The founder of Rocket Internet, the German venture capital company behind dozens of online start-ups, warned the retail industry on Thursday that e-commerce and smartphones would mean there will be little future for stores in emerging markets.Oliver Samwer, 40, told the annual summit of the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), an industry network of some 400 retailers and big brands from 70 countries, that many of them risked being left behind as the growth of e-commerce accelerates.
“You only have stores because there was no Internet, but that does not mean there is a right to have a store,” Samwer said, adding that traditional retailers focused too much on older shoppers and not enough on smartphone-savvy youngsters.
“What you fear will come much faster,” he warned.
Rocket Internet is bidding to create the largest internet empire outside the United States and China, seeking to replicate the success of Amazon and Alibaba in markets the US and Chinese e-commerce groups have yet to dominate, such as Africa, Latin America and Russia.
