JTL Connect, our company’s central event, has returned to the stage. After a three-year break and the pandemic, there was certainly some nervousness associated with it: Because everything was going to be bigger and better than before. After almost two weeks, we’re reviewing our trade fair to see if we can now turn this nervousness into a wide grin.
Much new and yet familiar
The day before the fair
For the sixth JTL Connect, we had created some innovations in advance. The JTL Academy Day workshops with our in-house experts started on the day before the trade fair. We offered 450 places, all of which were taken – the thirst for new knowledge and fresh approaches was palpable among all visitors. The individual sessions were therefore well attended, but there was still plenty of time to ask questions or discuss content after the workshops.
During the workshops, the large hall next door was busy being set up – and there was a new feature here too. After five years of holding events in Düsseldorf, we were in Cologne’s XPOST for the first time with JTL Connect. The hall bidder a total of 1,000 square meters more space than our previous location. Perfect, because we also wanted to reach a new high in terms of visitor numbers.
On the same evening, the event continued directly on the historic first floor of XPOST: the PreConnect, our traditional get-together to set the mood for the following day of the trade fair, was sold out after just a few days. The atmosphere was great, especially after the long corona break, and for many it was a reunion with old acquaintances.
The JTL Connect
The trade fair continued to be packed on the day itself. A total of around 2,000 visitors had found their way to Cologne to experience retail in all its forms. They crowded between the exhibitor stands and the Coffee Lounge was also bustling with activity at all times. The many conversations between exhibitors and visitors revolved around trends, best practices and solutions, as well as one or two future collaborations. The video gives you a first impression of the trade fair flair:
Many presentations also met with strong interest from the audience: Whether it was news on JTL-BI, process optimization and workflows or even the creation of a corporate identity – the rows were usually well filled or often even beyond the last seat.
What specific news did JTL Connect 2022 bring with it? As usual, Managing Director Thomas Lisson and various product owners from development revealed exciting outlooks, new products and releases for the coming year in his keynote speech. We present some of these highlights below:
More marketplaces for JTL-eazyAuction
JTL Connect has always been a place for open words and ears. But this time it was also about the openness of our products. The central topic was their uncomplicated adaptability through partner solutions, plugins or REST APIs. JTL veteran Sebastian Bertho took a closer look at the REST API – the “swingers’ club among interfaces” – in his usual cheeky manner (“You can do anything with them, but you should be careful.”).
Our Product Owner Dominic Nelle, on the other hand, devoted himself entirely to the new marketplace interface for JTL-eazyAuction and let a few cats out of the bag: while the integration with Kaufland.de is already in open beta, pilot customers can now also add Otto.de, Voelkner.de, Conrad.de, Cdiscount.com, MediaMarktSaturn and Check24 to their product pages. Enthusiastic listeners wanted to enjoy the new openness directly on site and so our product stand subsequently became the launch pad for conquering the wide world of marketplaces.
Are you also interested in the pilot customer program for our new marketplace connections? Then take a look at the JTL-Customer Centre at > Pilot program.
The new fulfillment exchange from JTL
One of the many innovations that we presented at JTL Connect 2022 is our fulfillment exchange. The principle: You don’t have to search for suitable fulfillment service providers, but suitable fulfillment service providers will find you! You simply send us a request with your individual warehousing and logistics requirements, sit back and relax – and within 72 hours you will have tailor-made fulfillment listings in your mailbox. Then all you have to do is choose one of the applications. It couldn’t be more convenient!
You’re already getting your feet wet and want to place a fulfillment request? Be patient, the fulfillment exchange will be launched soon. We will keep you up to date.
Business Intelligence with JTL
JTL-BI helps you to systematically collect, analyze and present data in your company. At JTL Connect, our developer Martin Kuen reported on the latest status of our in-house business intelligence solution. Among other things, an expandable system has been created in which you can analyze your and our data in combination. You can use our standard evaluations as well as your own or adapt the existing ones to your needs. JTL-BI works completely independently of the JTL-Wawi database on a separate system. The data is automatically mirrored via Worker, so that you have no load on the system with which you manage your daily tasks.
Working in the exhibition hall with JTL Plan&Produce
Our new production solutions JTL-Plan&Produce and JTL-Workbench are already being used by over 250 pilot customers. However, this was the first time that we were able to present them to a public audience – which made us all the prouder of the great interest! Numerous trade fair visitors accepted the slightly longer waiting time at the product stand to get a first-hand impression of the functions and features and to print their personal trade fair jersey.
Of course, many used the small “world premiere” to ask questions – from watches, bicycles and dog toys to food supplements, the interested retailers came from a wide range of industries – another sign of how versatile JTL Plan&Produce is. The usability of the JTL Workbench assistance system impressed the most, as our JTL support team reported: “What the customers really liked was the guided production with JTL Workbench. It allows you to guide employees digitally through each production step using visual aids and descriptions.” Similar to our warehouse management software JTL-WMS, JTL-Workbench is easy to use thanks to its touchscreen and is ideal for production work where every minute counts.
Pick and pack trade fair goodies in the JTL-WMS demo warehouse
The JTL-WMS demo warehouse was also very popular again. Here, Connect visitors were able to pick and pack their trade fair goodies and see for themselves how intuitive and easy our warehouse management software is to use. Even trade fair visitors without picking experience quickly got to grips with the MDE devices and were finished with their picking list in no time. If there were any questions, JTL employees were quickly on hand to help.
The evening on the OCEANDIVA
For the evening, many of the visitors had opted for the after-show party on the Rhine. A shuttle bus took them quickly to the OCEANDIVA’s jetty, where the atmosphere on and below deck quickly became lively. Here, both employees and visitors revived old and new acquaintances over cocktails and a variety of tasty treats. Shortly afterwards, the band “Spirit of Soul” fired up the already cheerful audience with energetic live music.
We say thank you!
In the end, any worries in the run-up to the event regarding the atmosphere, togetherness and the continuation of old highlights were groundless. Because you, the retailers and exhibitors, sponsors and employees, proved that even a three-year break doesn’t dampen your enthusiasm for retail. Quite the opposite – the visitors also seemed to want to top the 5th anniversary of the trade fair in 2019. We would like to say a big thank you for that! It was great to finally get in direct contact with satisfied and critical customers again and to receive immediate feedback. From our point of view, JTL Connect 2022 was a great success!
If you still haven’t had enough of JTL Connect 2022, you’re in for a treat: A detailed recap video with many impressions and sound bites from our event will follow shortly.
