Senior Vice President of Digital and E-commerce at Coop Danmark

Mr. Morten Viktor

What do you feel are some of the more pertinent trends right now as it pertains to e-commerce in 2022?

I was at a conference in New York city, this January, and combining the experience from there, also the experience with our colleagues here in Europe and in the Danish market, a lot of the trends in E-commerce right now is around last mile delivery. An old favorite and evergreen, so to speak last mile delivery, and the questions surrounding it. Like how do you make it efficient, or to what extent should we employ self-driving units, or when are the drones coming, or how should we utilize low-income labor as in the delivery personnel. This last mile delivery discussion then leads to the discussion of quick commerce, which is another key topic in E-commerce sector. Quick commerce is on the up and up, as there are many players providing home delivery of groceries within 10 minutes now. For Europe, quick commerce poses a challenge in terms of wages, salaries, and unionizing labor force. In Denmark, for instance, our tax authorities have just come down with a verdict with regards to employment schemes where the delivery personnel who are freelancers working on any platform, are to be considered as employees. So rules about vacation, pension, et cetera, actually applies. Nonetheless, there are many other issues with quick commerce, consumers growing even more impatient and convenience has become king. Now, convenience is altogether a separate aspect which is based on five major pillars, specifically in Denmark, and also in Europe. The first pillar is assortment, you need a large assortment, whether it’s in the non-food or groceries. The second pillar of convenience is price. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the cheapest, but it needs to have a fair pricing scheme. Especially, if you have a loyalty program, et cetera, you don’t necessarily have to be the best price for every item, but overall it needs to be a fair pricing. Then the third pillar is delivery, for example, I want to pick baskets for my apartment, a big basket of maybe $200, because we’re actually having a dinner guests tonight. That kind of full basket order size is not being serviced by quick commerce. But for instance, sometimes I just need a pizza or some ketchup, and a bottle of champagne, then quick commerce is very applicable. The next and the fourth pillar is user experience and it is that area of E-commerce which is majorly being influenced by the OTT platforms and other digital services. So the thresholds of great user experiences is not being set by E-commerce, but perhaps by other industries that deliver a great user experience, that eventually influences us in E-commerce. The last and fifth pillar is environmental footprints, transparency, workforce, labor conditions, et cetera. You could call it the CSR track or the environmental track, or the union track, We call it transparency. This entails the need to have good working conditions for our employees, need to have a low CO2 footprint in delivering your home groceries or whatever you’re buying online. This pillar is more outspoken in Europe than it is in the US. Another thing in terms of groceries is the self checkout. It’s particularly not e-commerce but it ties together with omni-channel. So, that’s one of the main strengths as well in E-commerce, omni-channel. One of the leading Ecommerce have announced that they are building hundreds of physical grocery stores, because a pure E-commerce player within groceries is not the way forward. This is because servicing a whole nation from far away dock stores that does not make the cut in terms of online groceries. It works for non-food deliveries, as it has so far. In groceries, it needs to have the picking station close to the consumer. This is where the brick and mortar stores play an important role combining with an E-commerce effort. The belief amongst all of us is that the winning model going forward is some sort of omni-channel, whether it be in non-food or especially in groceries. Also in terms of technology development, especially robotics and AI are two main focuses, as they making the stores more efficient, but even more importantly, help in personalization.

"The pandemic has brought in a new normal for people, and they have opened their eyes to online groceries and E-commerce"

Can you describe any particular predictions that you may have about where e-commerce is headed in the next 12 to 18 months?

After the Covid-19 hit, there is a new normal now, and the new normal is that many more people have opened their eyes to online groceries. So the groceries within E-commerce, it has been even predictions from all the eminent consultancies, that we’ve just reached the start of years ahead. So, it’s here to stay and it’s growing, and E-commerce is taking all the growth out of retail.

Any advice that you’d like to impart or any insights that you’d like to provide to other professionals who are in same field as yours?

I would suggest to my fellow E-commerce, make the user experience personal and, make it special and a delight. The two main pillars of all retailing has always been make it special and make it all about the consumer. As for our CIOs that are now in charge of the E-commerce, it’s all about agility and trial and error. As this is not a waterfall world, this is an agile world.  consumer. As for our CIOs that are now in charge of the E-commerce, it’s all about agility and trial and error. As this is not a waterfall world, this is an agile world.