Celebrating retail innovation

22nd June 2023

Are you a Retail Innovator looking for explosive content and to expand your network?

RetailFest, brought to you by the creators of The Retail Hive, is a brand new event experience designed to fundamentally disrupt the traditional landscape.

Our mission is to ensure you:

Swap challenges, solutions and successes with the best of your peers in your discipline

Connect, exchange and collaborate with the leading minds from outside of your discipline to expand your knowledge and network

See, hear and feel the latest solutions to your greatest challenges through our hand-selected, by-referral-only partners – at RetailFest, you’ll be connected with only the companies that are walking the walk, and not just talking the talk

And your colleagues learn, network and socialise together to strengthen team ties, create memories and go back to the office equipped with a wealth of ideas to accelerate your transformation strategies

Lift your head up from the home office, the hot desk or the hustle and bustle of the city to broaden your horizons in the tranquillity and luxury of Oakley Court’s luscious lawns on the banks of the River Thames

OUR MISSION
Combining hard-hitting and inspirational content, exciting and unique networking and social experiences, hand-selected innovative solution showcases and, of course, the interactive and takeaway-packed small group sessions synonymous with The Retail Hive, RetailFest is the one-stop destination for retail innovators.

Book your tickets

RetailFest combines the content quality of a senior leadership conference, the networking opportunities of a members’ club and the fun of a festival to create a truly unique event experience.

Interspersed between inspirational Innovation Stage talks and unique networking opportunities, RetailFest is built on a foundation of high quality, conversational and collaborative small group sessions for leaders in Digital Marketing, Customer Experience, eCommerce, Technology and Architecture, and Sustainability.

Choose your hive:

DIGITAL MARKETING

For those at the forefront of their organisation’s customer acquisition strategy

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

For leaders who are connecting the many dots of CX in an increasingly complex, omnichannel world

TECHNOLOGY & eCOMMERCE

Designed for technologists grappling with conflicting priorities and challenges

SUSTAINABILITY

Inspiring you to start or accelerate your own sustainability strategy through candid conversations and collaborations

Innovators headlining RetailFest include

Nick Beighton

Mission led, e-commerce/digital business builder and leader, guides by values, purpose driven and passionate. Unafraid of using culture, technology and logistics to disrupt existing thought patterns and do things in a different way. As CFO then CEO at ASOS, grew turnover to £4bn from £200m and transformed the e-commerce fashion landscape. Founder Trustee of the ASOS Foundation, helping raise c£10m breaking down barriers for young people in fashion and tech. member of the Variety Club Rugby Golf Legends Committee raising c£2m. Voted Top 5 most influential retailer in Fashion (Retail Week), highly numerate, number 3 excel rated CFO & CEO. Always restless, always looking for product, brand, tech and customer opportunities.
Aim listed Online purely fashion business, founded in 200, now trading in 200 territories. the largest fashion brand never to have a store. Employing c13k people world-wide, t/o £4bn. ASOS is a purpose driven, mission led organisation guided by values, aware of its role in customer lives and its responsibility to the planet and people. ASOS has redefined global ecommerce fashion, its has driven growth through culture, technology, logistics and product. Its stocks 85k 1P products through the main site, 160k though the ASOS marketplace and delivers 6-5k new products a week. 26m social media followers. As CEO grew sales from £1.2bn to £4bn. Profits grown line to £193m. Appointed CEO in April 2009, when ASOS had 178 people, t/o £165m (20% International (£35m)) delivering PBT £14m, market cap £300m. As CFO t/o grew to £975m (60% Intn) delivering PBT £47m. Appointed Chief Operating Officer for a year, during which t/o grew to £1.2bn.
Luminar: A FTSE 250 Leisure business. Market cap c£400m. Uk’s leading operator of late night venues (>100 units and 6000 people). Transformed in response to challenging market and regulatory conditions. Led 80 people across accounting & finance, tax, treasury, IT, Procurement, IR, property, audit/ business risk, developing strategic capability and improving operational efficiency.
Matalan Retail Limited: A FTSE 250 UK based value retailer with 180 stores, 5.5m soft of retail space, 13000 team members and £1.1bn t/o. Joined when turnover was £590m from 86 stores. led finance through rapid expansion (fastest growing retail business in 1998/99 ) Held increasingly broad and senior change and finance leadership roles, ultimately Executive Director , responsible for a team of 250 people.
KPMG – from trainee to Senior manager in Business transformation, working in Corporate Recovery, Transaction Services and Consultancy.

Nick is also a member of the Retail Sector Council, was a trustee of the ASOS Foundation, Ambassador for the RetailTrust and Advisor to the Anti-Slavery Collective.

Rory Hugill

Rory Hugill is the senior innovation portfolio manager at Pangaia, the material science-focused fashion brand that received B Corp certification in 2022. A former ‘sneakerhead’, Rory is working to transform the fashion industry from its linear model to a circular Good Fashion approach that is regenerative and restorative for nature.

Simon Pakenham-Walsh

The CIO of River Island, Simon Pakenham-Walsh has 25 years’ experience of technical strategy, delivery and leadership across several commercial and public sector industries. He has led enterprise-sized technology departments involving internal and external resources and delivered large multi-supplier, high revenue generating programmes for several large organisations.

Amanda Scott

Until recently the CEO of Next Beauty, Amanda Scott is an experienced CEO with a demonstrated history of working in the retail industry. Amanda was at the helm of the retail giant’s beauty arm for almost five years, where she spearheaded its initial steps into the world of premium beauty. Amanda has a wealth of experience in the beauty and retail sectors and prior to Next she was chief executive of Fabled by Marie Claire, a start up venture in partnership with Ocado , and 15 years with John Lewis during their transformation years.

Simone Williams

Director of Digital, COS

David West

CTO, Monsoon Accessorize

Casie Finlayson

Creative strategist , Konsort Social

Peter Goggin

As the VP Digital IT, Customer and Marketing at Burberry, Peter Goggin leads a team of over 100 IT professionals in delivering innovative and customer-centric solutions across multiple channels and regions. Adopting agile principles, Peter enables his team to collaborate effectively, adapt to changing requirements, and deliver value to the business and the end-users. With over 25 years of experience, David has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the retail and FMCG sectors. He is passionate about creating a culture of innovation, excellence, and continuous improvement within the organisation.

Yasmin Topia

Yasmin Topia is the Founder and CEO of Sociate AI “The World’s Fastest Learning AI for Fashion Fashion Shopping.” Yasmin is a serial deeptech entrepreneur (previous ventures backed by Microsoft, Jaguar Landrover and Silicon Valley VCs) working with leading AI scientists, ahead of academia to create the world’s most engaging, fastest learning fashion AI for the new paradigm in online shopping. Sociate AI lets customers find their style and break fashion trends from Social Media and the Fashion World on your platform, the moment they happen, increasing sales conversions by up to 243% using the speed of AI, and eradicates the need for manual tagging or merchandising. Unlocking a true revolution in ecommerce, Sociate AI lets every single one of your customers talk to you, tell you exactly what they want and understand them-instantly combining what customers they say with personalisation data and real time fashion authority whilst ending the reliance on metadata or tags for search and discoverability.

Robbie Patterson

CMO, Konsort Social

Rosemary Duffy

As Head of Customer Care at ME+EM Ltd, I lead a dedicated team committed to delivering exceptional service support and styling advice to our valued customers. At ME+EM, a renowned luxury, women’s fashion brand, I focus on customer satisfaction and operational efficiency, leveraging data-driven insights to remove pain points and drive initiatives that enhance the customer experience and build lasting relationships. I am dedicated to ensuring that every interaction with ME+EM reflects our brand’s commitment to quality and excellence.

Richard Lim

Richard is Chief Executive Officer of Retail Economics, an independent economics research consultancy focused on the consumer and retail industry. He was voted as a Top Ten Voice for Linked for sharing his insights on the retail industry, has been named a top retail influencer by ReThink Retail, a top 100 retail influencer by Retail Tech Innovation Hub and also appeared in the final of The Apprentice as one of Lord Sugars advisors.

He also sits on the Strategic Advisory Board at the University of East Anglia’s School of Economics, ranked in the top 10 departments in Economics in the UK. Richard has a wealth of experience in data analytics, retail insight, economics and consumer research

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After a day of hearing from, speaking to and collaborating with our expert speakers and innovative partners, unwind, celebrate and party at our RetailRocks Summer Solstice Party with your colleagues and peers with food, drinks, live music and fun activities on the banks of the River Thames.

Oh, and did we mention that there’s a lifesize, inflatable Stonehenge to throw into the mix? What better place to celebrate the Solstice (we’re just out by a day!)

Fancy spending the day with us?