2024 Conference Programme

Gavin Williams will present on the shifting sands in Luxury, and how digital really plays out both in digital and physical retail. Gavin has worked at Harvey Nichols, Farfetch and Creed along with many others in the sector, and has witnessed Luxury’s somewhat reluctant digital journey.

Gavin will be discussing:

• Luxury’s approach to online VIP clienteling

• The challenges of board buy-in for Luxury eCommerce investment

• Margin protection and brand building in online Luxury

Mobile shopping apps were all the rage a few years ago for pureplay eCommerce retailers. Now though the mantel has been grasped by true Omnichannel retail as a method of bridging the gap for customers. 

James Reid will present on the strategy and execution of the All Saints customer shopping experience - covering the following challenges:

• Managing pricing complexity across Physical, online and app channels

• Creating a consistent customer experience

• The benefits and challenges of a walled garden

• Maintaining the App technology

Many retailers have experienced at least 10% annual growth in their online businesses for the last 10+yrs. As online starts to both mature and settle back post Covid, so the challenge of growing consistently comes into sharper focus

Growth executives Maya and Jake will debate the best recipes for predictable growth at a cost that maintains the right margin level for 2024’s economic climate. We will tackle:

• Which paid channels are consistently performing

• Effective analytics in a GA4 world

• Data-driven testing and the opportunities it presents

• Optimising the customer experience for greater repeat purchases

• The risk of annoying customers with 1:1 marketing

Digital retail technology is being transformed at an incredible rate. The eCommerce tooling from just 5 yrs ago is being replaced by “Point” software solutions that knit together to vastly improved merchandising, content and service offerings to shoppers, but the journey is not straightforward

Giles Smith is a serial offender and has completed this journey once, and is doing it all over again in a global luxury retailer. In a fireside chat he will focus on:

• The measurable benefits of a solution “composed” specifically for you
• Living with the “Minimal viable Product”
• Selecting vendors without an RFP
• Focusing on the “Head” in headless

Retail Brands that emerged as online businesses face a greater challenge than most in creating brand advocacy. Whilst customers enjoy the product in their homes, without touching and feeling the product any brand marketer has to be particularly focused and creative in order to really build a brand.

In this fireside chat Lauren - a Co-founder and Head of Brand at SNUG sofas will walk through the challenges and opportunities the business has faced, will debate the resourcing and focus needed to truly create a meaningful brand as an online pureplay. We will discuss:

• The role of social in brand building

• The move to physical - step by step

• Franchise partners and their brand diligence

• Amplifying the superfans

We chat to Guljeet Samra CRO of Percival Menswear about the benefits and pitfalls of brand collaborations as a fashion pureplay - When should you engage? How does brand relevance really work? What are the potential long term revenue benefits alongside risks of seeping customers?

Frankie offers a unique vision for those used to the status quo of “retail”. His first business, the sportswear brand TCA was an “Amazon brand”, where he focused on “Any channel” rather than Omnichannel. His latest venture Pott’d is once again using the paid media and social channels to both test product and drive demand - as well as being (of course) a marketplace seller at scale.

From Frankie’s inspiring Keynote you will take away:

• A greater understanding of the Amazon seller world - at scale

• Balancing demand generation across the channels

• Amazon v Shopify channels

• The founder mentality and resilience needed

The eCommerce sector has shifted fundamentally in the last 18 months. New analytics from Google, new flexible platform offerings - and a customer trained increasingly by social media. 

Nick’s challenge when joining Raging Bull was to strip out an ageing stack and refocus back on the fundamentals of eCommerce trading. A new tech stack, control of all the promotional channels and good practice was Phase One.  Phase two is additive, new tooling to drive engagement and conversion, but using a test & learn policy.