Nationwide Marketing Group CEO Tom Hickman will be a featured participant in an upcoming retail trends panel at IFA 2023 in Berlin, Germany, on September 1 at 4:25 p.m. (GMT+2) / 10:25 a.m. ET. Featured alongside three other speakers, Hickman will have the opportunity to represent the North American independent retail channel on a global stage as part of the IFA Leaders Summit.
“We’ve seen our members do some incredible things to evolve and adapt over the past few years in a chaotic market,” Hickman says. “Our purpose as an organization is to shine a spotlight on their successes. And I can’t think of a better platform to talk about our independent retail channel than the global one provided by IFA.”
The panel, “Reimagining Customer Retail: The New Normal in Shopping and Spending Habits,” will discuss how the consumer shopping journey has changed drastically over the past few years and what retailers are doing to adapt to their new behaviors. Hickman will appear alongside panel moderator Michael McLaughlin, global head of retail for GfK, and co-panelists Lisa Lopuck, co-founder and CEO of ShareGallery.com, and Bart van der Vis, director of Coolblue Germany.
“We are absolutely delighted to have Tom at IFA Berlin this year,” says Oliver Merlin, managing director of IFA. “As the CEO of Nationwide Marketing Group, Tom’s insights will prove invaluable for our many customers seeking to gain a foothold in the U.S. market. It will be great to have him on stage at IFA Berlin’s Leaders Summit, where he will be part of our ‘Future of Retail’ panel. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Nationwide.”
For nearly 100 years, IFA has been at the forefront of innovation in the home appliance and consumer electronics industries. Hosted on the expansive Messe Berlin exhibit grounds, IFA regularly draws over 150,000 trade visitors each year from more than 130 different countries. More than 2,000 brands and manufacturers leverage the event each year by bringing their entire product portfolios and filling massive booths and entire buildings. The campus features 27 different halls and multifunction buildings that collectively provide more than 2 million square feet in exhibit space.
IFA itself has a rich history as an event. In 1930, Albert Einstein was the opening keynote for the seventh edition of the show. The first color TV signal was delivered at IFA in 1967. HDTV debuted at IFA in 1985. Home appliances were added to the mix in 2008. And at IFA in 2018, the first market-ready 8K TVs were on display.
IFA 2023 will take place September 1-5, 2023. In addition to his participation in the Leaders Summit panel, Hickman, along with Doug Wrede, senior vice president of merchandising; Lee McDonald, vice president of home appliances; and David Watt, senior director of consumer electronics; will have the opportunity to explore the IFA exhibit halls and connect with a number of key global vendor partners at the show. Also, in advance of the Berlin event, the IFA team will be in Nashville to experience firsthand the excitement of Nationwide Marketing Group’s PrimeTime show.
