09:00

WELCOME ADDRESS

09:05

SETTING THE SCENE: Keeping Up with the Consumer

Consumer behaviour, trends and forecasts

09:30

POWER TALK: Changing the Story

10:00

POWER TALK: TBA

10:30

PANEL DISCUSSION: CX Marks the Spot - Customer-Centricity Goes Mainstream

It wouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that customer experience is just as important today as product and service. Consumers are looking for a more compelling shopping experience and retailers are looking for new ways to give it to them. From storytelling, to offering interactive and technology-focussed touchpoints, what’s the secret? How can you connect with customers in different and innovative ways? The customer-centric model offers a robust solution that enables retailers to determine what their customers want and also deliver it – with speed and at scale. So, can offering an exceptional customer experience go mainstream?

11.40   CASE STUDY: Blurring the Lines - The World of Retailtainment

Not a new concept, but a continually growing trend, retailtainment is the convergence of shopping and entertainment and is meant to deliver enticing in-store customer experiences. Retailtainment makes a lot of sense in today’s highly competitive retail environment. Shoppers need to be given good reasons to leave the convenience of online shopping aside and journey to a physical store. So how do you go about providing an unparalleled and unique retail experience for your customer? Is retailtainment the secret to driving traffic and sales? What are the challenges, and will it hold up long-term?

11.40   WORKSHOP A: TBA

11.40   WORKSHOP B: TBA

12.00   PANEL DISCUSSION: Retailvention - The Transformation of Bricks & Mortar Retail

Given the continuous talk of a retail apocalypse and the closure of major stores in recent years due to the digitisation of shopping and the shift in consumer behaviour, fashion retailers have had to look to new ways to innovate in the traditional store space. With more brands moving from the online to offline world, retailers have had to revamp stores or introduce new features to increase foot traffic to bricks-and-mortar stores. Whether it’s increasing investment on in-store technology, streamlining service, or focussing on new product lines to further enhance the customer experience, how are forward-thinking retailers reinventing bricks & mortar stores to appeal to tomorrow’s consumer today?

12.20   SPOTLIGHT SESSION:  Creating Customer Loyalty Through Podcasts

12.20   CAMPFIRE SESSION:  Cultivating an Emotional Connection with your Customer

An emotional connection is the foundation for brand loyalty. Customers with a strong bond and brand loyalty have been shown to be more invested in a brand - and its success. They buy more products, visit the website or physical store more often, are less sensitive to price, and recommend your brand to more people in their social circles. So how do you go about creating that personal connection with your customer? 

12.30   SPOTLIGHT SESSION: Delivering Personalisation at Scale

12.40   SUCCESS STORIES: Collaborate to Innovate

Collaborative customer experience initiatives

12.40   SPOTLIGHT SESSION: Is Voice Shopping the Future?

12.50   SUCCESS STORIES: Collaborate to Innovate

Collaborative customer experience initiatives

12.50   SPOTLIGHT SESSION: Rent it - The Rise of the Rental

STAGE ONE

The Big Picture

STAGE TWO

Keeping it Practical

14.00   SUCCESS STORIES: Making it Personal

Learning lessons on CX and the ‘personal experience’ from other sectors

14.00   THE SOLUTION ROOM: Fixing Tomorrow's Problems Today

Participants will work together to debate and brainstorm solutions to a problem or challenge the industry is currently facing. Teams will collaborate to offer advice and a solution drawing on their own experiences, practices and knowledge.

PROBLEM: To Sale or Not to Sale

Consumers are smarter and savvier than ever before, and we all know that they love a bargain, but what effect do discounts and sales have on your brand? Should retailers re-evaluate their sale/discount strategy?

PROBLEM: Innovating Online vs. Offline

With traditional retailers closing physical stores and moving into the online space, and online-only brands entering the world of bricks & mortar, the retail landscape has flipped on its axis and it can be difficult to decide what to do next. What’s the best strategy?

PROBLEM: How Much is Too Much?

With retailers delivering such high levels of service and convenience, are they becoming unsustainably expensive?

PROBLEM: Is Being Sustainable...Sustainable?

Despite the significant progress being made by brands and retailers to minimise their impact on the environment, one of the biggest hurdles faced by sustainable fashion brands is the high production costs due to increased input costs. Is it possible for brands to adopt sustainable back-end operations in a cost-effective way?

15.00   PROBLEM SOLVED

Team facilitators will feed back to the wider audience on the problem at hand and how their team came to a joint solution.

14.10   SUCCESS STORIES: Making it Personal

Learning lessons on CX and the ‘personal experience’ from other sectors

14.20   SUCCESS STORIES: Making it Personal

Learning lessons on CX and the ‘personal experience’ from other sectors

14.30   PANEL DISCUSSION: A New Era of Advertising - An Evolving Landscape

The rise of social media opened up a unique platform for brands and retailers to interact directly with customers and has proven to be a valuable tool for them to not only connect with their customer-base in real-time, but to also promote their brands to a wider and more engaged audience. Traditional advertising methods were no longer the most efficient and cost-effective way of reaching a customer base with spend vs. ROI of social campaigns proving to be much more successful than TV or print ads. However, some would argue that the replacement methods and tools – such as influencer and social marketing – have opened up a whole new world of challenges as an increasingly crowded market and battling against algorithms has in fact made it harder to fight your way to the top of your customer’s feed. With some brands dropping TV advertising and others giving up on social – where should fashion retailers be putting their advertising spend to get the best ROI? 

15.10   POWER TALK: TBA

16:00

POWER TALK: Crash & Turn

A retail turn-around story

16:30

INTERVIEW: TBA