Theresa Schleicher is one of the outstanding experts and thought leaders in the field of business and retail in the DACH region.

With her extensive experience as a former manager of the Hirschen Group and her background as a Data Scientist, she offers exclusive consulting services as a Retail Advisor for DAX corporations in Asia and Europe, including the VW Group and leading retail companies. She also plays a crucial role as a pioneer and advisor for the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection in the development of forward-looking retail strategies.

In her position as a leading expert on the future of trade, including at the renowned Zukunftsinstitut, Theresa Schleicher publishes annual forecasts for upcoming developments in the trade sector and presents them to the public.

As a keynote speaker and data scientist on stage, Theresa Schleicher provides fascinating insights into a sustainable, data-driven global economy. She also acts as an investor for innovative retail start-ups, focusing on economic resilience in fast-moving markets and the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence to promote more environmentally and economically sustainable trade.

Theresa Schleicher lecture topics

• Gen Y, Z & Alpha – The Consumer Behavior of the Next Generations
• Green Growth: how do we succeed in the economy of the future?
• AI, Blockchain and Green IT – the new technologies for a better economy.
• Regenerative Business Models – More Give than Take
• Circular economy in retail and circular mindsets – Regenerative Retail
• The future of key retail industries: Food retail, fashion, DIY
• Local Exotics in the Skilled Labor Market – Diversity and Diversity Enrich the Retail Labor Market

Since 2015, Theresa Schleicher has published the most defining retail trends annually in the Zukunftsinstitut’s Retail Report, whose findings are regularly published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, WELT, Spiegel, ZEIT and Handelsblatt.

She has been a jury member of many retail innovation awards since 2015 and is a driver of new inner city concepts with retailers, politicians, associations and urban developers.

Gen Y, Z & Alpha – The consumer behavior of the next generations
By 2040, 65% of the customers of the new generations will want brands that do not even exist today.
A look at who will consume and how they will consume in the next 15 years.

Green Growth: how do we manage the economy of the future?
Today’s economy still has to get used to the fact that the most sustainable consumption is the one that isn’t even there But how can industry and retail groups act and operate responsibly and still be economically successful in the coming decades? When will prosperity and competition reach their limits? And what are the key business models of the future?

AI, blockchain and green IT – the new technologies for doing business better.
Beware this is not an exercise. In fact, technology is about substantial futures. 2035 in which we in business have new customer:inside demands, financial crises as well as planetary issues to solve. This is what technology in business and commerce is all about today and 15 years from now. What will blockchain look like in the future, what challenges await us in loyalty, payment, service and the supply chain, and what regulations and energy measures will we have to consider in the next 10 years?

The annual Retail Vision: The key retail trends and developments in the next years (new and updated annually)
Retail is constantly on the move, not least because, closer than any other industry, it is directly in touch with people and their emotional state and with our social developments. This makes it all the more important to know and understand the developments, trends and opportunities in retail. As one of the most renowned futurologists in retail, Theresa Schleicher presents every year, the new consumer:inside demands, technological trends and key upcoming market developments and innovations for the coming years in retail.

Inner city 2040: The city and retail concepts in the world to come
Imagine living in a world where the sea level has risen by two metres and where billions of people no longer have access to drinking water. In a world where we are 16 times more likely to have to deal with wildfires and where every degree of global warming means 10 per cent fewer crops. Let us further imagine that we need new urban concepts, that cities are reinventing themselves in the deep desert. That by 2040, 70% of the world’s population will be based in cities and yet consumption has never been so local and interconnected. In the next few years we will already see a lot of completely new inner cities, of an emerging country, of sensory technologies and new platform concepts to creatively used spaces. With all the changes, it seems almost strange that retail still has the same future concepts in mind as it has for the last 5 years. A talk on why you need a different perspective on the future world and context to be ahead.

LEH 2030: The consumer requirements for the future players in food retailing
Food retailing is at a key juncture for its future. What we are facing are scarce resources and a shortage of skilled workers, lower profits and pressure from customers to become cheaper – and all of this in conflict with the issues of sustainability, health and responsibility. Where will it lead to if local organic products in future, for reasons of responsibility alone, are allowed to be a fair and democratising, no longer an exclusive and expensive segment, if renunciation lies in processes instead of consumption, if department stores and supermarkets can redefine advice and humanity and regional producers can sell themselves. A look at the new retail worlds, the new players from the organic market of the future to the future concept of discount.

Challenging the new paradigm shift in the fashion industry 2030 
Fashion’s most urgent task is to challenge the status quo. The fashion industry has been slowed down by the global pandemic and further affected by inflation. What worked before no longer works. In which, as in every crisis, lie great opportunities. A lecture on the paradigm shift of the post-growth era and the influence of the trends individualisation, neo-ecology, technology and urbanisation, significant trends in retail (New Local, Retailverse, Services of the Future, Urban Life). And the shift from fast fashion to slow and from slow to fast.

Theresa Schleicher works as a retail advisor with the leading groups in Germany to shape the retail landscape. In addition to retail companies, this includes retail-driven corporations such as brands of the VW Group. She is a former strategy director and manager in the Hirschen Group, the 3rd largest creative and consulting network in Germany.

Theresa Schleicher is one of the most renowned experts on the future of retail.