GS1 France, an organization at the heart of product information for more than forty years, has teamed up with HEC Paris to create the ‘Digital content for omnichannel’ Chair.
The use of digital tools has transformed the way in which consumers purchase. Today, customers research online before buying a product, they are active members of all distribution channels and they seek access to rich product information wherever it may be. This evolution has encouraged brands and retailers to constantly reinvent themselves and innovate.
Following on from multi-channel and, subsequently, cross-channel strategies, we have entered the age of the omnichannel: a question of combining diverse distribution channels (physical shops, e-commerce, marketplaces, social networks…) into one unique experience. In this ecosystem, data management has become more complex. The product information displayed to consumers has gone multi-media, and it has become a means for a brand to differentiate itself. Brands show imagination and no longer limit themselves to a simple technical description of their products and provide visual, sensory, contextual and personalized data.
This Chair of teaching and research focuses on the concerns of product information in a digitalized and more complex world. The structuring, quality and availability of information dictate how reliably and fluently the manufacturer can convey product information to the final consumer.
The Chair will revolve around three axes during the three next years:
- Entrepreneurship: from September 2018, teams from GSI France will run a mentoring program for startups from the HEC Incubator at Station F.
- Teaching support: innovation experts from GS1 France will share their experiences and oversee the completion of projects with an omnichannel approach to digital product information in collaboration with HEC Paris students from a Digital major and on the Entrepreneurs programme.
- Academic research, with a focus on digital marketing and open data for product information, under the watch of Professor Shirish C. Srivastava, who holds the Chair.
For François Deprey, Executive President of GS1 France: “The quality and richness of product information has become a strategic issue for brands and retailers. In fact, faced with a multitude of products on the market, the digital content / enhanced digital product data seems a key differentiator that allows brands to stand out, increase their value and contribute to a better customer experience. The ‘Digital content for omnichannel’ Chair is an opportunity for GS1 France to reinforce its role as an incubator for the market and to share its entrepreneurial culture .”
Peter Todd, Dean of HEC Paris, is pleased about what this partnership means for the company: “Thanks to this new Chair with GS1 France, HEC Paris is reinforcing once again its academic expertise and its research capabilities in the field of digital innovation, in the name of expanding the business models of tomorrow. This is an axis of research and teaching at the heart of the school’s strategic priorities and our students’ professional ambitions .”
Julie Dobiecki - dobiecki@hec.fr - +33 6 37 39 62 99