Retail Experiential Show 2018 Highlights

The Retail Experiential Show last August 29 – 31, 2018 at Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay brought together two pioneering retail conferences. It was segmented into Retail Tech Summit and Store Transformation Summit – the first of their kind in the industry. The Retail Tech Summit was about leveraging emerging technology. The Store Transformation Summit on the other hand reimagined customer centricity in the era of ecommerce disruption. Attendees were filled to the brim with talks from industry leaders. The roundtable discussions also pumped up the vibe with enriching conversations about where businesses are headed into the future of retail.

RETAIL TECH SUMMIT

The Retail Tech Summit hosted industry leaders for an exploration on emerging technology, data and AI in next level retailing. The show started with opening remarks from Rory Scott, Group Strategy Manager of Super Retail Group. The speakers talked about how to leverage these technologies and create a roadmap for businesses to be globally competitive. One of the key takeaways from the event was learning how to integrate emerging AI technology into business operations. Australian and global retailers were also present in the event and showed how they are pushing CX forward.

Retail Tech Summit: Day 1 (29 August 2018)

Day 1 of the Retail Tech Summit involved innovation, tech roadmap, and integrating AI into current operations. Morning talks were lead by Aran Flanagan of Guzman y Gomez, Andreas Dzumla of Longtail UX, Matt Ginsberg from Walmart Canada, David Ramadge of eBay, Adrian McKenzie of EB Games, and Stephen Darracott of Pitney Bowes.

Discussions in the afternoon revolved around transforming businesses, refining omnichannel experiences, and tech infrastructure. Industry leaders who presented were Brett Raven of Big Red Group, Rory Scott from Super Retail Group, and Steve Church of Pandora. Paul Bioxham, Chief Economist of HSBC, capped off the talks with a 2018/19 economic outlook and how to be resilient amidst changes in the economy.

Roundtable discussions were initiated afterwards where industry leaders connected with attendees about certain topics. These were spearheaded by Achim Schneider of SAP, Jins Kaduthodil of Incent Loyalty, and Raghav Sibal of Manhattan Associates. Rob Hango-Zada, Shannon Ingrey, and Heather Beeken from Shippit lead the fourth roundtable.

Retail Tech Summit: Day 2 (30 August 2018)

Day 2 of the Retail Tech Summit included discussions on Customer Data: Leveraging Technology to Personalise and Gain a 360 View. Industry insights were given by Mark Gray of Catch Group, Paul Waddy of Showpo, Ben Gilbert of UBS, Craig Woolford of Citi, Dr. Arash Dadras from Qantas, David Klien of Inspectorio, and Ben Berger of The Iconic.

A Think Tank discussion on closing the gap between technology and personalisation was lead by Tom Willis of LawPath and Ken Russell of Craveable Brands.

STORE TRANSFORMATION SUMMIT

Store Transformation Summit: Day 1 (29 August 2018)

Day 1 of the Store Transformation Summit was launched with opening remarks from Robert Kinkade, Founder of CX360. This was followed by a talk on the evolution of retail stores by Matt Ginsberg of Walmart Canada. Next up was a discussion on creative disruption and how to differentiate in a crowd by Marthy Bermejo of Landmark Group. Panelists Ben Stanley of Myer and Kate Iles of T2tea started off the discussion on Managing the Complexities of the In-Store Transformative Journey. Ben Hawkins of Optus also talked about in-store design revolution. Kate Iles followed with a talk on redefining in-store experiences as the new purpose of retail stores emerges.

The second half of the day pushed discussions further on store transformation. The talks were lead by Ben Stanley of Myer, Jonathan Clark of New Balance, Helen Sac from WGSN, Vlad Yakubson of yd, and Paul Boxham of HSBC. Both Retail Tech and Store Transformation summit attendees joined the roundtable discussions afterward.

Store Transformation Summit: Day 2 (30 August 2018)

Day 2 was on the the nitty gritty investigation into customer centricity, transformative technology, in-store technology disruption, retail design success, and so much more. Industry leaders that paved the way for the discussions were Medina Cicak of Suncorp, Nicole Papadopoulos of Ted’s Stores, Dean Jones of Glamcorner, Rob Wilson of Incent Loyalty, Carli Johnston of Women in AR/VR Australia, David Francis of Virtual Method, Jonathan Clark of New Balance, Katie Box of The GPT Group, Meg Tonkin of University of Technology, Jo Devery of Winning Group, and Leigh Hawkes of Seafolly.

Post-Conference Workshops: Day 3 (31 August 2018)

The third day is composed of two workshops that helped attendees apply what they’ve learned from the past two days of jam packed learning. The first workshop was on Cultivating Innovation Throughout In-Store Design and Technology by Medina Cicak, Retail Transformation Lead of Suncorp. The afternoon workshop was on Preparing for a New Generation of Retail Store by Vlad Yakubson, Head of Retail of yd.

More Events to Come

Akolade and Retail Learning Channel will host more events. New Retail ’19 is coming up as a jumpstart next year, followed by niche conferences scheduled for the entire 2019. Watch out for more industry events and insights here in RLC.