Luncheon

Forces of Change in BC Retail: an overview of trends, conditions and insights.

Venue: Metropolitan Hotel Vancouver (near corner of Howe and West Georgia Streets) 645 Howe Street Vancouver, British Columbia CANADA V6C 2Y9  

David Gray will delve into the emerging trends he is currently following, and how, when and why they will be catalysts for change in BC retailing. This will include a special focus on the “Sustainability” movement in business (the top media-covered trend so far in 2007), with selected results from his landmark Retail Cares study of retail chain executives’ opinions on Corporate Social Responsibility. Vancouver Shopping Centre managers will also learn why David believes:

• the ‘green consumer’ is over-hyped
• bricks-and-mortar retailing is vital in an Internet world
• social networking websites will face a ‘tragedy of the commons’
• landlords and tenants need to consider a co-creation model
• retail innovation depends on strong independent retailers
• why retail must invest in its itself over the next two years
• ..and more

The session will be of importance to any strategically focused shopping centre or retail store decision-maker.

SPEAKER BIO

David Gray has 19 years professional experience helping organizations make better decisions in times of change. Blending fact-based approaches with innovative thinking, he helps retailers and other clients in the experiential B-2-C space understand the forces shaping their markets, and he helps supplier organizations better understand the retail channel. Based in Vancouver, David Gray is a recognized expert on shopper trends and market-facing retail strategies. He has specialized in high impact business intelligence and strategic studies for, and about, the Canadian retail sector for over 13 years. David sits on the national Board of the Qualitative Research Division of the Marketing Research Industry Association, on the Vancouver Economic Development Commission's Pacific Gateway Project Advisory Committee, the BiV Greenspace Editorial Advisory Board, and is an advisor to Impactanation. He writes a regular column in Business in Vancouver on retail and is often quoted in the Canadian media on retail and shopper trends.