Berlinda Nadarajan

The world’s largest food and beverage company is growing its coffee business, and not just through its recent $7.15 billion licensing deal with Starbucks. Nestlé is also brewing up digital initiatives to transform its entire business from bean to cup, starting with sourcing and warehousing, right up to point of sales.

Ongoing digital transformation has helped leading German publisher Axel Springer become one of Europe’s largest media companies, with almost three-quarters of revenue coming from digital channels.

“Only 10 years ago, just 1% of Axel Springer’s revenue and profits could be attributed to digital,” said Dr. Andreas Wiele, member of the board and president of classified media at Axel Springer. “Today, more than 65% of our revenue and more than 80% of our profits are digital.”

To succeed in e-commerce, look for new ways to serve basic needs - David Mattin from TrendWatching told about 200 digital professionals at the Handelskraft conference in Munich, Germany. A seemingly simple statement, but as the lead trend spotter went on to show, innovation is about how we deal with emerging expectations. Look at how Uber has led us to expect one-touch service for getting from point A to B.

Mattin outlined four trends in e-commerce in his lively talk. Here they are in the order that the audience rated as important for their businesses.