Meet Vincent Panneels, the driving force behind 20/CENT Retail, transformed a hobby into a thriving platform for industry professionals. Starting in 2014 as a personal project alongside his agency work, Vincent shifted focus to fully develop the platform.

1. Please tell us more about the pathway of 20/CENT Retail. 

It started as both a hobby and a calling card in 2014 when i was active as an agent. But quickly the audience grew and requests for partnerships started to show up in my mailbox. Therefore, I took the choice to stop all agency activities and focus on developing a platform.  

Today 20/CENT RETAIL  is a true platform for professionals active in retail. Through articles and podcasts, you can discover different retail concepts, event reports, but also companies, products or innovative ideas. 
The audience follows 20/CENT RETAIL because of the innovative approach, as the articles are not simply reported but also commented and analyzed. This is why many people call 20/CENT the retail influencer.  

The audience is composed of retailers, marketing experts, brand and product managers, buyers from the retail industry (food and non-food), shop managers, shop owners, chain managers, …(Audience 90000 monthly) 

2. What is the greatest success 20/CENT has achieved so far in your field of competence?

One step at a time is the idea behind the development of the platform. There are a few accomplishments and milestones that have been reached. From just articles, now podcasts are alos published, a subscription platform has been added and more. But also, one of the greatest successes is to not be just a local platform. The audience of 20/CENT Retail keeps growing internationally. Listeners and readers come from various countries, France, Germany, UK, the Nordic countries, the USA, and many more.   

3. What do you see as an added value of project START in relation to the existing training material for the internationalization of SMEs?

It is quite interesting for SME’s to have a starting point and a program that helps them with clear and useful information. When in the search for internationalisation, many sme’s lose energy, focus, and time if they disperse their efforts in all direction. The START project is definitely a useful tool.  

4. In what way do you think the collaboration between project START and 20/CENT Retail can beneficiate in the present and in the future? 

The project START will get enhanced and richer in the future by collaborating with platforms such as 20/CENT (and others of course). Through enhancing its content and features, START will remain a powerful evloving tool for SME’s.