Supply chain has become part of the customer promise

Retail transformation is no longer defined by the simple shift from stores to ecommerce. The more important change is the shift from channels to choices.

Customers now move fluidly between digital discovery, store experience, online ordering, rapid collection, home delivery, installation, service and returns. They do not see the operational complexity behind that journey. They only see whether the promise was kept.

For MediaMarktSaturn, this has made supply chain a core part of the customer experience. Fulfilment is no longer an invisible operational layer behind the business. It is one of the ways the retailer delivers trust, convenience and competitive advantage.

From store-centric retail to customer-centric fulfilment

The traditional consumer electronics model was built around product, price, assortment and physical access. Stores were the dominant route to market, supported by supplier-led volumes and high-velocity retail economics.

That model has changed. The future requires a fulfilment network that starts with the customer and works backwards.

In practice, this means building an operating model that can support online and offline journeys without forcing customers into fixed channels. It also means recognising that different products require different fulfilment logic. A cable bought on the way to work, a smartphone explored in-store and a washing machine requiring installation do not belong in the same delivery model.

A customer-centric supply chain has to accommodate all of those needs while remaining scalable, efficient and digitally integrated.

Reliability matters more than speed

One of the strongest implications for the DELIVER community is the distinction between speed and reliability.

Once delivery windows fall below a certain threshold, customers often value certainty more than maximum speed. The question becomes less “how fast can this arrive?” and more “will it arrive exactly when promised, with the right communication, service and outcome?”

That is especially true for bulky items such as televisions, washing machines, dishwashers and built-in appliances. For these categories, the delivery experience is not only about transport. It is about access, installation, communication, service readiness and trust.

This creates a more nuanced view of last mile performance. Speed still matters, but transparency, convenience and execution quality increasingly determine customer satisfaction.

Omnichannel requires a different network design

A true omnichannel model cannot rely on country-by-country thinking or isolated stock pools. It requires a platform approach that can create scale across markets while allowing local flexibility where it genuinely matters.

For MediaMarktSaturn, that means treating much of the operational backbone as a shared European platform, while keeping market-specific flexibility around areas such as payment, delivery options, services and customer touchpoints.

This is where the network design becomes strategic. Vendor gateways reduce complexity for suppliers. Omnichannel distribution centres combine store replenishment and ecommerce fulfilment. Urban hubs bring bulky item delivery and installation closer to the customer. Stores become fulfilment nodes, service points, repair locations and returns destinations.

The result is a network built less around legacy retail structures and more around customer use cases.

Stores are becoming fulfilment assets again

The role of the store is changing, but not disappearing.

In an omnichannel supply chain, stores can become valuable fulfilment and service assets. They can support faster local delivery, repairs, returns, service conversations and neighbourhood-level availability. In dense urban areas, they can help retailers move closer to the customer without building a separate infrastructure from scratch.

This gives legacy retailers a new opportunity. Store networks that once appeared to be a constraint can become a competitive advantage if they are integrated properly into the broader fulfilment model.

For the retail and logistics ecosystem, this reinforces a wider point: physical infrastructure still matters, but its role must be redefined around flexibility, proximity and customer value.

One inventory, one source of truth

A modern fulfilment model depends on shared inventory and trusted data.

Rather than treating stock as belonging to individual channels, markets or stores, the future model depends on a single inventory backbone that can serve demand wherever it appears. This creates the foundation for availability, allocation, planning and fulfilment decisions across the business.

That requires more than traditional retail systems. It demands integrated planning, forecasting, real-time visibility and data discipline. The ambition is not simply to create more dashboards, but to build a common source of truth that teams can use to make faster and better decisions.

For retailers, this is where supply chain transformation becomes organisational transformation. Technology enables the model, but culture, process and governance determine whether it works.

Vendor collaboration is part of the fulfilment model

Customer-centric fulfilment cannot stop at the retailer’s own operations. Vendors and suppliers are part of the same ecosystem, serving the same end customer.

That makes collaboration around planning, replenishment, stock positioning, returns and direct fulfilment increasingly important. The future is not only about buying products from suppliers and moving them through retail channels. It is about integrating networks more intelligently so products can move through the system with less friction, less delay and more visibility.

For the DELIVER Europe 2026 community, this is a critical theme. Retail supply chains are becoming more connected, more collaborative and more platform-led. The strongest models will be those that align retailers, vendors, technology partners and logistics providers around shared customer outcomes.

What this means for retail supply chain leaders

The MediaMarktSaturn transformation highlights a broader direction of travel for European retail.

Supply chains are moving from operational support functions to strategic customer experience platforms. The winners will be those that can combine scale with local flexibility, automation with service quality, and data visibility with practical execution.

The customer expectation is clear: faster where it matters, greener where possible, transparent throughout and reliable every time.

For retail leaders, the challenge is to design networks that can deliver on that expectation without adding unnecessary complexity. For solution providers, the opportunity is to help retailers build the interoperable systems, fulfilment capabilities and service models required to make customer-centric commerce work at scale.