On Thursday evening, ahead of the official opening of the show, the buying group invited its members from EP:Fachhandel and other sales divisions, as well as MEDIMAX franchise partners, to its own IFA reception for the first time. “Together, we used the evening to get into the spirit of the days ahead and to engage in direct dialogue with one another. Especially now, with so much happening across the industry, the world and within our buying group, we want to take every opportunity to speak to people in person and receive direct feedback,” explains ElectronicPartner Managing Director Patrick van Tent.
Another first was the joint presence in the IFA Retail Zone at the CityCube, together with Expert and Euronics. This trade fair presence underlines the importance of co-operating independent retailers in today’s industry landscape, as well as shared interests – for example, when it comes to the right to repair.
The Service Alliance’s press conference on 4 September was another visible sign of the strong co-operation within the industry. Together, the buying groups EK Retail, Telering, Euronics and ElectronicPartner presented future priorities and the first concrete steps. “We now need to create the right conditions for service to be recognised and valued by customers as a significant differentiator for specialist retailers. This requires a joint voice, as well as a high-performance network, qualified professionals and reliable processes,” says Matthias Assmann. For this reason, the Service Alliance has brought strong partners on board: Weyrauch Repair, Krix Academy, ASWO and Wertgarantie, Küsters Kaffeeservice, smartsecur and mySWOOP.
One of the most prominent trends at this year’s IFA was robotics. ElectronicPartner has also entered this business segment and, together with Terra Robotics, showcased a range of solutions on its own stand. At the same time, the first pilot area featuring three robots went live at MEDIMAX Berlin-Pankow: an autonomous cleaning robot for larger areas, a reception robot for the hospitality, hotel and retail sectors, and an intelligent sweeping robot for industrial and commercial applications. “We are convinced that specialist retailers will play an important role in introducing customers to this new product category and in providing long-term support for the devices. Innovations must not only be available – they also need to be explained clearly, put into context and translated into tangible benefits for consumers,” explains Matthias Assmann.
IFA therefore remains a key meeting place for manufacturers, retailers and other industry stakeholders. For ElectronicPartner, it provides an opportunity to identify trends at an early stage, strengthen relationships and work with partners to assess developments in specialist retail. The joint presence of the buying groups and the dialogue within the Service Alliance demonstrate one thing above all: the future of specialist retail will not be shaped through isolation, but through collaboration and dialogue.
