The 2025 Programme

Registration and networking

Chair's welcome and opening comments

Opening Keynote Address: Next generation stores

Empowered by a customer-centred philosophy and emerging product inventory edits, thoughtful investments in digital synergy and creative marketing initiatives, these stores can be more than just a luxury shopping adventure. These stores push the boundaries on customer experience and introduce new concepts to impress and make business sense

Going beyond traditional retail – alternative retail concepts and formats

People are more local than they’ve ever been before - this is something that retailers need to tap into when considering investment in new and renewed stores. In order to attract new customers and possible expansion in the UK and overseas, design and strategic locations will play a crucial role when revaluating the retail format. People will spend more time (and money) if they feel a connection to where they shop.

Part 1: Creating hybrid ‘neighbourhood’ spaces with bigger, better stores

Part 2: The rise of charity stores, luxury small brands and sustainability

Part 3: High Street vs shopping centres

Tara Carlile-Swift, Founder & Managing Director, Freckleface Home Fragrance

Soraia Andersen, CEO & Founder, InColour Designs

Robin Osterley, Chief Executive, Charity Retail Association

Lucy Litwack, CEO & Founder, Coco de Mer

Networking Break

A second life of physical stores – enabling stores as fulfilment centres

Retailers are increasingly leveraging their store-base for the handling and fulfilling of online orders. By preparing online orders in-store, it enables orders to be fulfilled at speed. This session looks at how to expand your quick-commerce proposition.

• How store innovations can transform the supply chain
• What customers really want from final-mile supply chain - how stores fit into the mix
• Can fulfilment become an exciting part of customers’ in-store experience?
• Pivoting operations to accommodate the updated trading environment
• Stores’ new role as the face of fulfilment - and why it matters for sustainability initiatives
• The impact of AI and emerging tech in store - automation, efficiencies

Attracting and engaging retail store professionals – now and in the future

The UK’s biggest retailers have warned of “inevitable” job losses as a result of the government’s decision to increase National Insurance, coupled with Increased inflation and slow pay growth will almost certainly make attracting and retaining retail in-store employees a huge challenge. This session looks at what to consider and how to mitigate this.

• Delivering exceptional customer experience through happy and informed employees
• Rewarding and motivating retail employees through an effective recognition strategy
• Adapting stores roles to changing work patterns and increased need for flexibility
• How to support store staff to maximise retention, returns and job satisfaction
• The role of training and development in equipping retail employees with digital skills and adapting to changing consumer needs
• The cost implications of minimum wage increases and National Insurance
• The technologies you can leverage to boost both productivity and job satisfaction
• The importance of the voluntary opportunities provided by charity shops

James Rutter, Chief Creative Officer (CCO), COOK
Deborah Ormondroyd, Head of Retail, Bird & Blend Tea

Networking Lunch

Opening Afternoon Address: Retail resilience - navigating challenges, embracing innovation

A House of Lords report (November 2024) into the state of the UK’s high streets concluded that what can be sustained on the high street is constantly evolving, and that a fixed vision and monolithic approach to their future should be avoided. How can local authorities, communities and businesses collaborate to create a cohesive environment that encourages longer visits and boosts the local economy

• Exploring how the high street can be repurposed and revitalized, combining retail, leisure, culture, and residential space to become more community-centric.
• Exploring collaborations between retailers, local governments, and community organisations to ensure that high streets thrive and remain relevant.
• Can the independent high street survive?
• Changing expectations, changing offerings

Lord Moylan, Opposition Transport Spokesman, House of Lords

Will Lockie, Global Digital Director, NOBLE PANACEA

Rowland Gee, CEO, The Shocklite Company

Understanding consumer behaviour through physical experiential retail

By working to better understand consumer behaviour and adapt to changing consumer habits, retailers can capture consumer imagination with personalised promotions and value-added services that will deepen customer loyalty. This panel will examine leveraging key consumer insights to deliver more impactful experiences and creating greater value for the business and the shopper.
Increase customer satisfaction through optimising visual merchandising

• The integration of IoT and digital technologies in physical stores to create seamless, connected environments
• Expand your customer base through branded spaces and digital elements
• Employ data analytics to boost customer retention and increase sales
• Reward customers for their continued patronage – in-store perks to ensure customers return
• Why both internal and external data sources hold the key to enhancing customer engagement and driving loyalty

Jennifer Roebuck, Co-Founder & Advisor, Tortilla Mexican Grill
Rebecca Posner, Director of Research, Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RIDC)
Bunty Stokes, Consultant, Pampeano

Networking Break

Enhancing the shopping experience through seamless omnichannel – the strategic benefits of unified commerce

This panel will discuss the concept of 'connected shopping' - where consumers can combine the convenience of a digital experience with the benefits of a physical store - is critical to drawing consumers back to the high street.

• Creating synergy between online and offline activities to merge a single buying journey
• Collaborating to deliver a connected omnichannel customer experience
• Creating efficiencies and seamless experiences from in-store to online - continually evolving your omnichannel offering
• Exploring/adopting the use of AI for store replenishments, customer service and ecommerce
• How are retailers integrating immersive technologies in-store and online?

Romain Roulleau, Group Digital & eCommerce Director, Kingfisher

Luke Phillips, IT Director, Townhouse

Eva Pascoe, Director of eCommerce, Bluebella

Closing Address: How Gen Z is reshaping retail - the high street's digital-physical fusion

With Gen Z and millennial consumers finding it easier to shop online, how retailers engage with this demographic and persuade them to visit their local high street is going to be essential. As more and more younger shoppers associate themselves with online influencers, retailers can leverage this audience’s engagement and persuade them to visit stores through social experiences - such as bringing their favourite influencers into stores, coupled with providing exclusive in-store discounts.

• The "experience-led retail" that will have the biggest impact on attracting younger consumers
• How can non-leisure retailers adapt to this trend
• Attracting a younger audience through unlocking the power of third party brand partnerships in the retail environment
• The resurgence of physical stores - the absolute need for these as part of the brand experience
• Will environmental and social responsibility be a key differentiator for retail success and brand loyalty?
• How Gen Z and Gen Alpha are shaping sustainable shopping

Chair's closing comments