BERLIN — As the World Retail Congress kicked off today, the conference released its first survey, pointing to marked differences between developed economies and fast-growing ones in regards to strategies, expectations and predictions of growth.
Researchers for the WRC Global Retail Index Report spoke with 100 international C-level executives from retailers with an annual sales of more than $1 billion; 60 percent of those surveyed were chairman, chief executive officer, president or managing director of their firm.
Consumer confidence perceptions for retailers in Western Europe, North America and Australia dipped into the negative numbers, while Asian retailers were the most optimistic, followed by South America and the Middle East.
Retailers in these emerging economies are expecting short-term growth in the next 12 months, while their peers in more developed economic regions hold more hope in the medium to long term.
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While online is key for mature markets, emerging markets are still developing their retail capacities, betting primarily on store growth and brick and mortar presence. Notably, the biggest priority for Asian companies was recruiting employees and training them in the skills needed for modern retailing.
China was identified as the most promising growth territory; across the sample, retailers anticipate that their sales in the country will double over the next three years to 4 percent from 2 percent. At the same time, sales to Western Europe will likely drop from 33 to 28 percent, those surveyed said.
The WRC report did point to some overall positive vibes — respondents forecast a strong return for global retail sales by 2013.