s needs for a stronger collaboration across the entire CPG-Retail value chain to maximize synergies and overall positive impact; Inspire a 21st century approach to data protection, privacy and security, in an environment which expands the rights of individuals to control how their personal data are collected and processed.
