Essential Guide to Shoptalk Europe 2024: Reimagining the Future of Retail

Introduction

Coresight Research is an official research partner of Shoptalk Europe 2024, which will take place June 3–5, 2024, in Barcelona, Spain. Shoptalk Europe is an annual conference uniting retail and e-commerce professionals to discuss the latest trends, innovations and challenges in the retail industry.

In this essential guide to the event, we highlight notable sessions for attendees across five major themes, as identified by the Shoptalk team. All times in this report are in Central European Summer Time (CEST; local time of the event). We also highlight the Startup Pitch competition, which will be held on the first day of Shoptalk Europe and will be emceed by Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research.

To ensure you do not miss out on critical insights from the event, we will provide daily insights from Shoptalk 2024 on coresight.com. Coresight Research will also publish a wrap-up report after the event, covering everything you need to know from Shoptalk Europe 2024.

A Guide to Shoptalk Europe 2024: Coresight Research Insights

Shoptalk Europe 2024 is set to feature 175 executives as speakers across its Track and Main Stage sessions. These industry leaders will delve into crucial business topics, including artificial intelligence (AI), brand power and unified retail experiences.

Highly anticipated Main Stage keynote speakers include:

• Alex Baldock, Group CEO, Currys Plc.
• Simone Dominici, CEO, KIKO Milano
• Daniel Gebler, Co-Founder & CTO, Picnic
• Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, Chairman, INGKA Holding B.V. (IKEA)
• R. Alexandra Keith, CEO, Beauty, P&G (Procter & Gamble)
• Geoffroy Lefebvre, CEO, zooplus
• Marcella Wartenbergh, CEO, AWWG (Pepe Jeans, Hackett, Façonnable)
• Deri Watkins, Regional President Europe & ANZ, Mars Pet Nutrition

Notable Sessions Across Five Major Themes

Shoptalk Europe 2024’s agenda covers the latest technologies, trends and business models that are creating retail innovation through digital transformation and helping retailers and brands find growth opportunities. This year, the agenda will focus on the rapid evolution of how consumers discover, shop and buy products across all retail verticals.

Below, we present the five major themes, and related notable sessions, shaping Shoptalk Europe’s 2024 agenda.

1. Employing AI To Transform Your Business

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)—which is already transforming business functions across the retail space—will be a $19.4 billion market worldwide this year, Coresight Research estimates. But is AI over-hyped in the short term?

There are two key questions businesses need to answer to unlock the potential of AI: What applications of AI will have the greatest transformational power, and how will these impact the retailer’s organization? Expert speakers will help attendees answer these questions with tactical frameworks for the near-term adoption of AI and case studies of early adoption, while also challenging the notion that AI’s long-term potential could ever be under-hyped.

Below, we present notable sessions related to this theme.

Time	Session	Track	Speakers/Panelists
Monday, June 3
11:15 a.m.—11:35 a.m.	Services, Circularity, and Beyond: How Currys Is Reinventing Itself for Tomorrow’s Consumer	Main Stage Keynote	Alex Baldock, Group CEO, Currys Plc. Joe Laszlo, Head of Content – USA, Shoptalk (Interviewer)
Tuesday, June 4
9:00 a.m.—9:40 a.m.	Data, Personalisation and Marketing Solutions	The Diamond: Technology Solution Spotlight	Maja Schaefer, Co-Founder & CEO, Zowie Rachel Tipograph, Founder & CEO, MikMak Jim Lofgren, CEO, Nosto Mark Steel, Director, Retail & Consumer Industries EMEA, Google Cloud, Google Cloud Stephanie Habib, Partner, BCG X (Interviewer)
9:00 a.m.—9:40 a.m.	Case Studies: Pioneering Applications of Generative AI	The Heart: Groundbreaking AI Applications in Retail	Daniel Krantz, Division Lead – Digital Product & Customer Experience, Otto Group Henny Steiniger, VP, Services, Customer Experience, Care & Loyalty, MediaMarktSaturn David Ting, Chief Technology Officer and Global General Manager, Zenni Zahra Mohamed, Assistant Content Director, Shoptalk (Emcee)
9:50 a.m.—10:30 a.m.	Leveraging AI to Scale Personalisation	The Heart: Groundbreaking AI Applications in Retail	Tian Su, VP, Personalisation & Recommendation, Zalando Baltazar Ozonek, VP, AI & Innovation, Pandora Paloma Juncos, Head of Digital Data and Ecommerce Performance, Loewe Dirk Cohausz, Managing Director & Partner, BCG X (Interviewer)
4:15 p.m.—4:55 p.m.	Track Keynote: Building and Implementing an AI Strategy	The Heart: Groundbreaking AI Applications in Retail	Sathya Nandakumar, Chief Technology Officer, Holland & Barrett Martin Barthel, Managing Director & Partner, BCGX (Interviewer) Ruth Díaz Barrigón, VP, Amazon Fashion Europe, Amazon Kirsty McGregor, Executive European Editor, Vogue Business (Interviewer)
5:05 p.m.—5:45 p.m.	Rapid Fire: Evaluating AI’s Longterm Opportunities and Challenges	The Heart: Groundbreaking AI Applications in Retail	Pierre-Yves Calloc’h, Chief Digital Officer, Pernod Ricard Vipin Gupta, Chief Technology Officer, Starbucks India, Starbucks Sarah Kunst, Managing Director, Cleo Capital Chris Walton, Co-CEO, Omni Talk (Interviewer)
Wednesday, June 5
9:50 a.m.—10:30 a.m.	Tactics for Successfully Structuring Your Organisation and Teams for AI	The Diamond: Frameworks, Tactics and Takeaways	Henny Steiniger, VP, Services, Customer Experience, Care & Loyalty, MediaMarktSaturn Usama Dar, Chief Technology Officer, Westwing Home & Living Constanze Freienstein, Partner, AlixPartners (Presenter & Interviewer)

Related Coresight Research reports:

• All Coresight Research coverage of GenAI
• Shoptalk 2024 Day Three: A Thoughtful Approach to GenAI; Retail Innovation in China
• What Do US Consumers Think About Generative AI?

2. Harnessing Brand Power and Building Brand Trust

Coresight Research perceives increased desirability for strong brands in discretionary categories, such as fashion, to be a gradual, secular and global trend, one fueled by the increased accessibility of brands—primarily through digital platforms (including marketplaces) and resale, but also via channels such as off-price. We expect this to fuel market-share gains for the biggest super-brands with the widest relevance—distinguished by factors such as product innovation, brand collaborations and strong brand marketing—as well as more niche players that successfully resonate with specific consumer segments and identities.

The playbook for what makes a strong brand is changing, and brands must be crystal clear on what they stand for, the purpose of their brand and products, and who their customers are; there is little margin for error. Shoptalk Europe 2024 has identified three core attributes of brands that will lead retail over the coming decade: audience engagement, quality and authenticity, and distribution.

Below, we present notable sessions related to this theme.

Time	Session	Track	Speakers/Panelists
Monday, June 3
5:05 p.m.—5:45 p.m.	Track Keynote: Brand Power, Loyalty and Trust	The Heart: Understanding the Changing Consumer	Nadine Graf, President, EMEA, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Sarah Engel, President, January Digital (Interviewer)
5:05 p.m.—5:45 p.m. (combined session)	Track Keynote: Next-Generation Powerhouse Brands	The Heart: Understanding the Changing Consumer	Taymoor Atighetchi, CEO, Papier Camille Kriebitzsch, Co-Founder & Partner, Eutopia VC (Interviewer)
Tuesday, June 4
2:00 p.m.—2:40 p.m.	High-Performance Brands: Balancing Tradition with Transformation in the Global Beauty Market	Main Stage Keynote	R. Alexandra Keith, CEO – Beauty, P&G Rebecca Bemhena, Head of Content, Shoptalk (Interviewer)
5:05 p.m.—5:45 p.m.	Track Keynote: Building Innovative Products and Brands for Today’s Consumer	The Spade: Merchandising, Assortment and Supply Chain	Sanjay Luthra, EVP, Managing Director Mattel EMEA & Global Head Direct to Consumer International, Mattel Anne Mezzenga, Co-CEO, Omni Talk (Interviewer)
Wednesday, June 5
9:50 a.m.—10:30 a.m.	Case Studies: Using Data to Cultivate Loyalty and Improve Customer Retention	The Heart: Outstanding Ecommerce and Digital Customer Experiences	David Clark, Group Digital Director, Frasers Group Tom Langley, Head of Personalisation & Retail Media, John Lewis Partnership Alejandra Tenorio, Director of Digital Marketing and Ecommerce, RMS Beauty Zahra Mohamed, Assistant Content Director, Shoptalk (Emcee)

Related Coresight Research reports:

• Immersive Experiences in Retail: Driving Sales Through Enhanced Shopper Engagement
• Rethinking Last-Mile Delivery: Building Customer-Centric Retail Experiences
  

3. Creating Unified Retail Experiences

As shoppers move effortlessly and continuously between stores and the digital realm, retailers need to create cohesive, shopper-centric seamless experiences; Shoptalk Europe 2024 calls this concept “unified commerce.” A step beyond omnichannel, unified commerce puts the shopper at the heart of everything and focuses on providing them with consistent experiences. Speakers discussing this topic will offer insights into how a retailer’s organization can foster unified retail experiences through new structures, technology capabilities and customer-facing offerings.

Below, we present notable sessions related to this theme.

Time	Session	Track	Speakers/Panelists
Monday, June 3
11:35 a.m.—11:55 a.m.	Driving Global Growth through Innovation and Collaboration	Main Stage Keynote	Simone Dominici, CEO, KIKO Milano Diana Lee, Director of Research & Analysis, The Business of Fashion (Interviewer)
3:25 p.m.—4:05 p.m.	Unified Commerce: Creating Frictionless and Continuous Store Experiences	The Spade: Exceptional Retail Experiences: Unified Commerce	Dimas Gimeno, President, WOW Concept Dr. Johannes Wechsler, Chief Digital Officer, Bauhaus Ohad Elzur, Store & Promotion Technology Director, AS Watson Adam Plom, Global Head of Content – Special Projects, Shoptalk (Emcee)
4:15 p.m.—4:55 p.m.	Delivering Consistent Cross-Channel Experiences	The Spade: Exceptional Retail Experiences: Unified Commerce	Marc Vicente Sala, Group Digital Director, Kingfisher plc Arianne Parisi, Global Chief Digital Officer, JD Group Scott Clarke-Bryan, Managing Director – EMEA, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Adam Plom, Global Head of Content – Special Projects, Shoptalk (Interviewer)
5:05 p.m.—5:45 p.m.	Unifying the Organisation to Enable Seamless Shopping	The Spade: Exceptional Retail Experiences: Unified Commerce	Isabelle Aberman, Global Retail Director, Camper Amit Keswani, Chief Omnichannel Officer, Chalhoub Group Katya Denike, Chief Product Officer, Holland & Barrett International Chris Brook-Carter, CEO, retailTRUST (Interviewer)
Tuesday, June 4
9:00 a.m.—9:40 a.m.	Brand Perspectives on Unlocking Unified Commerce in Grocery	The Club: Groceryshop@Shoptalk Europe: Developing Unified Grocery Shopping	Jie Cheng, VP & Global Head, Digital Commerce, Mondelēz International Gaurav Goel, VP, Ecommerce Strategy & International, PepsiCo Bonnie Szucs, VP, Business Development, Bubble Skincare Helen Merriott, SVP, Consumer Products, EMEA & APAC, Publicis Sapient (Interviewer)
9:50 a.m.—10:30 a.m.	Track Keynote: Global Insights on Future-fit Grocery Ecommerce	The Club: Groceryshop@Shoptalk Europe: Developing Unified Grocery Shopping	Gregor Ulitzka, President, Europe, Ocado Group Jordan Berke, Founder & CEO, TOMORROW (Interviewer)

Related Coresight Research reports:

• Market Navigator: UK Retail, Including E-Commerce—Consumer Constraints To Fuel Multi-Year Discounter Growth

4. Next-Generation Demand Creation

Finding profitable volume growth via new routes of demand creation is an increasingly vital priority for many European retailers and brands—at Coresight Research, we are closely tracking new and alternative retail and consumption models, from resale platforms to livestreaming to “Fast Luxury.” With these new routes, shoppers’ traditionally linear path-to-purchase has been fundamentally disrupted, creating fresh opportunities for engagement, loyalty and conversion. Speakers diving into this topic at Shoptalk Europe 2024 will explore what retailers and brands need to do to keep pace with changing consumer behaviors with case studies and examples of next-generation demand creation.

Below, we present notable sessions related to this theme.

Time	Session	Track	Speakers/Panelists
Monday, June 3
3:25 p.m.—4:05 p.m.	Meeting Consumer Expectations: Balancing Between Convenience and Value	The Heart: Understanding the Changing Consumer	Sara Sjöberg, Head of Marketing & Digital Sales, South Europe, H&M Roger Graell Sole, Chief Digital Officer, Bata Stijn Demeersseman, Chief of Staff, Amazon Fashion Europe, Amazon Jennifer Berry, CEO, Digitas UK (Interviewer)
4:15 p.m.—4:55 p.m.	Rapid Fire: Keeping Pace with New Consumer Behaviors	The Heart: Understanding the Changing Consumer	Laurent Malaveille, Chief Digital Officer & IT Officer, Groupe Clarins Javier Figar de Lecalle, Chief Retail Officer, Tendam Laetitia Roche-Grenet, VP, Open Innovation, LVMH Katie Thomas, Head of the Consumer Institute, Kearney (Interviewer)
5:05 p.m.—5:45 p.m.	Meeting Shopper Demands for Convenience, Speed and Value in Grocery	The Club: Groceryshop@Shoptalk Europe: Thriving in a New Grocery Environment	Suzy McClintock, VP, Grocery, Hop, Editions & Retail, Deliveroo PLC Dr. Oliver Vogt, Director, Strategy & Transformation, Tesco Ethan Sinick, Managing Director, Shirland Ventures (Interviewer)
Tuesday, June 4
9:00 a.m.—9:40 a.m. (combined session)	Track Keynote: Fulfilment and Last-Mile Tactics that Benefit Shoppers and the Business	The Spade: Merchandising, Assortment and Supply Chain	Nick Burton, Chief Information Officer, Screwfix Maria Miralles, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company (Interviewer) Andrew Kenny, Chief Commercial Officer, Just Eat Takeaway.com Joe Laszlo, Head of Content – USA, Shoptalk (Interviewer)
9:50 a.m.—10:30 a.m.	Engaging Digital Shopping Technologies	The Diamond: Technology Solution Spotlight	Maryam Ghahremani, CEO, Bambuser Neha Singh, Founder & CEO, Obsess Sowmiya Chocka Narayanan, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Lily AI Crispin Lowery, General Manager, Retail, Consumer Goods, EMEA, Microsoft Gillian Simpson, Partner, Deloitte Digital (Interviewer)
2:20 p.m.—2:40 p.m.	Leading Through Disruption: How Mars Is Driving Growth Powered by Digital	Main Stage Keynote	Deri Watkins, Regional President Europe & ANZ, Mars Pet Nutrition Helen Merriott, SVP, Consumer Products, EMEA & APAC, Publicis Sapient (Interviewer)
4:15 p.m.—4:55 p.m.	Innovative Merchandising and Assortment Strategies	The Spade: Merchandising, Assortment and Supply Chain	Janine Pieterse, VP, Merchandising & Product Development, Timberland (a VF company) Gareth Locke, Chief Growth Officer, Mytheresa Micòl Barlera, Global Head of eBusiness Merchandising, Moët Hennessy (LVMH) Erik Lautier, Partner, AlixPartners (Interviewer)
Wednesday, June 5
9:00 a.m.—9:40 a.m.	Succeeding with Social Commerce, Influencers and Creators	The Heart: Outstanding Ecommerce and Digital Customer Experiences	Elena Montenegro, Chief Digital Officer, Bimba Y Lola Ekta Chopra, Chief Digital Officer, e.l.f. Beauty Andréa Martins, President, LATAM, Stanley1913 Debbie Ellison, Global Chief Digital Officer, VML (Interviewer)
2:00 p.m.—2:40 p.m.	Innovations in Product Discovery: Shoppable Video, Visual Search and More	The Heart: Outstanding Ecommerce and Digital Customer Experiences	Marc Hernandez, Digital Product Director, Mango Eva Goicochea, Founder & CEO, maude Dr. Jan Philipp Wintjes, EVP, Global Omnichannel, HUGO BOSS Diana Lee, Director of Research & Analysis, The Business of Fashion (Interviewer)
2:50 p.m.—3:30 p.m.	Unlocking Cross-Border and Global Ecommerce Opportunities	The Heart: Outstanding Ecommerce and Digital Customer Experiences	Andrea Cappi, Chief eBusiness & Omnichannel Officer, Valentino Paolo Levoni, General Manager, International Markets, eBay Baptiste Marchis, VP, Digital International, Victoria’s Secret & Co. Marie Driscoll, Professor, The New School (Interviewer)

Related Coresight Research reports:

• All Coresight Research coverage of alternative retail
• Introducing “Fast Luxury” and Its Implications for the Retail Market

5. Navigating Changing Industry Relationships

Nonretail opportunities are expanding: By 2028, retail media will be a £7.3 billion ($9.1 billion) opportunity in the UK alone, according to Coresight Research projections. Coresight Research also estimates that retailers can generate 0.1%–1.0% of total sales in alternative revenue from media and shopper insights. Retail media networks (RMNs), business-to-business partnerships and retailer technology commercialization are just some of the change agents influencing retail’s key industry relationships and blurring the traditional lines of the European retail market, where roles are no longer clearly defined. Coupled with insights into emerging routes to market—from rapid delivery to creator commerce—speakers covering this topic will give attendees the tools they need to understand these change drivers and ensure their organizations thrive in this new retail ecosystem.

Below, we present notable sessions related to this theme.

Time	Session	Track	Speakers/Panelists
Monday, June 3
3:25 p.m.—4:05 p.m. (combined session)	Track Keynote: Winning in the Evolving European Grocery Market	The Club: Groceryshop@Shoptalk Europe: Thriving in a New Grocery Environment	Giorgio Busnelli, VP, Consumer Goods Europe, Amazon Ben Miller, VP, Original Content & Strategy, Shoptalk (Interviewer) Miki Kuusi, Head of International at DoorDash & CEO at Wolt Rebecca Bemhena, Head of Content, Shoptalk (Interviewer)
Tuesday, June 4
9:50 a.m.—10:30 a.m.	Leveraging Tech to Enable Sustainable Supply Chains	The Spade: Merchandising, Assortment and Supply Chain	Isabel Rocher, Director ZEOS Logistics, Zeos (a Zalando Brand) Kamran Abbasi, Chief Technology & Data Officer, Chalhoub Group Andrew Xeni, Founder & Chairman, Nobody’s Child Zofia Zwieglinska, International Fashion Reporter, Glossy (Interviewer)
Wednesday, June 5
9:00 a.m.—9:40 a.m.	Harnessing Data and Technology to Create New Revenue Streams	The Spade: Navigating Changing Industry Relationships	Torsten Ahlers, Managing Director MediaMarktSaturn Marketing Services, Media Markt Saturn Alexis Marcombe, CEO, Unlimitail (Carrefour & Publicis) Sunil Kumar, Global VP & GM, Walmart Commerce Technologies, Walmart Jordan Berke, Founder & CEO, TOMORROW (Interviewer)
9:00 a.m.—9:40 a.m.	Navigating Evolving Relationships Across Retailers, FMCGs and Marketplaces	The Club: Groceryshop@Shoptalk Europe: Evolving Relationships and Partnerships	Marta Lopez Saavedra, Head of Grocery & Retail, Spain, Uber Bruno Mourão, Head of Ecosystem, Sonae MC Bertrand Bastien, New Business Ventures Director – Easy24, Pernod Ricard Rocquan Lucas, VP, Content, Groceryshop, Shoptalk (Interviewer)
9:50 a.m.—10:30 a.m.	Brand Perspectives on Retail Media Strategies and Outlook	The Club: Groceryshop@Shoptalk Europe: Evolving Relationships and Partnerships	Tony Navin, Director Ecommerce, International, Kraft Heinz Charlotte Myles, Ecommerce Director, Europe, BIC Celso Borges Shimabukuro, VP, Head of eCommerce Europe, PepsiCo Simon Miles, Founder & CEO, Lighthouse Advisory (Interviewer)
2:00 p.m.—2:40 p.m.	Optimising Between DTC and Wholesale Strategies	The Spade: Navigating Changing Industry Relationships	Laura Fernández, Chief Business & Financial Officer, AWWG (Pepe Jeans, Hackett, Façonnable) Francisco Valiente, Chief Marketing & Digital Officer, HOFF Sergio Azzolari, CEO, Roberto Cavalli Steve Dennis, Founder & President, SageBerry Consulting (Interviewer)
2:50 p.m.—3:30 p.m.	Organisational Agility: Skills and Structures for the Future of Retail	The Spade: Navigating Changing Industry Relationships	Loretta Franks, VP, Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Kellanova Baz Saidieh, Global Partner, Antler VC Lisa Smith, Partner, Deloitte Digital (Interviewer)

Related Coresight Research reports:

• All Coresight Research coverage of retail media

Do Not Miss the Shoptalk Europe 2024 Startup Pitch Competition!

In addition to the sessions mentioned above, we urge attendees to join the Startup Pitch competition on June 3, 2024, which is part of the “Spotlight on Emerging Retail Tech” track.

The event will comprise two rounds across three sessions on June 3, seeing 12 early-stage innovators present their solutions to key retail challenges across four areas of innovation: AI, analytics and insights, customer engagement and loyalty and retail operations.

In the first round, all 12 startups will pitch their solutions to the audience and an expert panel of judges, which will rate each pitch. The top six companies progress to the second round, in which they will participate in a live question-and-answer session for the opportunity to win the Judges’ Choice and Audience Choice awards.

Deborah Weinswig, CEO and Founder of Coresight Research, will emcee the competition and serve on the judging panel.

The participating startups include Anam.AI, Carbon Maps, Elyn, Guac, Loyalty Games, Pi-xcels, Pixyle.ai, PSYKHE AI, Rapid Delivery Analytics, Raspberry AI and Veesual.

Stay tuned to coresight.com for our upcoming Innovator Profiles reports, profiling each participating company, as well as our full preview report on this year’s Startup Pitch.

Notes

Shoptalk Europe 2024 agenda details are accurate as of June 2, 2024.