The powerful declaration of Ocado chair Lord Stuart Rose sums up how rapidly the retail sector is having to evolve in order to meet the needs of an increasingly demanding customer base.

It is no longer enough to just sell ‘stuff’. Businesses have to offer additional services, combine the best of physical and digital to create seamless shopping experiences, use customer data to drive personalisation and, increasingly, do business with a social purpose.

Those were just some of the key themes to emerge at this year’s World Retail Congress (WRC), as businesses from across the globe came together in Amsterdam to discuss the ‘high velocity retail’ world they are now operating in – and how to succeed within it.