Foreword to the ERA Global News, Autumn 2019

Dear ERA Global Members, Dear Readers of the ERA Global Newsletter Autumn Edition 2019

I cannot believe it. We have the first rainy and colder days, the days are getting shorter and Christmas is around the corner. At least I feel fortunate as I have not yet seen any chocolate Santa or any other seasonal decoration.

But before the year adjourns and we do our yearly resumé and celebrate this year´s achievements, a lot of events lay ahead. Canton, San Diego, Shanghai… and last but not least the end of the Business year.

We are in the middle of starting the 2020 Amsterdam Conference and we are in constant exchange with Chicago so that our first event there will be a success. We have also started to work on the next Annual Membership Meeting which for the first time will take place in Frankfurt so you can combine your trip with a visit to Ambiente.

After the summer conference in Budapest, we realised that we now have members from all five continents, so not only do we carry the name, we truly are ERA Global. Also with our newly founded APAC Chapter and all the new events ahead, we knew that just renaming ourselves ERA Global would not be enough.  An important step to enable us to deliver all the planned and promised services was to restructure ourselves. To this effect, we have recently employed our first full staff member, Ionela Croitoresco, to be in charge of PR, Marketing and Events. All our other processes are also under constant review. Regarding our new positioning and rebranding, as you might have noticed, we have a new website – www.era-global.org is on its way. Please also have a look at the commitments made by our APAC Chair, Jonathan Gregory.

The election of the European Parliament brings us a new Commission and a new political agenda, so maybe this time our public affairs bulletin is not only for connaisseurs and regulation afficionados.  The composition will affect our position on platform liability as well as bring potential new regulation in data protection.

As usual you will also find the latest news of our industry and exciting interviews.

So please enjoy the latest edition of this newsletter. We are convinced that you will find interesting articles and even more inspiration. We would like to gratefully thank all our contributors to this newsletter.

Best regards,

Dr. Julian Oberndörfer

Chief Executive Officer/ Administrateur Delegués

Electronic Retailing Association Europe