A chat on the acceleration of eCommerce with former SVP of Digital Transformation at IKEA

Michael Valdsgaard

Former SVP of Digital Transformation IKEA / Founder and CEO London Dynamics

Hendrik Haas

Regional Vice President

Elastic

The pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world and triggered changes in online shopping behaviours that are likely to have lasting effects. Probably the best example of this was offered by McKinsey, who showed that in the US the equivalent of 10 years’ eCommerce growth happened in around 3 months, and in Europe, according to OECD, retail sales via postal mail or the internet increased 30% in April 2020 compared to April 2019. Retail was already moving online pre-pandemic, but the change was gradual. In 2020 the change became violent, and it’s now a “do or die” issue for most companies.

As a CIO, you play a leading role in your company’s digital transformation to more eCommerce. A strong focus on the customer, customer loyalty, multichannel marketing and, at the same time, transparent cost management are driving factors while transforming. When you make changes to your strategy to accelerate this shift, you need to get a clear understanding of your customers behaviors and needs, of the behaviour of your IT applications and IT stack that supports this shift, and above all a clear understanding of all the business related data that resides in your various applications.

In this webinar, Elastic Regional Vice President Hendrik Haas will discuss these questions and more together with Michael Valdsgaard, former SVP of Digital Transformation at IKEA and digital & business transformation expert with 25+ years’ experience in retail, technology and customer experience.

• Expectation of CIOs as a result of the higher demand around eCommerce?
• Where and how IT can have major positive impacts on their company’s ecommerce strategies?