Hosted by SPAR China Partner, SPAR Shandong, the 2019 SPAR International LOGIT Conference came to a close yesterday, following three days of insightful presentation sessions, knowledge sharing and networking. Bringing together 130 participants from 30 SPAR Partners, the event drew widespread attention from local media and was even featured on two Weihai TV news channels.

The 23^rd edition of the annual Conference focused on the central theme of Digital Retail and how SPAR Partners need to optimise their businesses for the modern world, which includes driving successful supply chain collaboration. The retail landscape is changing at an unprecedented rate and with China leading the charge in e-commerce and online retailing, it was a fitting location for this year’s Conference.

In addition to the presentation sessions, which included inspiring talks from guest speakers such as Jeffrey Towson, a private equity investor, university professor and best-selling author on the latest technology trends in Asia, delegates had the opportunity to visit two of SPAR China’s most modern SPAR stores. They were also invited to visit the SPAR Shandong Distribution Centre in Weihai, with key learnings on fresh food and bakery production.

A tradition now at LOGIT, time was taken to recognise excellence within the area of supply chain. This year SPAR Ireland was the recipient of a Retail Systems Excellence Award, recognising their one-stop shop platform for B2B customers.  SPAR UK Partner, Henderson Group, were delighted to take home the Supply Chain Excellence Award for implementing end-to-end supply chain thinking throughout the business. A Special Recognition Award was also presented to SPAR Norway for their new waste reduction initiative.

A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dieter Dornauer, former Logistics Director of SPAR Austria who was instrumental in the development of SPAR China’s Distribution Centres.

The event was officially closed by Tom Rose of SPAR International, who thanked SPAR Shandong and the Chairman of SPAR China, Mr Wang, and CEO Jerome Chevrier for their fantastic hospitality.